Russia: United Wagon Company (UWC) has unveiled a video with the new vehicles departing from the Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant. The customer for the fleet is not disclosed.
The four-axle 12-6744 gondola car with an axle load of 25 tf is the first model in the family of UWC’s second-generation vehicles. The body of the gondola car is constructed from Severstal’s Powerform cold-formed steel, which is new to the car-building industry and has a yield stress of 420 MPa (20–22% stronger than conventional steel); this material is a key feature of the innovative wagon. In addition, the weight optimisation of the frame construction and beams of the 18-9855 bogie made them lighter.
First batch of 12-6744 gondola cars from UWC. Source: Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant
Thus, the wagon’s payload has increased to 77 t, which is two tonnes more than the most high-capacity 25 tf gondola cars with hatches, the UWC 12-9853 and the UralVagonZavod 12-196-02. It is also one and a half tonnes more in comparison with the 12-3101 gondola car, introduced by RM Rail in 2025. ROLLINGSTOCK’s analysts have estimated that the new UWC wagon has a 0.29 payload ratio, and that is now the best in the market. The 12-6744 gondola car also features a higher cubic capacity, increased to 94 m3, which is two cubic metres more than the 12-9853 model has, equivalent to the 12-196-02 wagon, but one cubic metre less than the 12-3201 car’s cubic capacity.
The 12-6744 launch ceremony took place at the Tikhvin plant in early February. The company plans to produce at least 5,000 wagons this year, as announced by UWC’s General Director Irina Olkhovskaya in her interview with RZD TV in the middle of March.
