Recent deals and tenders in the freight car market.
Germany — Rosneft Deutschland has signed a contract with leasing company GATX Rail Europe for 450 tank cars. The Zans type 1698 wagons will carry light petroleum products, with a 98 m³ tank capacity and a 68.2 t load capacity. They will be built at GATX Rail Europe’s own site in Ostróda, Poland, with Slovakia’s Tatravagonka and Croatia’s Duro Dakovic taking part. Deliveries start in September and run through to the second quarter of 2027. Rosneft’s German subsidiary, which handles 12% of Germany’s oil refining, was placed under state trusteeship in September 2022; that arrangement was made indefinite from March 2026. A full transfer of ownership is now under consideration, something Rosneft’s Russian parent is contesting in court.
India — Jupiter Wagons has received orders for the supply of 479 wagons worth a combined INR 2.1 bln ($22.3 mln). The Indian manufacturer is to supply 329 wagons worth INR 1.5 bln ($15.5 mln) to port operator JSW Port Logistics, and 150 wagons for INR 0.6 bln ($6.8 mln) to steelmaker Orissa Alloy Steel.
New Zealand — PT INKA and UGL are wrapping up one of their contracts to renew KiwiRail’s flat wagon fleet. Indonesia’s PT INKA has shipped a further 120 kitsets of 40-foot flat wagons to Australian engineering firm UGL, which is acting as technology partner in reviving freight wagon production at national operator KiwiRail’s site near Dunedin. This shipment forms part of a 340-kitset order, and PT INKA has now delivered 1,294 of the 1,504 kitsets ordered since the partnership began in 2021, with completion targeted for November 2026. UGL has also announced plans to assemble a further 1,350 wagons locally at the Dunedin site for use in New Zealand.
Production of flat wagons at UGL’s site near Dunedin. Source: UGL
USA — TrinTrinity Industries has delivered 170 hopper cars to Michigan short line Lake State Railway. The wagons will carry crushed stone and gravel, including for the railway’s own infrastructure upgrades, and will partly replace rolling stock that has been in service for more than 50 years.
Hopper cars built by Trinity Rail. Source: Mike Stickel
Kazakhstan — United Wagon Company (UWC) has expanded its wagon repair capacity in the country. The Karagandinskoye and Pavlodarskoye wagon repair depots, part of Kamkor Vagon, can now carry out scheduled repairs across UWC’s entire range of freight wagons with a 25 tf axle load, cutting out the cost of running wagons empty to Russia for that work.
Switzerland — Regional narrow-gauge operator MGBahn plans to buy 10 flat wagons for its 1,000 mm gauge network, at an initial cost of CHF 188,000 (€199,000). The wagons will initially handle freight traffic for construction of the Gornerli dam in Switzerland before joining the company’s general fleet.
