Kazakhstan: The local plant’s new freight car has been approved for serial production over a 5-year period, till December 2029, according to the obtained TR CU 001/2011 certificate of conformity, which was requested by Astana’s R-BRAND company.
The 18-6778 bogie has been also certified for 5 years of serial production at the Semipalatinsk Machine-Building Plant (SMZ). The vehicle and the bogie were previously tested by the Russian Research and Innovation Company Vagony. Both certificates were also granted by the Russian state institution, namely the Federal Railway Transport Register of Certification.
A service life of 22 years is the only technical specification unveiled. Meanwhile, this February, SMZ announced that its prototype gondola car was ready, though the model was not indicated. The presented gondola car with unloading hatches was equipped with the two-axle 23.5 tf bogies and featured a cubic capacity of 88 m3 and a payload of around 70 t.
As stated by the Kazakh authorities in October, SMZ plans to produce 600 gondola cars per year. The production site is becoming a fifth player in Kazakhstan’s railcar-building market.
