Russia: Last week in Nizhny Tagil the producer unveiled prototypes of freight cars it had developed and signed a cooperation agreement with a subsidiary of Russian Railways, Federal Freight.
Interfax quoted Andrey Shevtsov, the Federal Freight’s deputy general director for technical development, as saying that from 2025 Uralvagonzavod will start delivering up to 20,000 eight-axle gondola cars, split between two models. “First, we will purchase 200 cars of each model for pilot operation”, he said.
The wagon builder showed two proposed models with semi-rigid couplings, eight-axle Ural 12-5991 and BAM 12-5992 gondola cars. They differ in size, payload and body volume but have the same design life of 32 years. The 176 m3 Ural can carry 150 t of cargo, and the 166 m3 BAM can carry 151 t of cargo. Russian Railways expects the cars to be certified by the end of 2024.
Rendering of future cars of Federal Freight. Source: Federal Freight
The Russian national operator announced the idea of reviving the production and operation of eight-axle gondola cars at the end of 2022. Then, its railway research institute, VNIIZhT, noted that these cars would allow more cargo to be transported with the same train length. Uralvagonzavod and Federal Freight claim that the new rolling stock will contribute to solving the strategic task of increasing the carrying capacity of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and Trans-Siberian Railway. At the same time, Federal Freight is working with RM Rail on the development and launch of another eight-axle freight vehicle, the 15-1271 tank car.
