Russia: Ust-Katav car-building plant (UKCP) plans to invest 958 mln RUR ($12 mln USD) in the construction of a new workshop for the trams production. The company explains its plans with a growing portfolio of orders.
At the moment, the plant has begun developing design estimates for the new workshop. In addition, UKCP intends to purchase at least 17 pieces of equipment in the amount of 378 mln RUR ($5 mln USD) via loan. In total, over the next three years, the company intends to invest more than 800 mln RUR ($10 mln USD) in equipment upgrades. In December last year, the governor of the Chelyabinsk region, Alexei Teksler, said that the new workshop would triple the plant’s capacity from 75-90 units per year up to 210-220 trams and create 240 jobs. An increase in capacity, among other things, should occur to fulfill future contracts for the trams supply to Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk.
As UKCP itself reported, by the end of last year the plant increased the production of trams to 85 units (+ 62% by 2020). In turn, preliminary revenue increased by 52% compared to 2020. During the last year, the company has delivered tram cars to Krasnodar, Taganrog, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk and Novokuznetsk.
71-623-04 trams manufactured by UKCP in Chelyabinsk. Source: gubernator74.ru
In the summer of 2021, in an interview for Pravda URFO, UKCP CEO Roman Novikov said that by the end of 2022, the plant has firm 7 bln RUR ($91 mln USD) backlog for the supply of 180 tram cars. The growth of the portfolio of orders was also confirmed by Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, which owns UKCP, in November last year. So, in 2021, the manufacturer signed contracts for 4.2 bln RUR ($54 mln USD, almost 2.5 times more than the result of 2020). Additionally, the development of a new line of low-floor trams was also noted.
However, these statements were made before Moscow announced the termination of the contract with Sinara – Transport Machines (STM) for the supply of 90 single-section trams. UKCP acted as a technical partner of STM in this project, producing rolling stock (the same format of cooperation is used by STM and UKCP in Taganrog and Chelyabinsk), and the 71-628M tram was supposed to be delivered. At the same time, recently Roscosmos announced that STM will buy 90 trams from UKCP: 50 units of 71-628M and 71-628 models will be manufactured in 2022 for Taganrog, and for another 40 71-628M trams, which are to be produced already in 2023, “the customer is currently being determined”.
71-628M tram manufactured by STM and UKCP on a test run in Moscow. Source: Alexander L, transphoto.org
In the Chelyabinsk region, where UKCP production is located, a new significant order for trams is possible. In February last year, it was announced that in 2022 the region plans to purchase 71-628 model trams. Also promising models – two-section 71-648 and three-section 71-631 – Aleksey Texler pointed out as an example of rolling stock that can be supplied for the metro tram project in Chelyabinsk.
At the beginning of 2022, the Russian Government approved applications for infrastructure loans from the Chelyabinsk Region for the metro tram project and the modernization of the tram network for a total amount of 84.4 bln RUR ($1,1 bln USD), and on February 7, the Ministry of Roads and Transport of the region announced a tender for the supply of 30 single-section low-floor trams for 1.9 bln RUR ($25 mln USD) or 59.8 mln RUR per car ($0,8 mln USD).
Sketch of body painting for perspective low-floor trams for Chelyabinsk. Source: zakupki.gov.ru
The maximum passenger capacity of the new trams for Chelyabinsk should be 150 people, and the length is 16.5 meters. In addition, the rolling stock must be equipped with four doors on one side. The results of the tender are planned to be summed up on February 28, and the cars must be delivered before the beginning of September this year.
