Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant receives a compliance certificate for a new gondola with increased cubic capacity

Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant (TVSZ, part of RPC “United Wagon Company” railway holding) received a certificate of compliance for a solid-bottom gondola with 98-m³ capacity from the Register of Certification on the Federal Railway Transport" (FBO "RC FRT"). The launch of serial production of the gondola is planned for the first quarter of 2016.

TVSZ production capacity for manufacturing solid-bottom gondolas, model 12-9869, amounts to 540 cars per month. The manufacturing programme is provided with the order for the next year.

Experts pronounce the demand for gondolas to increase: according to statistics, about a third of Russia's current fleet of gondola cars will have been written off by 2024 — more than 170 thousand cars will have outlasted their standard service life.

The new generation freight car manufactured by TVSZ and equipped with the Barber bogie with 25-tf axle load surpasses its Russian and the CIS counterparts in its technical and economic features. The 77-ton carrying capacity and 98-m³ capacity of the gondola body provide loading increased by 8 tons in comparison with the average loading of old-fashioned gondola models in use in Russian Federation. The service life of the new gondola car is 32 years.

The increase in the gondola cubic capacity allows to achieve efficient  freight transportation with low dense loaded density (bulk cargo), including lignite. This gondola model will provide customers with a significant reduction in the average cost of transportation of freights thanks to the tariff effect due to the enhanced capacity of car body and the increased time between overhauls.

Standard 1-ВМ limiting dimensions and the use of high-strength steel give the possibility to operate the car of 12-9869 model overall the 1520 mm gauge without restriction and contribute to the smooth interaction with the loading and unloading infrastructure.

The new gondola has been designed at the premises of All-Union Research and Development Centre for Transportation Technology (VNICTT, part of RPC “United Wagon Company” railway holding). FBO "RC FRT" certificate confirms that the new freight car model complies with the requirements of Technical Regulations of the Customs Union 001/2011 "On the safety of the rolling stock".