UWC Holding wins Deutsche Bahn tender for delivery of flat cars

Research and production corporation “United Wagon Company” (“UWC”, “the Holding” or “the Company”) (MOEX: UWGN) has won an international tender by Deutsche Bahn (DB), Europe’s largest railway operator and infrastructure owner, to supply Sggrs80 articulated container flat cars. UWC’s main competitors in the tendering competition were leading companies from Europe and the USA. A total of 130 cars will be supplied in the first half of 2020. Additionally DB may order another batch of flat cars from UWC.

United Wagon Company’s entrance to the EU market represents a major breakthrough for the Holding's export strategy. UWC has worked successfully on a technologically challenging project to design and manufacture rolling stock that meets DB’s stringent requirements. UWC has thus confirmed the quality of its products, shown that it has the necessary experience to build railcars for foreign markets and proved the high standard of its production and engineering competencies.

The 80-foot articulated Sggrs-model flat car has a payload capacity of 108 tons, enabling it to transport various standard-sized ISO containers, tank containers and swap bodies with a gross mass up to 36 tons. The flat car is designed to be more light-weight than standard analogues now operating in Europe. The bogies have an axle load of 22.5 t and the car is intended for operation on the 1435-mm rail gauge.

The articulated flat car was designed by United Wagon Company’s R&D Technology and Transportation Centre. The cars for the European market will be manufactured at UWC’s production site in the town of Tikhvin (Leningrad Region). The car assembly certification for compliance with the European TSI standard will be carried out by the end of 2019.

Maxim Kuzemchenko, the Managing Director at UWC, commented: “Designing a car for Deutsche Bahn was a very ambitious objective for UWC. It would be possible to enter the European market offering cars with a simpler construction for ordinary freight companies, but we decided to offer something more sophisticated, because DB sets extremely high standards for the quality of processes and implementation. Within a year, we carried out R&D work, worked on the design with our German colleagues, studied existing European standards, prepared our manufacturing facilities and personnel, and built links with international suppliers. I am confident that this project offers our company huge potential on the international market. Our capabilities to produce 20.000 freight cars annually will help European customers to cover their needs in situation where local producers are overbooked with orders. We are ready to offer all types of rolling stock for the transportation of gases, bulk and other cargos to customers around the world.”

Martin Kretschmer, Head of Procurement of Deutsche Bahn commented: “I am very pleased to welcome UWC as a new supplier for Deutsche Bahn. We rely on strong suppliers such as UWC to help us further increase our rail freight business. We look forward to receiving first freight cars from Russia.”