TEXOL group acquires 400 articulated tank cars from United Wagon Company for transporting LPG

Research and production corporation “United Wagon Company” (UWC, the Holding or the Company) (MOEX: UWGN), Russia’s largest manufacturer of freight cars¹, and TEXOL group, one of Kazakhstan's largest railway operators and freight car fleet owners, have signed an agreement for UWC to supply articulated LPG tank cars within the framework of the International Railway Fair “PRO//Motion.Expo” (Moscow, Shcherbinka).

The number of tank cars to be supplied stands at 400, with the supply to be completed before the end of Q1 2021. At the start of the year, the railway operator purchased the first lot of 400 cars. With the latest acquisition, TEXOL will possess a total of 800 Tikhvin-produced articulated tank cars.

The 15-9541-01 tank car for transporting LPG (propane, butane and their mixtures) is unique to the CIS market. The tank car is noted for its increased loading capacity of 90 tonnes and an impressive tank volume of 163.1 m³. Furthermore, the design solutions used in the tank car enable the operator to save on the tariff component of its expenditures and thereby significantly reduce operating costs.

The tank car has two tanks connected by a clearance-free articulated joint designed to accommodate increased longitudinal and vertical loads and providing unobstructed passage for the articulated car running alone or coupled with standard cars along straight and curved sections of track, including small radii (60 to 80 m). The linear dimensions and design of the parts make it possible to operate the tank car on both public and private tracks, and to carry out diagnostics and repairs on the car without any need for reconditioning the track.

Sergey Gorsky, Member of the Board of Directors of TexolTrans, said, “We have a stable flow of orders for LPG transportation on both domestic and international routes spanning long distances, primarily from Irkutsk Oil Company. To handle the orders, we need modern rolling stock that would ensure high efficiency of our shipments. It is clear to us that such rolling stock is represented by Tikhvin articulated tank cars mounted on 25-tf bogies. We have been replenishing our fleet with these tank cars since the start of the year and they have shown positive operating results. This motivated us to purchase another lot. We firmly believe our business relations with UWC will persist as a long-term, robust and mutually beneficial cooperation.”

¹Data sourced from INFOLine-Analitika: https://infoline.spb.ru/news/?news=162724