UWC certifies its flat car with 46-foot loading length and begins a 1,000-unit contract

United Wagon Company ("UWC", the "Group" or the "Company"), Russia’s largest manufacturer of freight cars¹, has obtained a compliance certificate from the Register of Certification on the Federal Railway Transport for its Flat Car, Model 13-6724, and embarked on a contract to supply 1,000 freight cars to transport company Laude Smart Intermodal S.A.

UWC and Laude Smart Intermodal S.A. signed a contract to develop a new flat car in autumn 2020. The car was designed by engineers from VNICTT (part of UWC). The car prototypes were built at the Group's railcar building site in Tikhvin. By the end of last year, they had undergone a full set of stationary, service life and in-motion tests. In the second quarter of 2021, all formalities to put the car into production were completed and the car, Model 13-6724, was awarded a certificate of compliance with the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union "On Safety of Railway Rolling Stock”.

The 13-6724 car is the first flat car in the 1520-mm gauge area to feature loading length of 46 feet and carrying capacity of 80 t. The flat car is intended for transportation of containers with gross weight up to 40 t, primarily in cross-border traffic with European countries.

The economic benefits from moving freight containers on the UWC flat car renders economic are achieved through both the increased load capacity of the car itself and higher container volume (their length increased from 20 ft to 23 ft / up to 7,010 mm). This container can carry 13 pallets measuring 800 x 1,200 mm and up to 10 standard pallets measuring 1,000 x 1,200 mm, while a standard 20-foot container carries only 11 and 8 pallets respectively. The increased length of the container allows to load and transport various assortments of coiled steel and other piece freights.

Marcin Witzchak, CEO of Laude Smart Intermodal S.A.: "The three years of cooperation with UWC have convinced us of the operational advantages of Tikhvin railcars. Our fleet successfully operates 40-foot flat cars, which run between Russia and Poland, and Sgmmns-type container cars for intermodal transportation within the European Union. UWC has sufficient production capacity to cover our needs as a Customer, while it also meets delivery deadlines and, most importantly, ensures the required quality of the products supplied. We are considering further additions to our fleet with UWC railcars”.

¹As reported by INFOLine-Analytics: https://infoline.spb.ru/news/index.php?news=205975