UWC will supply the Rail Pro Group with 400 hoppers

Research and Production Corporation United Wagon Company ("UWC", "Holding" or “Company”) (MOEX: UWGN), Russia’s largest manufacturer of freight cars^[1], will produce 400-grain hopper cars for the Rail Pro transport and logistics holding in Q4 2021.

Grain carriers will be delivered under a trilateral agreement between the UWC railway holding, the State Transport Leasing Company and the Rail Pro Group. The Rail Pro transport and logistics holding's fleet already includes 400-grain hoppers produced by the Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant (part of UWC).

The hopper freight car of model 19-9549 for transportation of a wide range of grain cargoes has been represented in the product line of UWC since 2015. Due to its unique technical and economic characteristics, the rolling stock is in great demand. Thus, due to the increased axle load of the bogie and the increased body volume (120 m³), the Tikhvin hopper can carry up to 6 t more cargo than a standard analogue. Thus, the use of the total load capacity of the car (76 t) allows reducing the required fleet by 15% on average, thereby reducing the cost of purchasing the rolling stock and further costs for its operation.

The hopper grain carrier is equipped with five loading and six unloading hatches, ensuring cargo distribution inside the body evenly and quick unloading. Effective locking devices are applied in the hatch locking mechanisms to exclude unauthorized access to the transported cargo. The mechanism of locking devices provides a smaller number of seals than their analogues, which significantly increases the speed of car processing before shipment and reduces the cost of sealing devices. The freight car body is coated with a special two-component coating, which reliably protects the cargo from the external environment.

Alexey Vanyushin, Finance Director of Rail Pro Group: "Our company aims to provide comprehensive logistics solutions tuned to optimize our clients' transportation costs and high-speed cargo delivery in proper condition. As part of our fleet and on the railway as a whole, UWC freight cars are widely known as rolling stock, cost-effective in operation for all participants of the transportation process and capable of ensuring strict hygienic standards and preservation of physical and chemical properties of the cargo en route. We look forward to developing cooperation with United Wagon Company and State Transport Leasing Company".

According to UWC estimates, as of June 1, 2021, the number of hoppers for grain transport in the Russian railway network amounted to 52 thousand units with an average age of 9.5 years. Of these, 19.1 thousand freight cars equipped with 25 tf axle load bogie were used (or 36.8% of the total grain car fleet), where the share of UWC hoppers was 71.2%. Overall, from January 2016 to May 2021, UWC railway holding has a 50.5% share in the production of grain carriers in the Russian market.

The State Transport Leasing Company is the largest customer of innovative railcars in Russia. As of June 30, 2021, its grain hopper freight car fleet amounts 10.2 thousand (19.7% of the total number on the railway network of Russian Railways), including innovative large hoppers produced by UWC - 6.5 thousand units.

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