New gondola car with high-strength steel received a positive opinion of the acceptance committee

The 12-6744 gondola car with unloading hatches, equipped with 25-t axle-load bogies, passed the acceptance tests, which confirmed its compliance with the design and regulatory documentation, as well as the readiness of the manufacturer to produce the development series of freight cars. The committee also agreed on measures necessary for the controlled operation of the new gondola cars. Obtaining a certificate of conformity from the Federal Budgetary Institution “Register of Certification on Federal Railway Transport” is scheduled for the second quarter of this year.

Representatives of the Department of Technical Policy and Rolling Stock Directorate of JSC Russian Railways, Central and Oktyabrskaya Infrastructure Directorates of JSC Russian Railways, the Inspection Center “Acceptance of Cars and Components”, Railway Research Institute of JSC Russian Railways (VNIIZHT) and the Rolling Stock Engineering Center, Tikhvin Trial Centre for Railway Transport, as well as the developer and manufacturer of the gondola car — the All-Union Research and Development Centre for Transportation Technology and the Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant — took part in the acceptance of the results of the development work in accordance with the national standard.

A prototype of the new gondola car was presented at the PRO//Motion.Expo, an international railway fair of railroad machinery and technologies in 2023. The key competitive advantages of this evolutionary model in UWC’s product line are the reduction of tare weight by 2 t with a simultaneous increase in load capacity to 77 t and in freight car body volume to 94 cubic meters with maximum use of the overall space, taking into account the compatibility with car dumper. Due to a 10% increase in loading capacity, a trainset of 12-6744 gondola cars can carry up to 550 t of cargo more than a trainset of standard cars.

According to a VNIIZHT representative, for the first time in railway engineering the welded structures of the gondola car used high-strength steel with a guaranteed tensile strength of 420 MPa. “Following the evaluation this steel was recommended for use in freight car construction. In the course of the gondola car production, we also assessed the weldability in manufacturing and the repairability of metal structures by welding using the technology existing on the railway network,” the expert noted.