United Wagon Company and VRK-1 have signed an agreement on long-term cooperation

United Wagon Company (UWC) and Wagon Repair Company 1 (VRK-1) have signed an agreement for long-term cooperation in the field of service maintenance of innovative freight cars equipped with Barber bogie with axle load of 23.5 and 25 t.

On the base of VRK-1 repair depot the parties have agreed to establish warranty and post-warranty service centers for the rolling stock produced by Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant (managed by UWC) and equipped with innovative Barber bogies.

The Agreement allows for railcar maintenance, including current uncoupling repair, parts and Barber units storage and supply components to outside car-repair enterprises.

In turn United Wagon Company will provide VRK-1’s maintenance centers with repair regulations for produced and planned new car types equipped with Barber bogie.

Today more than 1 500 innovative cars on Barber bogies operate on the railway network. In 2014 Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant is planning to produce more than 9 000 new generation cars, most of which are rolling stock with increased axle load of 25 t.

Currently, nineteen maintenance facilities for cars equipped with Barber bogies are operating in Russia and the CIS based of Wagon Repair Company 2, Siberian Car-repair Company, Transvagonmash, Kamkor Wagon (Kazakhstan). Moreover, the agreements with the railway administrations of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania have been concluded.

Commenting on the agreement signing, Dmitry Losev, Deputy CEO for Technical Development at United Wagon Company, said: The growth of innovative technology railway fleet determines development of the our car maintenance programme. And we intend to continue development of a service network with an increase of production rate”.

Roman Vlasov, CEO at Wagon Repair Company 1, said: “New generation car maintenance service is a logical step in the company development. This agreement is not only strategically significant event for VRK-1 but also a movement to client-focused development of complex market service maintenance. I believe that this maintenance of innovative freight cars will allow owners to decrease its maintenance and operation expenses, providing high level of traffic safety throughout the post-Soviet railways, and thus, will allow delivering the cargos to the clients in time”.