Russia Defines Criteria of “Innovative Freight Car”

Russia keeps on defining criteria for freight car “innovativeness”, the RZD-Partner reports. This question was discussed at the meeting chaired by Vice Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

The minutes of the meeting states that increased axial load (up to 25 t) is to be considered the innovativeness criterium.

This question is so important to Russian freight car manufacturers as the Government has recently approved certain benefits that a customer of an innovative freight car receives. However, there is a heated discussion within the Russian expert community of what “innovativeness” is.

By now there are 40,500 freight cars with 25 t/axle load in Russia. The largest fleets are (all gondola cars):

- Vostok 1520: 12-9853 type cars (7196) and 12-9869 type cars (6532) manufactured by TVSZ);

- SUEK: 12-9853 type cars (6047), 12-2143 type cars (1120), 12-2142 type cars (1001) manufactured by Altaivagon;

- UVZ Logistic: 12-196-01 type cars (6078) manufactured by Uralvagonzavod.