photo: Graitec/THE TIKHVIN RAILWAY CAR BUILDING PLANT
United Wagon Company (UWC) has opened a new maintenance facility in Kyrgyzstan. They built in several stages, and it has category three status. Kyrgyz Railway will carry out current repairs and maintain warehouses while UWC will continue with development.
UWC opened a new maintenance facility in Kyrgyzstan. They held training sessions under a special programme which they developed for employees of the production and technical department. Those employees are responsible for the 12 maintenance areas covering the entire Kyrgyz railway. During the training, the employees learnt a theoretical basis, having studied the design and main technical parameters of the new generation Tikhvin railcars. Those railcars have innovative 18-9810 and 18-9855 bogies, which the employees have not met yet.
The service centre was set up in several stages and was awarded the status of a Category 3 authorised centre by UWC. First, UWC’s experts assessed the available equipment and the qualifications of the repair facility's personnel. Now it is a part of UWCs warranty and post-warranty maintenance programme for new generation freight cars. The state-owned National Company Kyrgyz Temir Jolu, Kyrgyz Railway, will carry out current uncoupling repairs and maintain a warehouse with stocks of components and serial spare parts.
Pavel Nalivaiko, Head of the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu National Company's Railcar Branch, said: "The common railway gauge, common customs area and strong trade relations between Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan give a clear understanding that new generation railcars will soon become widely used on the railway network across the entire 1520-mm area. Such fleet is more efficient than the old type and, therefore, could attract high interest on our market. This is why we are already working to prepare the service infrastructure. We are keeping pace with the times, understanding how the situation will evolve".
The railway industry is on the rise in Central Asia. There were several projects launched in last years. Igor Tkachev, Managing Director at Titran-Express said: "The geography of United Wagon Company's service network is being built taking into account the routes of Tikhvin railcars as well as the wishes of fleet owners and lessees. The opening of the authorised centre in Kyrgyzstan reflects the development of new transportation processes in Central Asia, in particular, in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. We are pleased that the new generation railcars are of interest not only in Russia, but also abroad. We look forward to developing further cooperation with the national railways of the 1520-mm gauge states.”
At the end of the first quarter of 2021, the UWC Group will implement its railcar maintenance and repair activities through a network of 97 service centres. Those are located around the 1520-mm area, including the Baltic states, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A third of the service centres are authorised to perform all types of maintenance and repairs (depot and overhauls). There are railcars equipped with 25-ton axle load bogies manufactured at the Tikhvin Industrial Site, which can visit only those 36 service centres. The other centres of the network offer current uncoupling repairs and maintenance or store spare parts for new generation railcars. This way, UWC reduces downtime for uncoupling repairs.