Railvolution

On 18 June 2020 OVK/UWC announced that it has sent 36 tank wagons for the transportation of sodium hydroxide and other chemical freight to Khimprom of Novocheboksarsk, a major diversified enterprise specialising in the mass production of industrial chemicals. The wagon acquisition was financed by Sberbank Leasing.

The Model 15-6900 tank wagon has an increased tank volume of 54.5 m3 and an increased payload of 73 t, meaning that 5 tonnes more of freight can be transported compared with standard wagons of this type. The tank is made from low-alloy steel, and special design solutions keep the freight in a liquid state, preventing it from solidifying. The thermal isolation element allows easy and simple access to the tank during maintenance. The wagon is fitted with Model 18-9855 bogies with an increased 25 t axle-load. The tank wagon’s service life is 32 years.

The partnership between OVK and Khimprom began in 2016. Including the latest batch, the chemical enterprise’s fleet now have over 100 Tikhvin-built tank wagons with thermal insulation for the transportation of a wide range of chemical freight products.

According to expert data, almost 30% of sodium hydroxide freight on the Russian market in 2019 was transported in Tikhvin-built Model 15-6900 wagons running on 25 t axle-load bogies. The remaining tank wagons deployed in the transportation of this freight were standard wagons running on bogies with 23.5 t axle-load.