Railway PRO

United Wagon Company (UWC) and TransContainer, a subsidiary of Delo Group, have signed a contract for the supply of 150 container flat cars to transport high-capacity containers. The freight wagons will be manufactured at Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant.

The fleet of cars will be shipped to the operator by the end of this year.

Under the agreement, UWC will deliver the model 13-6903 flat car designed to accommodate high-capacity containers and tank containers with a gross weight of up to 36 tonnes.

The placing and fastening of containers of various size categories can be done according to the existing local loading requirements. To achieve this, the flat car’s frame is equipped with four fixed and ten double folding container pins.

The flat cars have a loading capacity of 74.5 tonnes and an 80-foot loading length. The freight wagon is equipped with bogies allowing a 25-tonne axle load, which increases the maintenance intervals up to 1 million km or eight years. For comparison, the standard models are sent for their first intermediate maintenance after running 210,000 km or three years, which is then repeated every 120–210,000 km or at three years. The service life of the flat car is 32 years.

“TransContainer is always working to refresh its fleet of container flat cars and is keen to see efficient rolling stock operating on a container transport market, able to secure the reliable supply of freight products to our clients. Partnering with UWC is a good example of how we find solutions to fulfill these objectives,” Andrey Banshchikov, Director for Equipment Operations at TransContainer said.

Together with this latest order, TransContainer has a Tikhvin-produced flat car fleet of 310 units. The Russian intermodal container operator owns UWC flat cars with loading lengths of 40 and 80 feet. TransContainer has the largest containers and container flat cars fleet in Russia, operating on the 1,520-mm rail network.