Board of Directors of State Transport Leasing Company visits Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant

A special ceremony was held on November 16 at Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant (a subsidiary of United Wagon Company (UWC), the leading railway holding in the CIS) to mark shipment of the 12,000th car under a supply contact with State Transport Leasing Company (STLC), the largest leasing company in Russia. The ceremony took place as part of a meeting of the Board of Directors of STLC. And the contract between UWC and STLC is the largest freight car supply contract to be implemented in the country in recent years. More than 15,000 cars will be delivered for a total price in excess of 50 billion rubles.

The First Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Evgeniy Ditrich, commented:

"Updating of the equipment in use on Russia’s rail network is among the main priorities of the Government’s technical policy, and the Russian Ministry of Transport is pursuing a consistent course for the modernization and renewal of Russia’s rolling stock fleet. The contract between STLC and UWC will provide the market with new rolling stock.”

STLC’s CEO Sergey Khramagin, commented:

"The freight car leasing market is still growing fast, and the writing-off of cars (30-40% of the fleet in some segments) is one major reason for this. The process has had a very positive impact on margins in freight car leasing business, because we have seen a natural process where excess capacity has been disposed of, part of which, of course, must be replaced. The contract with UWC will help us to strengthen our leading positions on the rail transport leasing market.”

UWC’s First Deputy CEO for General Management Dmitry Bovykin said:

"UWC has unique competences on the transport engineering market. We do more than design and build freight cars with high value-added to the requirements of a specific client. We have our own transport and leasing businesses, and that gives us a deep understanding of freight car operations. We also provide a guaranteed, prompt and high-quality repair service throughout the ‘wide gauge’ rail network. These advantages enable us to maintain our position as industry leader, expand our customer base and develop new initiatives. The contract for delivery of 15,000 cars to STLC will drive further replacement of inefficient rolling stock by new generation freight cars with maximum economic advantage".