RPC UWC: repair market rethink required

Dmitry Losev, Deputy CEO for Technological Development at Research and Production Corporation “United Wagon Company” took part in the round table “The prospects of development of freight cars repair market. The search for compromise solutions”. The event was organized by the press-center of the Publishing House “Gudok”.

The event’s participants considered topical issues and problems that freight car repair complex is facing, among which are pricing, services, tailored to the customer’s needs, a possibility of the state regulation and the prospects of the development of the introduction of new legislation, regulating the relationship between market participants.

During his report, dedicated to the topic of maintenance uncoupling repair and scheduled repair, Dmitry Losev emphasized the issue of the assessment of criteria, due to which a freight car is uncoupled to repair. For example, despite the fact that the Russian fleet of freight cars has been considerably renovated (due to, among other things, new generation freight cars, possessing improved technical characteristics), a number of uncoupling repair, required because of freight car body fault, has been only increasing.

Moreover, the current procedure of freight car faults identification makes the situation even more complicated. It is very often the case, that the occurrence of such causes is not being investigated, but rather determined automatically as the fault unfolds. Such approach both distorts a true picture, and makes it impossible to objectively assess vulnerable areas in the freight car construction and find solutions to eliminate them.

The issue of the term, during which a freight car is not operated due to maintenance repair, is still on the table. Freight car repair enterprises should be more active when rendering services for releasing of freight cars from maintenance repair. It is also vital to solve the problem of availability of necessary spare parts in areas of maintenance repair, wheelsets in the first place.

Speaking about scheduled repairs, Dmitry Losev pointed out, that the quality of repair largely depends on the scope of carried out works. However, today the maximum repair price is often dictated by the fleet owner, and not determined by the actual condition of the freight car (necessary amount of works in terms of repair and replacement of components).

Top-manager also told that at the present time a network of more than 50 servicing and 6 training centers have been functioning on the territory of the CIS countries which aim is maintenance of UWC new generation freight cars. Based on its head servicing center TAP “Titran-Express” UWC holding has started carrying out first scheduled repairs, which experience will be transferred to the whole servicing network. RPC UWC has plans to authorize more than 10 depots in the course of 2017 for them to carry out scheduled types of repairs of freight cars produced by UWC.