United Wagon Company will manufacture and deliver a fleet of innovative six-axle hopper car to Acron Group, a Russian mineral fertiliser producer which is the first company to such freight wagons for shipping its products.
The six-axle hopper car efficiently combines articulated structure and hopper boxes located in the lower end parts of the car body. The cars are fitted with 25 tonne-axle load bogies and integrated brake actuation and has a system of individual braking at each bogie. This ensures high performance parameters. The articulated cars have an increased lift capacity of 113.5 tonnes, over 50% more than the cars currently used by the Acron Group. The car body has a volume of 160 m³ that allows efficient transport of the entire range of bulk goods using the 113.5 tonnes payload in full.
Eight loading hatches are located as close as possible to one another ensuring that the entire car body is filled evenly. The mechanisms of the locking and sealing devices allow faster car processing and lower costs of the locking and sealing devices. The tilt angles of the hopper box and end walls are selected so as to ensure complete unloading and enhance unloading convenience and speed.
“The new hopper is more efficient in terms of production and cost of operation. By using this model, the group will cut the cost of mineral fertiliser delivery by rail,” Acron Vice President for Transport and Logistics Igor Bogdan said.
Acron is leasing the hopper cars from Logistics 1520, the Group’s long-term partner in mineral fertiliser transport by rail.
In 2019, Acron Group transported 8 million tonnes of raw materials and finished products by rail, using its own fleet of 1,700 cars and tanks and over 2,500 leased cars. The new hopper cars will be added to the company’s rolling stock fleet to transport the mineral fertilisers.
The design of the six-axle hopper car takes account of infrastructural peculiarities, which allows its operation at most cargo handling terminals.
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