United Wagon Company and Kronospan have signed an agreement for the supply of 100 Tikhvin-produced flat car fleet of 60 feet for the transport of timber freight. The rolling stock fleet is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2021.
Under the contract, the Russian manufacturer will build and deliver the model 13-6895 flat car that has a loading length of 18.85 m and allows for three timber stacks, each of six metres in length, to be loaded while staying within the “short wheelbase” tariff, which significantly reduces the transport costs per tonne of freight.
The flat car has an increased load capacity of 72.5 tonnes and a higher load volume of 158 m3. Thanks to these specifications, the Tikhvin-produced flat car can be loaded with almost 40% more of freight compared with standard rolling stock models. Furthermore, uniform cross-section side racks help significantly reduce unused space when transporting packaged freight and prevent it from being damaged during loading and unloading operations.
The car is equipped with an innovative model of bogie with an axle load of 25 tonnes, increasing its maintenance interval up to 1 million km or eight years, significantly reducing the costs over the rolling stock’s life cycle. For comparison, a timber flat car mounted on standard 18-100 bogies, or equivalent, is sent for its first intermediate depot repair after running 210,000 km covering three years after the construction, with subsequent repairs carried out every 110–160,000 km or three years.
As a result of the latest deal and taking into account previous deliveries of 40-foot and 60-foot timber flat cars, 80-foot container flat cars, and gondola cars for transporting woodchips, the number of Tikhvin-produced cars of Kronospan’s fleet will surpass 1,000 units.
“We have managed to reduce the cost of both transporting freight and servicing the cars, allowing us to further expand the Kronospan freight fleet with new generation rolling stock,” Ardasher Kurbansho, General Director of Kronospan said.
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