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14.09.2009 (13:05)

The first joint ventures in locomotive building are going to have their production ready for introduction next year. The new electric locomotives based on Siemens and Alstom designs are full of innovations which are currently absent at Russian enterprises. Meanwhile the prospects for their sales are rather vague because, as tentative estimates show, these innovative units will cost twice as much as existing ones.

Plans for the development and creation of new traction rolling stock, based on experience worldwide, have already been under discussion for several years. In particular, just two years ago, at the 1st International railway salon EXPO 1520, the former general director of “Sinara – Transport Machines” company, Evgeny Kopein, declared that "the main achievement of this exhibition was the arrangement signed with Siemens. The content of future cooperation is the co-production of diesel locomotives and traction units," he explained. He added that it was already clear at that time that Sinara was on the way to create a joint venture with this German holding group. However it took Sinara almost two years to go from a general arrangement to a clear agreement. For example, it was only last year when the Sinara Group of companies and the German concern signed a memorandum on the production and supply of electric locomotives to OAO RZD. And only last summer it became known that the parties agreed at last about the organisation of modern locomotive production in Russia.

Next year the joint venture will release its first production. According to the signed agreement, Sinara and Siemens will organize a joint venture for the production of two-section locomotives at the Ural Railway Machinery Plant (UZZhM, belongs to Sinara group). In 2011 the joint venture will start a production line to release locomotives with asynchronous drives; output will be more than 100 units per year. "Cooperation with Siemens will allow RZD to be supplied with the modern cargo locomotives which will be similar to those elsewhere in the world," declared Dmitry Pumpyansky, the President of the Sinara Group after signing the agreement. He said these locomotives will have standard weight parameters, but simultaneously will be able to pull trains of up to 9,000-10,000 tons in weight; that is from 30% to 40 % more than they can do today.

The joint history of Transmashholding and Alstom also started in 2007 when the first memorandum of intention was signed. Later that year, in March, an agreement on strategic cooperation was signed which included creating a joint venture on an equal basis to manufacture railway rolling stock. Within the framework of that new project both parties agreed to create a company to develop new models of rolling stock for the Russian railway transport system using the latest Alstom Transport and TMH technologies. The new structure will create competence centres in Russia to develop innovative products on the basis of both parties’ know-how. New production for the Russian and CIS markets will be manufactured by TMH in Russia; the level of its local production will be between 75% and 80%. It is expected that the first joint project will be an electric locomotive created on the principle of a base platform developed at the Novocherkassk Electric-Locomotive Plant. It is planned that the first locomotive will be ready by the middle of 2010.

In OAO RZD it is noticed that so far the company has not taken up any obligation to purchase the Russian-German locomotives. Simultaneously, they are still interested in new engineering in case it has economic advantages and allows the best economic benefit, and also if the technical parameters and price targets can be achieved. Meanwhile, even OAO RZD’s top managers recognize that today the expected cost of such a Russian-German hybrid is approximately twice the cost of the 2ES6 electric locomotive currently being produced. "But we do not have to forget that it will be an electric locomotive with really new technical and economic features, particularly lower maintenance and repair costs and increased energy efficiency. Because of these factors the new locomotive’s life cycle will cost less than the life cycle of locomotives we are operating now," one of RZD’s top managers says. "As is known, so far nothing has been reported about actual orders. Nevertheless, considering the serious deterioration in the electric locomotive fleet, the need for new locomotives will undoubtedly grow and RZD will buy the production of this joint venture. The only question is - in what quantities?" Finam Investment Company’s Leading Expert, Dmitry Baranov, says. In his opinion the size of the order will depend on the price and technical parameters of the locomotives, but RZD definitely has the opportunity to buy 100 machines per year from each of the joint ventures starting from 2011 - 2012.

Maria Shevchenko

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