Russian corporation United Wagon Company (UWC) will produce 110 Sggrs80 articulated flatcars for Deutsche Bahn (DB). The innovative wagons will be manufactured by Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant, a subsidiary of UWC, by November 2020.

The agreement between UWC and DB was signed on 28 August during PRO//Motion.Expo exhibition took place in the vicinity of Moscow. The Sggrs80 articulated flatcar is an innovative product of UWC. Its prototype was presented at InnoTrans 2018 trade fair last year.

The 80-foot Sggrs six-axle flatcar was designed to be lighter than the existing counterparts on the European railway market and be able to carry more freight. The freight wagon has a loading capacity of 108.6 tonnes and is capable to transport ISO containers, tank containers and interchangeable gross bodies with a gross weight of up to 36 tonnes in various size categories. Deutsche Bahn will use the ordered wagons on the European gauge network (1,435 millimetres). Therefore, they have bogies with an axle load of 22.5 tonnes to be compatible with the infrastructure requirements in the European countries.

First batch of flatcars

Deutsche Bahn purchased the new cars in order to develop its freight business. “As we are planning to develop our freight shipment division, we will soon need an additional fleet of freight cars and railway engines. Since German manufacturers cannot fully meet our demand for rolling stock, we seek to collaborate with other companies, including Russia’s UWC,” said Uwe Günther, the DB’s Chief Procurement Officer. For the German company, it is the second deal with UWC. In November 2018 DB purchased 160 Sggrs80 articulated flatcars. The wagons from the first order will be delivered in the first half of 2020.

Two weeks ago Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant has manufactured the first batch of flatcars. They were shipped to Germany for trials. Until the end of 2019, these wagons will be tested for compliance with TSI (Technical Specifications for Interoperability) requirements, the strength of the frame structure, shock absorption of both empty and loaded cars, brake system performance, movement along a winding route.