With the goal of at least partially covering the shortage of gondola cars, the Lviv railway has begun converting universal flatcars for transportation of bulk cargoes. Mineral wagons will be upgraded in the future. The Lviv railway announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
The universal flatcars are being converted at a railcar repair depot in Zdolbuniv. Judging by the available photographs of the converted rolling stock, the sides of the universal flatcars are made of wooden boards. Two converted universal flatcars are ready for operation.
According to the statement, the Lviv railway is the first division of the Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) to implement this technology, and it could convert about 40 universal flatcars for transportation of bulk cargoes over the next few months.
A decision has also been made to establish a process for conversion of mineral wagons that are currently out of operation for transportation of bulk cargo. Specialists from the Drohobych railcar repair depot are currently developing this technology at the Lviv Railway.
As reported, a market participant recently predicted that there would be a shortage of about 18,000 gondola cars for transportation of freight by the year 2021.
