The Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) intends to build 4,000 gondola cars at its facilities – the Paniutin railcar repair plant (Kharkiv region), the Stryi railcar manufacturing plant (Lviv), and the Darnytsia railcar repair plant (Kyiv) – in in 2018. The head of Ukrzaliznytsia’s department of railcar management, Oleh Motin, announced this at the international conference "Carriage Construction and Repair of Rolling Stock" in Kyiv on Tuesday, the CFTS correspondent reports.
The plan for next year also provides for building 200 container flatcars.
In addition, Ukrzaliznytsia wants to buy 700 grain carriers next year and use funds raised from increase of freight rates to purchase an additional 2,500-3,000 gondola cars.
According to Motin, 1,676 gondola cars have already been built at Ukrzaliznytsia’s own facilities in 2017, and 800-900 are expected to be built by the end of the year. "Ukrzaliznytsia’s enterprises have already reached the production level of 360 gondola cars per month," he said.
As reported, the company planned to build 3,000 gondola cars this year, but it has faced difficulties during tenders for supply of components throughout the year.
Motin also said that the first contracts for purchase of wagons with loans provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) were scheduled to begin in the second half of 2018. According to earlier reports, the EBRD will provide EUR 150 million, which will be sufficient for purchase of 6,000-7,000 gondola cars.
