OREANDA-NEWS. EVRAZ continues launching new railroad wheel designs into production and having them certified for exports, while expanding its sales geography. This summer, the company started deliveries of wheel semis to Europe and entered the Czech market. Sweden and Austria are the next short-term targets.

EVRAZ is now present in all segments of the European railroad wheels market, from wheel semis to rough-finish and full-finish wheels for freight cars. EVRAZ NTMK shipped the first batch of NLZ 430 wheel semis to Germany this summer. A trial batch will shortly be delivered to the Czech Republic.

At the same time, EVRAZ is engaged in having three freight car wheel designs certified for the European market. Once completed, the certification will enable the company to deliver wheel types that currently take up to 70% of the European market. Also, in Q4 2015, EVRAZ NTMK will ship a first-ever batch of coated freight car wheels to Turkey.

«Expanding the geography and the product mix of our European deliveries is aligned with our overall strategy for ramping up the exports of railroad products. We see a big potential in the region and are ready to export up to 50,000 tonnes a year," says Ilya Shirokobrod, Vice-President, Sales, EVRAZ. "We are also expanding the scope with our US partners. In the short term, we plan to launch into production a new freight car wheel design for the US market, while working on new high-strength steel grades».

EVRAZ has now completed certification of the A-43 locomotive wheel, one of the most wide-spread wheel types in the US, Canada and Mexico. The wheels successfully passed the tests, and the Association of American Railroads (AAR) issued a permit to EVRAZ NTMK to deliver 8,000 wheels. A trial batch has now been shipped, with the serial production scheduled to start this October. The first commercial batch will be shipped by the end of the year.