OREANDA-NEWS. Vyksa Steel Works (VSW, Nizhni Novgorod Region), part of United Metallurgical Company (OMK) has entered into an agreement for the production of equipment for nondestructive testing of railroad wheels with Saint Petersburg-based Vimatec, part of Unitest Group.

According to the press service of OMK, the equipment commissioning is scheduled for August 30, 2007. The agreement value is 109 million rubles.

The system will operate on a three-shift basis twenty-four hours a day and ensure nondestructive testing of railroad wheels in accordance with the requirements of RD-32.144-2000, AAR standard, and other international standards. The system will consist of two testing lines, each of which to comprise an ultrasonic testing plant for internal defects, a fluorescent magnetic particle inspection plant for surface defects, and a laser plant for the testing of geometrical parameters of wheels. The equipment system with operate automatically with a capacity of 70 wheels an hour.

The use of the new automated system will enable VSW to improve the quality of its wheel products supplied to Russian Railways and other Russian customers and meet their demands to the full. Every wheel will be supplied with a certificate specifying its parameters and all testing results.

The acquisition of the new equipment system is part of VSW's program for further improvement of the quality of its railroad wheels and the development of its production of wheels with enhanced operational characteristics.

At present, under the program, VSW is mastering the production of curvilinear-disk wheels with enhanced rim hardness for new-generation railroad cars, as well as wheels with enhanced rim hardness for passenger cars.

The program for developing the production of wheels with enhanced operational characteristics is implemented by VSW under the long-term agreement entered into between OMK and Russian Railways in 2003. Under the $1.2-billion agreement, 5 million high quality railroad wheels to be produced by VSW are to be supplied to Russian Railways.