OREANDA-NEWS. February 15, 2013. JSC Federal Freight and the German company Knorr-Bremse have set up a joint venture in Russia to produce equipment for rolling stock. The two companies will invest 1.02 billion roubles during 2013-2014. Federal Freight will hold 40% of the jv's authorised capital and Knorr-Bremse 60%, reported the press-centre of RZD.  

Federal Freight is one of Russia's largest operators of rolling stock, while Knorr-Bremse is a world leader in the design and manufacture of railway equipment. The new joint venture, Knorr-Bremse 1520 Ltd., will produce high-tech brake equipment for rolling stock in Russia and the CIS.

The documents setting up the company were signed in Moscow on 12 February 2013 in the presence of Valentine Gapanovich, Senior Vice-President at Russian Railways, Vitaly Evdokimenko, Managing Director of Federal Freight, and Dr. Dieter Wilhelm, head of Rail Vehicle Systems and member of the Executive Board at Knorr-Bremse.

The jv will be located in the Tver region, where construction has already begun of a plant with an area of nearly 16,000 square metres. It will be built in accordance with international standards based on the experience of Knorr-Bremse, which has production sites in 25 countries. The factory is scheduled to open in mid-2014 and reach full capacity by the end of 2015. The plant will create about 400 jobs.

Knorr-Bremse already makes a wide range of equipment in Russia to meet the requirements of the Russian and CIS markets, but the current product line will be expanded over the medium term, with production localised at the Tver plant. One of the main products to be manufactured by the jv will be new diffusers for freight rolling stock using the 1520 mm broad gauge, but the jv will also make disc brakes and oil-free compressors etc.

In order to ensure that the products meet the safety standards mandated for railway technology, Knorr-Bremse adapts its equipment for operation in harsh environments at temperatures as low as minus 60°C.

Knorr-Bremse has been working very successfully in Russia and the CIS for many years. In the 1960s, the Knorr-Bremse plant in East Berlin supplied brake equipment for Soviet passenger coaches.

Nowadays, Knorr-Bremse equipment is installed and used on Russian passenger rolling stock, locomotives and motorised rail units. Russian high-speed trains such as the Sapsan and Allegro also use brake and on-board systems manufactured by Knorr-Bremse.

According to Vitaly Evdokimenko, the joint venture will become the only enterprise in the country to produce the most advanced braking systems for freight and passenger rolling stock, including next generation passenger trains. This is an important step in facilitating the rail sector's systemic challenge of developing the modern industrial production of rolling stock in the Russian Federation.

"Creating this jv opens up many opportunities for Knorr-Bremse to work on the rail equipment market in the CIS. In the medium and long term, many projects can be implemented on this market to upgrade and modernise rolling stock. Operators are paying increasing attention to the life cycle cost of transport and component reliability as the intensity and speed of trains increases," said Dr. Dieter Wilhelm.