OREANDA-NEWS. Siemens and the Russian industrial company Russian Machines Corporation, which is headquartered in Moscow, agreed to establish a joint venture. The new company, in which both partners will invest a total of 160 million Euro, is to be based in the region ofMoscowand will employ up to 800 people. Siemens and Russian Machines aim to participate as joint partners in the invitation to tender forMoscow's metro. The Russian capital wants to modernize its metro fleet and is planning to purchase more than 2000 cars.

“Siemens is the most successful foreign provider of rail technology in the Russian market. We want to further reinforce this role in the country. With Russian Machines, we have won one of the most renowned industrial companies in Russia as a partner,” said Jochen Eickholt, CEO of the Rail Systems Division at Siemens.

“In cooperation with Siemens AG we plan to provide the city ofMoscowwith one of the most advanced rolling stock in the world. Moreover, we intend to localize the production of new generation rail cars and thus create new perspective jobs in the Moscow region”, said Siegfried Wolf, chairman of Russian Machines.

The contract is likely to be awarded to a bidder that can prove that value added is generated locally. To this end, Siemens and Russian Machines intend to establish local production operations in the greaterMoscowregion; these could cater for up to 80 percent of localization as of 2017 supported by the Siemens metro car plant inVienna,Austria. In September 2013, Siemens and Russian Machines presented their first design study for the trains at the 4th International Rail Salon of Engineering and Technologies “EXPO 1520” inMoscow. The new generation of trains has been specially developed forMoscow's metro and offers a combination of great comfort, higher capacity and maximum safety for passengers. In addition, the new models enable lower power consumption and maintenance costs compared with the trains currently in use in Moscow.

The joint venture is to make a major contribution to modernizingRussia's infrastructure and increasing industrial value added - two issues that Joe Kaeser, President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG, andRussia's President Vladimir Putin discussed intensively at a meeting in October 2013.