The high-tech plant will have the capacity to produce annually 13,000 wagons, 90,000 tonnes of railway castings, and 13,000 wheelsets under one roof, making it by far the biggest wagon manufacturer in Russia.
The Roubles 36bn ($US 1.2bn) project is being implemented by ICT Group together with Vnesheconombank and the Eurasian Development Bank, A further Roubles 6bn has been spent on housing for the plant's employees, which will number 1500 initially and will eventually ramp up to 4500.
Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant (TVSZ) says that for the first time the factory combines freight wagon manufacturing technology and expertise with that of automobile production. Equipment such as automatic production lines and industrial robots has been procured from manufacturers in more than 40 countries around the world including Danobat, Spain, Eisenmann, Germany, and Siemens-VAI.
The plant will use the latest production aids such as a resource planning system similar to that used by Boeing, a product lifecycle management system, and the latest information and communication technologies. TVSZ will also introduce Barber bogie casting to the Russian market.
