KYRGYZSTAN: Russian company United Wagon Co has opened an authorised service centre in Bishkek to provide warranty and post-warranty maintenance for modern wagons it has supplied.
Repairs will be undertaken by national railway KTJ, which will maintain a warehouse with stocks of components.
UWC has designated the facility as a Category 3 authorised centre following an assessment of the equipment and staff qualifications, and the development of a training programme which saw staff from KTJ’s 12 maintenance areas studying the design and technical parameters of wagons produced by UWC’s Tikhvin plant.
‘The common railway gauge, common customs area and strong trade relations between Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan give a clear understanding that new generation wagons will soon become widely used on the railway network across the entire 1 520 mm area’, said Pavel Nalivaiko, Head of KTJ’s rolling stock branch, on April 26.
‘Such wagons are more efficient than the older types and, therefore, could attract high interest on our market. This is why we are already working to prepare the service infrastructure. We are keeping pace with the times, understanding how the situation will evolve.’
UWC now has a network of 97 service centres located around the 1 520 mm gauge region, including Russia, the Baltic States, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Of these, 36 service centres are authorised to perform all types of maintenance and repair of wagons with 25 tonne axleload bogies
Igor Tkachev, Managing Director of UWC’s Titran-Express maintenance business, said the service network ‘is being built taking into account the routes of Tikhvin railcars as well as the wishes of fleet owners and lessees. The opening of the authorised centre in Kyrgyzstan reflects the development of new transportation processes in Central Asia, in particular, in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. We are pleased that the new generation railcars are of interest not only in Russia, but also abroad.’
