CUBA: Ambassador to Russia Emilio Lozada attended a ceremony at the plant of rolling stock manufacturer RM Rail at the end of August to mark the dispatch of last of 363 wagons ordered from the Russian company by Empresa Proveedora General del Transporte.
The contract finalised last year covers 163 sugar hopper wagons, 100 container wagons and 100 vans. Eximbank of Russia provided Banco Internacional de Comercio with a €21m facility to finance the order, under a pilot credit deal intended to initiate longer-term co-operation. The Russian Agency for Export Credit & Investment Insurance has covered export credit risk.
The 1 435 mm gauge wagons have been designed by RM Rail to Cuban specifications. The Type 19-1260 sugar hopper wagons are made from 15HSND steel suitable for the tropical climate. They have a one-piece roof opening rather than separate hatches to reduce shunting movements, and a sliding gate that provides metered discharge.
The Type 11-1262 vans have a capacity of 117 m3 or 64 tonnes and a tare weight of 26 tonnes.
The 60 ft Type 13-1261 container flat wagons have a capacity of 66·8 tonnes, 23·2 tonne tare weight and comply with the 1-T loading gauge under GOST 9238-83.
‘We have fulfilled our partners’ order with high quality and on time, which allows us to expect progress in co-operation with Cuba as well as other overseas buyers’, said RM Rail CEO Pavel Ovchinnikov. ‘Using the research facilities of our proprietary engineering centre, we are ready to adapt products to 1 435, 1 676 and 1 067 mm gauge standards. We have the technical capacity for serial production of rolling stock in any quantities based on individual customer requirements.’
