NIPPON Sharyo and its export trading partner Sojitz Group have announced a ´200m contract to provide engineering support to Russian rolling stock manufacturer Promtractor-Vagon.
Under the deal announced in June, the Japanese companies will supply equipment and advise on the layout of the wagon assembly plant which is to be built in Kanash, a city around 90 km south of Cheboksary in the Chuvashia region of Russia. Construction of the plant is expected to be completed in 2008, with the first vehicles to roll out the following year. The factory will have the capacity to manufacture about 6000 wagons a year.
Promtractor-Vagon was established in 2005 in response to a sharp rise in the demand for wagons in Russia, and is a joint venture of RZD and Promtractor, the country’s largest manufacturer of construction machinery.
Nippon Sharyo estimates that there are around 800000 wagons in use in Russia, with the current domestic production of around 20000 vehicles a year falling behind the annual demand for 30000 new wagons.
