Alstom & Transmashholding open new production facility in Russia for asynchronous traction drives for electric locomotives

30-4-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — Alstom and its Russian partner, Transmashholding (TMH), today inaugurated a joint production site dedicated to asynchronous traction drives for electric locomotives in Novocherkassk, in southern Russia. This modern traction drive will equip the locomotives jointly developed and manufactured by Alstom and TMH for Russia and Kazakhstan. The inauguration ceremony was held in the presence of Russian Railways Senior Vice-President Valentin Gapanovich, TMH Managing Director Andrey Andreev, and Alstom Transport President, Henri Poupart-Lafarge.

“Alstom does more than just cooperate on the technological aspects with TMH. It also contributes to the development of the local economy while offering a new generation of highly competitive products, fully suited to the local environment and providing better performance,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge.

“Owning the production of the asynchronous traction drive for locomotives is a key step for the Russian railway industry,” said TMH Managing Director, Andrey Andreev. “We are starting to manufacture one of the most complex elements in a modern locomotive which will significantly reduce its operational and maintenance costs. This will make this product far more competitive.”

The asynchronous traction drive is a high-technology component whose main feature is a low weight to power ratio. It also ensures easier monitoring of the locomotive engine. The traction drive is to be installed on electric locomotives EP20 and 2ES5, which were developed by the partners for operation in Russia, as well as for locomotives KZ8A and KZ4A, which will be manufactured and operated in Kazakhstan.

The new site currently employs around 60 people and could reach more than 160 employees at full production capacity. The site is expected to produce 17 traction units per month and may also produce other equipment developed by Alstom and TMH. The total investment of the partners in this project represents about €40 million.

The facility is located in the Novocherkassk locomotive plant (NEVZ) owned by TMH. In order to implement the project, in May 2012, Alstom and TMH created a 50/50 joint venture, RailComp, to begin production of high-tech railway components for passenger and freight locomotives. Railcomp could also potentially export traction converter equipment produced in Russia.

Locomotives developed by Alstom and TMH are among the most powerful in the world, able to operate at temperatures between -50°C and +50°C. 400 locomotives will be supplied to Russia and 295 to Kazakhstan.

In 2010, Alstom acquired a 25% stake in TMH and signed a key strategic partnership with the company to develop new models of rolling stock for the 1520 mm gauge⁽¹⁾ region. At the beginning of their cooperation, the partners created TRTrans, a joint engineering centre to develop new rolling stock including passenger and freight locomotives for Russia and Kazakhstan.

Alstom and TMH are currently producing the EP20 dual-system passenger electric locomotive and the 2ES5 main-line freight electric locomotives with asynchronous traction drives for Russian Railways. In November 2012, the first EP20 locomotive was delivered to Russian Railways in the presence of Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

About Alstom

Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world, provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind, and it offers a wide range of solutions for power transmission, with a focus on smart grids. The Group employs 92,000 people in around 100 countries. It had sales of €20 billion and booked close to €22 billion in orders in 2011/12.

About Transmashholding

Transmashholding (TMH) is the largest railway engineering company in CIS in terms of sales volume and one of the largest manufacturers in the world. In 2011 the company registered sales of 106.3 billion rubles (2.65 billion euro). TMH employs 56,000 people and offers a wide range of products and services, including production and repairs of subway cars, electric and diesel trains, passenger cars, locomotives, freight cars, diesel power plants, locomotive, marine and stationary diesel engines. The company’s rolling stock is operated in all climatic zones.

Website www.tmholding.ru

Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant (Novocherkassk, Rostov Region) is the largest producer of freight and passenger mane line electric locomotives, industrial electric locomotives and traction units, spare parts for locomotives.

Alstom Press Contacts:

Emmanuelle Châtelain, Isabelle Tourancheau – Tel +33 1 41 49 37 38 /39 95
emmanuelle.chatelain@chq.alstom.com, isabelle.tourancheau@chq.alstom.com

Ekaterina Dobrogorskaya
Media Relations Manager, Alstom Russia and CIS Phone: +7 916 982 4517
ekaterina.dobrogorskaya@crn.alstom.com

TMH Press Contact:
Artem Ledenev, Public Relations Director, Transmashholding
Office: +7 (495) 660-89-50 (ext. 5252)Mobile: + 7-905-793-03-96
ledenev_a@tmholding.ru

⁽¹⁾ The 1520 mm railway gauge is used in most countries of the Community of Independent States (CIS).

From left to right: General Director of RailComp Frantz Verholle, President of Alstom Transport Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TMH Anatoly Ledovskikh, Senior Vice-President of RZD Valentin Gapanovich