Signalling what could herald Indo-Russian cooperation in the railways sector Russia’s Sinara Transport Machines (STM) has recently launched work to assemble RTM-32 machine sets at the production site of San Engineering & Locomotives in India.
Technical experts of Sinara Transport Machines Holding (STM, part of the Sinara Group) recently started working on the assembly of RTM-32 machine sets in India.
STM staff-members will also guide and supervise the start-up and adjustment works after the equipment is manufactured. SKD is being implemented within the framework of the governmental program “Make in India”, which assumes a degree of localization of at least 51%, according to a statement by STM.
Russia has a centuries old history of a vast railway network which it inherited from Tsarist days and the Soviet Union and has a history of cooperation with India. Russian Railways is one of the biggest railway companies in the world and the total length used by it is one of the largest in the world. Russian Railways carries the third biggest freight in the world and has several planned projects of high speed trains between key cities. In 2005–2010, Russian Railways launched a program to introduce new high-speed trains. The first train, Sapsan, commenced service in December 2009 and connects Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod and is operated with trains manufactured by the German company Siemens.
Russia has the longest railway line in the world. The Trans–Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Western Russia to the Russian Far East. It is the longest railway line in the world with a length of over 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles), starting from Moscow and ending at Vladivostok, on the Pacific Ocean. The Trans-Siberian Railway has directly connected Moscow with Vladivostok since 1916. Expansion of the railway system continues as of 2021, with connecting rails going into Asia.There are also plans to connect Tokyo, the capital of Japan, to the railway via bridges between the mainland and the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido. India is expanding its presence in the Russian Far East as part of Act Far East Policy and has launched a trilateral involving Japan and Russia.
Based on the Russian equipment, Work Site Tampers (WST, track renewal train) will be produced. Track equipment of this type is used in construction, repair and maintenance of railway tracks. Besides, they are good for working with wooden and reinforced concrete sleepers. The machine sets are assembled at the production sites of San Engineering & Locomotives Co. Ltd located in Bangalore. The company is STM’s partner in the project.
The Indian railway sector is one of the key export destinations for STM Holding, according to Anton Zubikhin, Deputy General Director for Sales and General Director of STM Trading House. “At the moment, our company is supplying equipment to its Indian partners worth 20 million euros. Moreover, I would like to note that signing of these contracts was a result of tough competition with the world leaders in the railway equipment manufacturing sphere, including producers from Austria and the United States. We are by no means going to slow down. On the contrary, it is our plan to take part in the next tenders for the supply of various equipment for a total amount of more than 200 million euros,” he informed
One machine set includes two fully assembled trolleys (undercarriage), hydraulic transmission with the necessary attached implements, hydraulic motors with pumping station, air compressor and generator, remote control and digital control system, diagnostic and control systems for servo valves, tamping, lifting and straightening devices, according to the STM statement.
In addition, STM experts also developed all design documentation and adapted it to the requirements of the customer – the Indian Railways (IR).
Two lots of machine sets were delivered in India in early 2021. Two ready-made WSTs will be handed over to India Railways for pilot operation before the end of this year.
