Russian rail operator Second Freight Company (SFC) has commenced modernization of its rolling stock. According to a contract with UralVagonZavod, a railcars manufacturer, SFC will take delivery of 1750 gondolas of 12-132 series before the end of this year, the Company said Wednesday. The cars are intended for transportation of bulk, loose and grab cargoes, palletized and break bulk cargo.
The first train with 60 new gondola cars for SFC arrived at the home station in mid-November. The company is going to take delivery of 1250 gondolas this November and 500 gondolas in December.
Overall, Second Freight Co, running a large-scale program for upgrade of its cars fleet plans to acquire about 40,000 new railcars by the end of 2014, to renovate 89,700 cars, which service life expires during this period. The company plans the program will help expand its railcars fleet to 192,000 units by 2015, and significantly reduce the average age of cars.
Ekaterinburg-headquartered Second Freight Company (a subsidiary of Russian Railways) started its business activities in 2010. The Company provides freight and forwarding services, renting out its own rolling stock to shippers and other services. Railcar fleet transferred by RZD and constituting fixed assets of authorized stock of SFC comprises more than 150,000 freight railcars, including some 110,000 gondola cars, 25,000 boxcars, over10,000 flatcars and more than 3,000 other units of rolling stock. Currently, the Company manages and operates a fleet of more than 173,000 cars (over 23,000 gondolas on a sublease agreements). Second Freight Co. plans to open this year 14 branch offices across the Russian railways network.