The Allegro plant is planning to start production of railway wheels in the 1st quarter of 2023

At the Allegro plant (a joint venture between Rail Service Group and EVRAZ), it is planned to start production of railway wheels in the 1st quarter of 2023.

This was announced by the founder of Rail Service Sergei Gushchin in an interview with Kommersant. Among other things, the new production is aimed at meeting the needs for wheels of those assets where Gushchin is a shareholder.

Ukrzaliznytsia: Tender for wheelsets

“I am a shareholder of two car repair enterprises – VKM and VRZ in Sterlitamak (SVRZ) – with a total capacity of over 100 thousand wheelsets per year and a repair volume of 20 thousand cars, as well as a large service company GDS, which repairs about 80 thousand wagons per year”, he says. According to him, the production has been considered since 2014 as a tool to minimize the risks of fluctuations in wheel prices.

Sergei Gushchin also pointed out that the maximum cost of the production project is 18 billion rubles, 50% of which are their own funds, which Rail Service and EVRAZ contribute on a parity basis, infoems Railway Supply, citing tzdjournal.

Gushchin notes that the responsibility for the wheels sales rests on him. The main risk of the project, according to Gushchin, is the change in the price of wheel blanks, which is tied to world metal prices. At the same time, the location of the plant – 30 km to the Nizhniy Tagil Metallurgical Plant (part of EVRAZ) and being within the framework of a special economic zone, which minimizes the tax burden – is noted as a competitive advantage. Earlier it was announced that Allegro’s capacity would allow the production of 200 thousand wheels per year with the prospect of increasing production to 300 thousand.

Related:

Ukrainian railway wheels for European trains

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