OREANDA-NEWS. March 21, 2008. Altaivagon is one of the partners of West Siberian Railways, a regional division of Russian Railways and will now begin the production of large steel castings in the town of Rubtsovsk in Altai Territory.

The project will be use equipment from the Italian company Savelli (automatic forming line) and the German AHB (for the manufacture of rods).

Russian Railways believes the new project at Altaivagon to be very important since now almost 80% of the cracks identified in the castings of bogies and wheels are on central bearings, beams and sidewalls. This new line of business for Altaivagon will manufacture 9,000 side frame rails and bolsters a year for wagons, which will meet fully Altaivagon need for these parts.

Taking part in this investment project are Altai's regional authorities, which enabled Altaivagon to make use of investment leasing, which cuts down on the working capital needed. The regional authorities are also subsidising the payment of taxes on the plant property and bank interest rates on the loans taken up to finance the project.

The new line at Altaivagon will be commissioned in April 2008.