OREANDA-NEWS. May 26, 2008. Bombardier Transportation and Transmashholding announced that they have signed an agreement to establish a new joint venture to develop a new family and new generation of locomotives using asynchronous propulsion technology, reported the press-centre of Transmashholding.

The agreement was signed at the Third International Rail Business Forum in Sochi, by Wolfgang Tolsner, Chief Operating Officer, Bombardier Transportation, and Andrey Andreev, acting General Director, ZAO “Transmashholding”, in the presence of the President of ОАО “Russian Railways” (RZD) Vladimir Yakunin. Bombardier Transportation is the global leader in the production of electric locomotives. Transmashholding is the major supplier of rolling stock for the Russian railways.

The new joint company will be located in Russia. Each party to the agreement will have an equal share and equal rights. The main task will be the development of new locomotives for the Russian and CIS markets, as well as for export to new markets.

Transmashholding is confident that the combination of Russian design experience with Bombardier’s technological know-how as the world leader in rail engineering and manufacturing will achieve significant results in the near term.

The creation of a new engineering joint venture to develop locomotives is a consistent progression in the cooperation that started between the companies last year. On May 25, 2007, an agreement was signed in Sochi for the establishment of two joint ventures. These included the development of advanced propulsion technology for railway equipment and the production of key components for electric locomotives - traction converters based on Bombardier’s proven MITRAC propulsion technology.

During the course of 2007, Bombardier Transportation Transmashholding AG, was formed as the managing company, followed by the establishment of two subsidiaries: Transmashholding Bombardier Transportation (Engineering) Rus" (engineering center) and "Transmashholding Bombardier Transportation (Industrial) Rus" (converter manufacturing JV).

The Russian market for traction power rolling stock is one of the largest in the world. In 2007 72.5% and 84.2% of RZD’s electric and diesel locomotives respectively had exceeded their operating life. RZD’s anticipated demand for all types of locomotives amounts to 11675 vehicles for the period of 2008-2015 and a further 11722 vehicles for the period of 2016 – 2030.