OREANDA-NEWS. July 24, 2008. The Gomel-based Kalinin car-repair plant and Kriukov Car Building Works (Ukraine) have launched the passenger car production. The new sleeping car of enhanced passenger capacity (Model 61-779) was unveiled in Gomel on July 24.

The car meets all modern requirements. It has a climate-control, automatic fire extinguishing system, a shower cabin and many other things which make a journey more comfortable, Vladimir Balakhonov, the deputy chief of the Belarusian Railways, told reporters. The car is based on the body made by the Kriukov Car Building Works. It has an extended platform which allowed increasing passenger capacity (from standard 36 seats to 40 in the new car) and also extended service life due to a more rigid body structure.

Twenty Belarusian-Ukrainian cars will be supplied to the Belarusian Railways in 2008. Eighty more cars will be manufactured under the cooperation programme of the Gomel-based Kalinin car-repair plant and Kriukov Car Building Works until 2012.