OREANDA-NEWS. October 30, 2008. Tver Carriage Works has sent the first batch of locomotive-driven passenger coaches of a new model line (so called 4440 series), reported the press-centre of Tver Carriage Works.   

The whole batch will be delivered to the Sverdlovsk Railway (subsidiary of JSC Russian Railways, JSC RZD).

Fourteen new rail cars (seven 61-4440 compartment cars and seven 61-4447 open-plan cars) will become part of the Ural comfortable train running between Sverdlovsk and Moscow.

By the end of October, another 23 cars designated 61-4440 are also scheduled to be sent to the North-Western Railways, and 12 to the Moscow Railway (JSC RZD subsidiaries) to make up comfortable trains Lev Tolstoy (Moscow- Helsinki) and Russia (Moscow-Vladivostok), respectively.

The main features of the rail cars compared to previous TVZ models are as below: body, undercarriage, interior and brakes. The body, which is made one meter longer, is an integral framework made of anti-corrosion steels. The sides have plain-corrugated paneling.

The body materials consumption has been reduced by 1.5 metric tons and its service life has been extended from 28 to 40 years. The new rail cars have state-of-the-art safety and life support systems for passengers and crew. The entrance attached sliding doors, double glass panes, high comfort furniture, as well as other innovations and solutions have been used to make the rail cars.

The 61-4440 compartment cars as well as 61-4447 open-plan cars have become the firs rail cars of a new model line launched into series production. The new 61-4440 car has nine compartments, which have been made more comfortable than those of the previous series; it has bigger vestibules and a special service room for equipment.

The passenger compartments have advanced design, adjustable furniture, video and audio systems, as well as control and diagnostics systems. The block of two ecologically friendly WCs is located in the vestibule that is not used for boarding passengers.

As of now, the new unified body has become basis for compartment cars (61-4440), open-plan cars (61-4447), staff cars (61-4445), and also interregional cars (61-4458). The first three types have been certified, and the 61-4458 type will get a certificate of compliance in 2009. Planned for development by TVZ next year are a dining car, a luggage car. Production of 44 series cars for fixed trains is also scheduled for 2009.

The new cars make the future of carriage building in Tver. To launch them into production, the enterprise had been retooled and new technologies have been introduced in its manufacturing. A new cut-of-the-edge quality control system has been worked out based on close cooperation and information exchange between TVZ, Transmashholding, and JSC RZD, as well as participation of specialized machine-building R&Ds.

Tver Carriage Works is the main supplier of locomotive-driven passenger coaches for the Russian railways. Under the State Strategy of Railway Transportation Development until 2030, RZD has plans to purchase up to 29,500 up-to-date locomotive-driven passenger coaches.

By the yearend, the Tver plant is scheduled to sent another 147 rail cars of the new model line, 118 will be compartment cars (61-4440 model), 22 – staff cars (model 61-4445), and seven - open-plan cars (61-4447 model).