OREANDA-NEWS  On 27 February was announced, that CJSC Transmashholding purchased 50.48% of shares of the JSC All-Russia Scientific Research and Engineering Institute for the Manufacture of Electric Locomotives (VElNII), the largest Russian R&D facility focused on developing technology in electric locomotive building.

The shares still uncontrolled by Transmashholding are not consolidated into considerable holdings of stock.

VelNII is located in the city of Novocherkassk, the Rostov Region. For many dozens of years it has been making a unified scientific and production complex with the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant (NEVZ), the largest Russian manufacturer of locomotives.

The institute has been deeply engaged in developing all electric locomotives manufactured at NEVZ since 1958. During its 50 years the institute has developed 50 types of main line and industrial electric locomotives. All electric locomotives currently in production at NEVZ were also designed by VElNII, including the up-to-date electric locomotives EP1M, EP1P, 2ES5K, 3ES5K, 2ES4K, NP1, and NPM2.

The institute is an advanced scientific and technical centre in the field of rolling stock, which has laboratory facilities for a range of R&D works and an automatic designing system.

The VElNII has a testing center accredited to perform certificate tests in the Russian Certification System GOST R, the Certification System at the Federal Railway Transport (SSFZhT), and authorized for operation in corresponding systems of the CIS states.

The institute is a right holder for key technical solutions in the sphere of Russian electric locomotive building, including those for promising electric locomotives with asynchronous, rectifier, and induction drives.

Making VElNII part of the holding will cut time for the development of new machinery, introduction of advanced solutions; will improve quality and reduce time necessary to eliminate design defects discovered during tests and exploitation of locomotives. The potential of the institute will be used in the frames of holding products unification program, and the introduction of a modular approach to designing and building new products.