(Reuters circulated the following story by Susan Taylor on May 21.)
OTTAWA — Bombardier Inc., the world’s biggest train maker, has teamed up with a Russian partner to develop a high-tech locomotive that could replace the aging stock on Russia’s 83,500 kilometers (52,200 miles) of track.
Bombardier said its joint venture with Russia’s CJSC Transmashholding would build “new generation” locomotives for Russian and other Eastern European countries that would be both more efficient and cheaper to operate than those now in use.
The asynchronous propulsion technology planned for the new locomotives uses alternating current not direct current, improving reliability and allowing energy to be fed back to the system when a vehicle brakes, the Canadian company said.
“This propulsion system is used elsewhere, but for Russia, and for many of the locomotives that they’re replacing, this type of technology is an upgrade,” Bombardier spokesman David Slack said.
“These cars, typically rail cars, have a 30- to 40-year lifespan. So as operators replace these older cars, you’re seeing replacement typically from DC type of propulsion systems to AC.”
National carrier OAO Russian Railways expects it will need 11,675 locomotive vehicles between 2008 and 2015 and a further 11,722 for 2016 to 2030, the companies said in a statement. Last year, 72.5 percent of its electric locomotives and 84 percent of its diesels had exceeded their operating life.
Russia’s rail network, which the Russian Railways website describes as second only to the U.S. network in size, includes the storied Trans-Siberian railway, stretching from Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean to Russia’s European heartland.
“China, India and Russia are all going out and buying the very best of modern transportation equipment that they can because it’s a huge bottleneck for their economies,” said Dundee analyst Richard Stoneman.
“Looking at what they’re spending, in Russia, it’s in the hundreds of billions of dollars on the railway system. They’ve got oil and they can pay for it.”
Wednesday’s announcement marks the third venture between Montreal-based Bombardier and Transmashholding, Russia’s top rolling stock company.
In May 2007, the companies established joint ventures to develop advanced propulsion technology for railway equipment and to manufacture key components for electric locomotives, such as traction converters.
“You can either share the pie or not have pie,” Stoneman said. “The (JV) strategy appears to be working and they’ve landed material contracts in those jurisdictions.”
Bombardier’s class B shares fell 27 Canadian cents or 3.5 percent, to close at C$7.40 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Wednesday. ($1=$0.98 Canadian)