Russia’s rolling stock and defense group Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) Research and Production Corporation has started shipping its rail carriages to Iran, CEO Oleg Sienko announced on Friday. He said 600 railroad cars are being prepared for shipment now, the Moscow-based Eurasia Daily reported. Sienko explained that the rail tracks in Russia and Iran have different sizes. “The size of our rail tracks is 1,520 mm, theirs is 1,435 mm. Consequently, we had to carry out a huge amount of work to replace sets of wheels on carriages, which is done now on the Turkmen-Iranian border,” he said. The carriages will be shipped to Iran on a scheduled basis. Sienko noted that the first lot will comprise 5,000 carriages. Besides, UVZ has designed tank cars, universal flat cars for timber, containers and metallurgical cargoes for Iran. Uralvagonzavod Corporation assesses capacity of the Iranian market of freight cars at about 10,000 units. It is a Russian corporation engaged in the design and production of military equipment, road construction machinery and rail carriages. The company is 100% government-owned and incorporates more than 20 industrial enterprises, research institutes and design bureaus.
