Federal Cargo Company FGK, a subsidiary of Russian Railways RZD, and Knorr-Bremse have established a joint venture in Russia by the name of Knorr-Bremse 1520. The new joint venture company is to manufacture rail vehicle brake technology products for use in Russia and other CIS states. The agreement between Knorr-Bremse and FGK was signed at a ceremony on the premises of the Russian company in Moscow. The name of the new company, Knorr-Bremse 1520, is derived from the Russian
track gauge of 1520 millimeters. The joint venture is based in the city of Tver, roughly 170 kilometers north of Moscow. Knorr-Bremse 1520 began operations with
the signing of the agreement, with manufacturing activities initially taking place at the existing Knorr-Bremse plant in Voronezh. Construction work on a new factory in
Tver with almost 16,000 square meters of production space has already begun. In 2014 the joint venture will transfer its entire production operations to Tver, creating
some 400 jobs at the new plant. The total investment in state-of-the-art production equipment runs to approximately EUR 26 million.

Knorr-Bremse already commands an extensive product portfolio specifically geared to the needs of the CIS market and which from now on will increasingly be manufactured locally. In addition, the existing portfolio will be extended in the medium term to include further products that are also adapted to local requirements and will be manufactured in Tver. One new core product of the joint venture company will be control valves for the CIS market, destined for use in the various rail vehicles operating in the cargo sector. Another focus will be on the production of disc brakes and oil-free compressors. In the course of extensive development projects, Knorr-Bremse has designed and built these products to operate at temperatures as low as minus 60°C in line with the respective product applications and regional requirements. “For Knorr-Bremse, this new joint venture offers numerous opportunities to win a more extensive share of the railway market in the CIS states,” says Dr. Dieter Wilhelm, Executive Board Member of Knorr-Bremse AG responsible for rail vehicle systems. “In the medium to long term there will be many new-building and modernization projects in this market. And operators are increasingly focusing on vehicle life cycle costs and component reliability as rail vehicle speeds rise.”