By 2021 “Stadler” to Produce 500 Train Cars Per Year
16:14, 16 March
Today in Belarus, very few people are not aware of the results of Stadler Minsk employees’ work. Every day, thousands of people, not only in Belarus, but also in other countries of the world travel in modern trams, high-speed trains, and next-gen underground cars. All these types of railway transport are manufactured near Minsk, in Fanipol. Read more in the material of the Union State portal correspondent.
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The only producer and exporter of railway vehicles for passenger transportation in Belarus has been operating in the republic for only six years. However, within such a short period of time, they produced trains that now run in Belarus, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Norway and other countries. In an interview with Union State portal correspondent, the Director of the enterprise Philippe Brunner shared the plans for 2020.
“This year, the company expects to increase production facilities by another 25%. Thanks to this, we plan to turn out 500 wagons per year. For reference, it used to be 300 per year. Therefore, by 2022 we strive to become the most powerful plant in the Stadler group. In the meantime, we run second,” said the Director of the enterprise. He added that with the growth of the enterprise, the number of employees would also increase. Now the company employs 1.4 thousand people and plans to recruit about 200 more. All employees are local except for the director and head of the welding workshop.
The company also plans to supply a second batch of trains for the Minsk Metro.
“We agreed to supply ten metro trains for the capital: six four-car and four five-car ones. We have already dispatched the first part. In the second quarter of this year, we are going to dispatch the rest of the trains,” assured Philippe Brunner.
Another important Belarusian customer has become the Belarusian Railway. For them, it is necessary to produce 10 five-car trains. The order is currently at the design stage, but physical production is to begin within the next few weeks.
As for other countries, the plant has developed new trains for Azerbaijan, Slovenia and others. For instance, twenty-one six-car double-decker electric trains are to be supplied to Hungary.
“We have a large order from Norwegian customers. It is the fifth order we have received and which we will continue to work on in the current year and in 2021,” said Philippe Brunner.
In addition, there are many orders for the production of components, including for other factories where there is no capacity or lack of competencies. For example, for the Stadler group enterprises in Germany, Spain, partly in Poland they manufacture cars and bodies made of aluminum.
The Director of the company also said that they were opening a separate engineering building in Fanipol this April for designing and manufacturing power converters for light rail vehicles.
“Soon we are launching a new power converter plant. Opening is scheduled for April. We now have a good volume of orders for them from Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic,” said Philippe Brunner.
He also said that now the entire enterprise is loaded up to the end of 2022. All sales and strategic developments that employees are currently working on will be implemented no earlier than in 2023.
The Stadler Minsk plant was officially opened on November 20th, 2014. The company is part of the Swiss company Stadler Rail Group, which has been one of the leading European manufacturers of railway rolling stock for over 75 years. The Stadler Rail Group also has branches in Austria, Australia, Algeria, the UK, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy and the USA.
More photos from Stadler Minsk CJSC can be found here.
