Sinara, Gazprom firms join forces to develop natural gas fueled railway transport
YEKATERINBURG. Oct 15 (Interfax) - Sinara Transport Machines (STM), a division of the Sinara Group, and LLC Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo (GMT), an NGV fuel company set up by the Russian gas giant, signed an agreement on Monday to cooperate in the development of railway transport that runs on natural gas fuel, the group said in a statement.
The partnership will focus on the development and creation of rail transport prototypes that run on NGV (natural gas vehicle) fuel, including locomotives with gas reciprocating units, the press release said.
The companies will also synchronize the gradually development of the NGV locomotive fleet and the creation of the necessary NGV infrastructure. STM will handle the development of locomotives that run on natural gas.
The agreement was signed by Sinara Group president Dmitry Pumpyansky and Gazprom chairman and GMT chief executive Viktor Zubkov.
The company recalled that STM is working on a project with Russian Railways (RZD) to set up production of GT1h long-haul gas turbine locomotives under an agreement signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2012. Sinara Group pledged to build and deliver to RZD 40 new generation gas turbine locomotives by 2020.
Production of the locomotives has been set up at STM's Lyudinovo Diesel Locomotive Plant. A prototype was presented in September at the Expo 1520 international railway exhibition.
STM builds locomotives, provides engineering services and railway equipment maintenance services.
Sinara Group is a diversified company with various businesses that was founded in 2001. The group's priority businesses are transport engineering, financial services and development. The principal owner of leading Russian pipe maker TMK , Dmitry Pumpyansky, owns 99.88% of Sinara Group.