Experience has no boundaries

Training of railway workers from the nearest foreign countries is gaining momentum amongst Russian machine building enterprises. Specialists from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia and Belarus regularly attend corporate locomotive service courses at national enterprises. Companies offering training will support this practice in 2023 as well. 

Ulan-Bator Railways and Transmashholding JSC (TMH) have been cooperating for almost six years. During this period the locomotive fleet of the Mongolian company has been replenished with 20 freight mainline diesel locomotives of 2TE25KM series. They are produced by Bryansk Machine-Building Plant, a member of the holding company.

"The machines are adapted to the Mongolian climate and are equipped with an automatic control system. This allows controlling the technical parameters during operation," Alexander Belyashin, head of the Training and Development Department of the TMH’s Directorate for Personnel Management System Transformation and Development, said in an interview with 1520 International. 

According to an agreement of 2022, three locomotives capable of hauling trains up to 6,400 tons on the 1520-gauge sections with a complicated track profile have been put at the disposal of Ulan-Bator Railways.

Today 2TE25KM diesel locomotives operate on the railways of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Belarus.

Employees of foreign companies that purchase these locomotives are trained to repair and operate them. 

Specialists are trained full-time at the Bryansk Machine-Building Plant’s training center. The theoretical part can be completed online. The subject depends on the needs of the customer, and the program is updated every six months.  

According to Alexander Belyashin, the technical equipment and material base of the training center ensures the highest level of training. In addition, there are courses for locomotives of other series and electric passenger trains. 

At the end of last year TMH hosted Kazakhstani railway workers. Plans for 2023 include training specialists from Turkmenistan.

A number of other industry holding companies organize courses for foreigners in Russia.

For example, United Wagon Company (UWC) has been training specialists of car repair and maintenance enterprises in the 1520 space for more than a decade, since the first freight cars were manufactured in Tikhvin. 

"The services cover all the products of UWC's car-building plants, including specialized rolling stock and articulated cars, equipped with innovative running gear with axle load of 25 tf," Igor Tkachev, adviser to the general director of UWC, told 1520 International.

At various times the courses based on the holding company’s main service center – Tikhvin Assembly Plant “Titran-Express”, joint educational centers and classes of technical training of rail car enterprises have been attended by employees of the railway car complex of the Belarusian Railways, Kyrgyzstan’s state carrier NC Kyrgyz Temir Jolu, the operator of Uzbek railways network Uzbekistan Temir Yullari, specialists of Kazakh companies Ak-Zhaiyk-7 and Kamkor Wagon, and Mongolia’s Bodi Interational, LLC.

First the specialists study the electronic technical manual "Freight wagon bogie of 18-9855 model", developed by UWC in cooperation with the Transport Research Center. 

The rolling stock repair and maintenance technology is practiced in Titran-Express shops and at car-repair enterprises for scheduled and current uncoupling repairs. All practice is on bogies with an axle load of 25 tf.

Mongolian colleagues, including those from the Tavan Tolgoi and Ulan Bator mainlines, were the latest to take the Tikhvin railcar repair courses. 

OWC intends to continue training the employees of the CIS railway administrations and other foreign customers.

Sinara-Transport Machines JSC (STM) has been organizing technical trainings sessions since the middle of 2021. About 400 specialists from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Republic of Guinea, and India have graduated during this period.

Recently, employees of the Kazakhstani locomotive service have received certification in the design, maintenance and operation of TEM9-series diesel locomotives manufactured at STM enterprises.

The courses were developed by specialists of the holding company from start to finish. Depending on the customer's request, they offer an express format or in-depth study. Each program is accompanied by handouts, large-format charts and presentations. 

The theory is taught by STM trainers - highly qualified practitioners with extensive experience in operation, machine operators-instructors, warranty and service engineers, and design engineers. 

According to Ekaterina Godlevskaya, the head of STM Public Relations Department, the wide range of consultants allows for full assimilation of information.

Here, just like at UWC, practical training is conducted at the production sites - for example, at the Ural Locomotives plant - and at the bases of the machine owners.

Victoria Eletina