On Monday, Russia-based steelmaker EVRAZ announced that EVRAZ NTMK has successfully passed another stage of the qualification process to supply wheels to North American railways. Based on laboratory tests, the quality of grade Н36 railway wheels was confirmed by Association of American Railroads (AAR). On this basis, the North American registrar for the certification of railway transport has issued EVRAZ NTMK with a license to supply a pilot batch of wheels.
EVRAZ NTMK still has to undergo field testing to obtain a permanent license, so will supply the pilot batch of wheels - 32,000 - to North America for testing purposes. They will be installed on freight cars for field testing; up to five thousand cars are expected to be utilized. Testing is considered successful when no defects are found in the wheels upon completion of 300 thousand miles (about 500 thousand km).
"Development of the North American railway market is a strategic goal for EVRAZ NTMK", commented Ilya Shirokobrod, Vice President of EVRAZ, and Head of Railway Products Division. "Owing to the modifications and introduction of new technologies at EVRAZ NTMK, the Company now has the opportunity to supply its products to the American and European markets."