Posted on 24 Oct 2012
By building railroad cars made of Hardox – a wear-resistant steel plate material developed by Swedish steel manufacturer, SSAB – Bulgarian rail manufacturer, Transwagon, has set a new standard in quality and durability. As a result, Transwagon has opted to continue using Hardox for its future products.
In
2010, Bulgaria’s leading railroad car producer, Transwagon, developed
two test cars, using SSAB’s Hardox 450 and Weldox 700 plate material.
After presenting the samples at a German rail fair, the company received
an order for 50 FALNS cars from German freight wagon leasing and rental
company, On-Rail. The customer demanded that only Hardox 450 was to be
used in the order.
On-Rail went on to order a further 31 cars in the summer of 2012 and, despite stiff competition from three other steel manufacturers, On-Rail and Transwagon ultimately decided to continue using SSAB and Hardox 450 for their future product development.
“My contacts at Transwagon tell me that Hardox is unlike anything they’ve worked with before,” says Dimitar Delchev, Regional Sales Manager, SSAB Bulgaria. “The quality of the plates, in terms of hardness, toughness, elastic deformation and surface tolerance, has been a positive surprise for them.”
“The
cars have been in use for almost a year and we’ve had no issues with
the Hardox material,” adds Eng. Nikolay Koldamov, Technical Director,
Transwagon. “There’s no doubt that the quality of SSAB’s delivery has
been on a different level from what we’ve experienced with other
manufacturers – in terms of everything from the size and mechanical
properties of the plates to markings and timely delivery.”
SSAB is in the process of manufacturing approximately 100 tons of plate material for Transwagon and Dimitar Delchev confirms that he is expecting orders for an additional set of FALNS wagons in 2013.
