MOSCOW, October 20 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Railways plans to invest 1 percent of its revenues on research and development.
In the course of implementing its Innovation Development Programme in 2011, Russian Railways spent about 0.5 percent of its revenue on R&D, which corresponds to global standards for transport companies. By 2015, this figure is expected to rise to 1 percent, Valentin Gapanovich, Senior Vice-President of Russian Railways, said at a Russia - EU research seminar on rail transport organised by JSC VNIIZhT this week.
According to the Senior Vice President, the company’s portfolio of intellectual property by the end of 2012 will be around 1,700 titles, which include more than one thousand patents on inventions and useful models. It is planned to increase the number of titles held by the Company to over 2,000 by 2015.
Among the results of innovative development achieved recently at Russian Railways, Gapanovich noted a gas turbine based on compressed natural gas, an automatic driving system for high-speed trains, technology for managing the transportation process across large areas and satellite technology for monitoring the condition of infrastructure.
Gapanovich also stressed that Russian Railways pays great attention to the introduction of integrated traffic control systems and the dynamic monitoring of infrastructure and rolling stock using satellite technology.
In 2012 alone, the company has installed more than 14,200 such systems on traction and motorised multiple-unit rolling stock, automated diagnostic systems and fire-fighting and emergency recovery trains, etc.
Gapanovich also said that Russian Railways and its subsidiaries and associated companies (JSC VNIIZhT, JSC NIIAS, JSC VNIKTI and others) are cooperating actively with leading research organisations in the country.
Within the framework of cooperation with the company, the Russian Academy of Sciences is conducting research on the methodology of functional safety risk management, while the Nuclear Centre in Sarov is modelling complicated technical processes using supercomputer technology in line with commissions from Russian Railways. Togliatti State University is carrying out research on precision diagnostic methods of metals.
According to the Senior Vice-President, as part of the Innovation Development Programme, great attention is also being paid to the transfer of advanced foreign technologies to Russian manufacturers.
Examples include the 2ES10 electric freight locomotive with asynchronous traction drive, which was developed by Joint Stock Company Sinara Group together with Siemens, and the EP20 dual-system electric passenger locomotive with asynchronous traction drive developed by Closed Joint Stock Company Transmashholding together with Alstom.
At present, said Valentin Gapanovich, Russian Railways was preparing to switch to purchasing products only from companies certified with the Quality Management System in compliance with the International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS). Manufacturers of railway equipment, according to Gapanovich, have already initiated efforts to develop specific programmes to meet the requirements set out by the IRIS standard by 2015, Russian Railways said in a press release.