UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2017. Russia’s Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and acting Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev are going to visit Sinara Group and Siemens’s joint venture Ural Locomotives Plant at 10 AM on September 2, the Group’s press service reports. ‘This is the first time the minister is coming to the plant’s production site. Minister Sokolov will take a look at our rolling stock monitoring center, where a presentation will be made on the plant-designed Smart Loco+Smart Train dispatcher control system. The minister will also pay a visit to the production site

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2017. The average asking price currently comes to 66,301 RUR per m2 on Yekaterinburg existing home market, which is 2.6% less than at the start of the year and 13.6% less than in February 2015, Ural Real Estate Chamber’s analytical report states. The market supply keeps gradually going down (-2.9% in the last four weeks and -2.1% compared with the start of the year). So far, the change hasn’t had any significant impact on the overall market balance. Even though there are under 10,000 apartments on offer in the chamber’s database at the moment, customers still

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems fully prepared its Urals-based power facilities for the upcoming fall and winter. The company invested some 2.2bn RUR in local infrastructure this year, the company press service reports. Heating season preparations were attended to in the course of a meeting in Chelyabinsk on August 30. The meeting was chaired by Russia’s Energy Minister Andrei Cherezov and contributed to by FCG UES managers. The company runs two subsidiaries in the area: MES Urals and MES Western Siberia. The company power engineers

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) presented its environmental protection projects at Magnitogorsk Environment Photo Exhibition in the city’s local history museum, the company press service reports. The exhibition opened in the Year of the Environment in Russia. The unique photographic materials display the changes in the city’s environment since the early nineties. ‘Visitors to the exhibition can see how both the environment and our attitude to it kept changing throughout the years. There are three sections to this exhibition: the first one

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Transport Machines (STM Holding) is presenting its new TGM8KM loco at the 6th International EXPO 1520 Exhibition in Moscow on August 31. The loco was made in cooperation with Cuban Railway Union, the Group’s press service reports. The event is to be attended by Russia’s Deputy Industry & Trade Minister Georgiy Kalamanov, the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Russia Emilio Lozada Garcia, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Cuba Mikhail Kamynin, and STM President Sergey Papin. Under the terms of their agreement, STM

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 1, 2017. Russia’s Honored Masters of Sports Eduard Abzalimov and Alexandra Kuleshova are going to perform in a fight in Chelyabinsk’s Tractor Arena on September 9 (Town Day). The event is coordinated by Russian Copper Company Boxing Promotion. The two boxers will fight against players from Kazakh cities of Almaty and Kostanay. The 33-year-old Eduard Abzalimov comes from Miass, is now captain of Chelyabinsk boxing team, European champion (2010), silver world champion (2009), winter of Junior European and World Championships (2001 and 2002), nine-time national prize

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) got certified for compliance with STO Gazprom 9001-2012 standard within the framework of Intergascert, a certification system members join voluntarily, the Group’s press service reports. ‘The audit included assessment of the plant’s pipe design, development, production, and delivery,’ the press service says. The certificate proves PNTZ’s quality management systems fully meet Gazprom’s corporate standards set for goods suppliers. ‘The audit committee members spoke very highly of the way the plant implements

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. EVRAZ NTMK keeps working on its new ball-rolling mill, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The mill will be eventually launched at the rail and beam department; the workers are currently busy assembling the basic mill equipment. ‘We need to get the pre-heating furnace, the rolling mill stand, the ball thermal treatment section, and the unloading section assembled. The production line is going to be 300 meters long. Once launched, it will create quite a few new jobs,’ the Center says. The use of a new two-stage hardening technology and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) launched a pilot project this August to find new workers with the help of an automated system, the bank’s press service reports. A voice bot, a recruiter named Vera, processes all the applications candidates submit on job-hunting sites, and contacts the ones whose qualifications match those of a particular job opening the bank has. UBRD Corporate Development & Personnel Management Director Yuri Voronin says relying on a robot will result in more efficient handling of recruitment-related tasks.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy System carried its usual scheduled heat monitoring of electric units at its power substations in Western Siberia and eliminated problems that were detected during the checks, the company press service reports. This is meant to prevent emergencies and to ensure a more reliable power supply to the area’s 3.5m-plus end users. ‘We use a thermal imager to do our heat monitoring routines: the imager traces even the smallest temperature fluctuations, which allows to detect problems at a very early stage and fix them

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon celebrated its 15th anniversary by launching 4G Internet connection in the village of Kharp in Yamal Peninsula, the company press service reports. ‘The fourth-generation network is now available in the remotest part of the peninsula. We introduced 4G connection in Kharp, where the Ural Mountains begin, in the year MegaFon turned fifteen. Locals can now enjoy really speedy data transfer,’ says MegaFon Ural’s Director Valeriy Velichko. MegaFon expanded its 4G network by 33% since the start of the year (covering 150

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. Ural Airlines will be operating direct and scheduled flights from Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport to Namangan, Uzbekistan, the air carrier’s press service reports. The flights will be operated on comfortable Airbus A320 planes every Wednesday; the return flight to Saint Petersburg will be operated on Thursdays. ‘One of Uzbekistan’s largest cities, Namangan in located in Fergana Valley. The city is famous for its history (dating back hundreds of years): this is where you can see the ruins of the ancient settlement of Ahsikent, for example. Namangan is

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2017. Ural Airlines re-launch their direct Moscow-Munich-Moscow flight starting December 30. The flight will be available every Tuesday and Saturday, the air carrier’s press service reports. Flights will be operated from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport through the end of winter 2017/2018. Prices start from 7,200 RUR for Promo tickets (one way) and from 9,000 RUR for Economy tickets (one way, one piece of luggage and a set of sports equipment included). The price covers all fees and charges. ‘Munich is one of Germany’s most beautiful cities with plenty of museums,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2017. A modern diffuse unit was recently launched at EVRAZ Holding’s Sheregeshskiy Mine as part of the company’s rock refuse recycling program. According to the company press service, the unit cost over 5m RUR to install. The launch of the diffuse unit has meant the mine reduced its stored waste and refuse by more than 200,000,000 kg a year and cut down impressively on transportation expenses. Savings are estimated at some 8m RUR a year. ‘The rock refuse goes through our diffuse unit and results in a new product, macadam (diameter: 0-5 mm and 5-20 mm).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2017. SKB-Bank is currently integrationg VisionLabs’ LUNA, a biometric face recognition platform, into its IT infrastructure, the bank’s press service reports. The two companies signed an open-end licensing agreement in August 2017. One reason the bank decided to launch the platform was switching to digital banking channels. The contract with VisionLabs is a logical component of SKB-Bank’s development strategy: the face recognition platform can offer the most up-to-date and advanced solutions to a number of important problems. Analyzing the bank’s customer base

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region residents’ accumulated income amounted to 160.1bn RUR in June 2017, which was 3.4% less than one year earlier, Sverdlovskstat reports. At the same time, their spending came to 160.7bn RUR, which was 3.3% less than in June 2016. The preliminary figures for the first half of 2017 reached 870.6bn RUR for income (up 0.1% on one year previously) and 876.6bn RUR for expenses (down 0.6% on a year earlier). Locals spent 714.4bn RUR to pay for goods and services in January-June 2017, which was 1.2% more than one year earlier.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development started assembling the framework of Yekaterinburg EXPO Congress Center, the Group’s PR Center reports. According to Sinara Development’s Director-General Timur Ufimtsev, the assembly can get done quickly and efficiently thanks to using a metal frame and reinforced concrete plates. This will also ensure the building’s excellent operational properties. ‘The framework is expected to be finished in early spring of 2018. The entire structure will weigh around 5,000,000 kg,’ Ufimtsev said. The workers are currently busy

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 29, 2017. Workers of ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) met with Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev on the plant’s premises. More than two hundred employees and students on the Future of White Metallurgy Corporate Training Program attended the event, the Group’s press service reports. ‘Governor Kuivashev has been here many times and knows both our production process and our corporate philosophy (aka White Metallurgy) quite well. The company’s cooperation with Sverdlovsk Region’s authorities proved very fruitful in the last few years. We

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, August 29, 2017. MMK Group’s MMK METIZ proved one of United Wagon Company’s Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant’s preferred metal goods suppliers in the course of a special assessment procedure in the second quarter of the year, the company press service reports. The assessment procedure is part of Russian Railways’ requirements, the plant’s own standards, and the international IRIS standard. The goal is to control supply quality and reliability and to avoid and eliminate any logistics problems. Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant also sees this evaluation as a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 29, 2017. The average asking price went up by 2.8% (up to 46,302 RUR per m2) on Sverdlovsk Region’s new home market between February and August 2017, Novosel Group’s research findings indicate. Prices rose for all types of new homes, including studio apartments (+2.9%), one-bedroom ones (+2.6%), and two-bedroom ones (+2.7%). As of August 2017, studios can be had for 46,302 RUR per m2, one-bedroom homes for 45,651 RUR per 2, and two-bedroom ones for 46,653 RUR on average. ‘The price increase mostly has to do with the fact that putting up an apartment building now