February 6, 2013. Sverdlovsk Railways handled 9.5m tons of cargo in January 2013, which was 8.5% lower than a year earlier, the company’s press service reports. The cargo turnover decreased by 7.8% in January 2013 compared with January 2012 and amounted to 15.02bn ton-kilometers. This January, the amount of daily cargo shipments declined by 28,000 tons (by 25,000 tons a day on average where the building industry cargo is concerned). This was due to the successful completion of the project of supplying macadam to Ural Federal District’s northern regions last season, which means the consumers

February 6, 2013. MegaFon is now opening its customers unlimited Internet access for traveling around Russia. The subscribers can now enjoy the unlimited Internet access around the country using the updated Internet XS option, MegaFon Ural’s press officer reports. ‘The popularity of mobile Internet connection during trips keeps on rising. At the moment, over 50% of subscribers who use their mobile phones to make calls while traveling are also using their gadgets for Internet access. Given that a business trip outside one’s federal constituency lasts for seven days on average, the Internet XS

February 5, 2013. TMV-2, a multi-purpose vehicle made at Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, has been successfully tested for reliable performance. The traction unit’s potential was looked into in the operating depot (Carriage Repair Company 3) in Kurgan. At the end of the tests, the company representatives spoke very highly of this universal unit, the corporation’s press service reports. TMV-2, attached to a shunter, moved gondola cars, platforms, and tanks around the railways using both automatic coupling devices at the front and the back of the unit. It is reported that

February 5, 2013. Russian Railways received two new TEM14 diesel-locomotive shunters made at Ludinovsky Locomotive Plant (LTZ, a member of Sinara Transport Machines), Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. These are the first out of the 54 locos that Sinara Transport Machines is to deliver to Russian Railways by 2014. The contract was signed in December 2012; the O&M will be provided for by STM-Service (a member of Sinara Transport Machines). The TEM14 diesel-locomotive shunter was designed by Sinara Transport Machines’ Innovational Development Center by order of Russia’s Industry & Trade

February 5, 2013. The Minister & Counselor of Poland’s Embassy in Russia Marek Ociepka informed Sverdlovsk Region Government of his country’s intentions to take part in the Innoprom 2013 proceedings. A group of delegates from Poland already presented their produce at Innoprom exhibition facilities as early as 2011. It was then that the meetings with Governor of Sverdlovsk Region and heads of some ministries took place. Thanks to the Ural Chamber of Commerce & Industry, some cooperation opportunities exchange was coordinated as well; besides, some networking activity was renewed with

February 5, 2013. Ural Airlines is going to offer its services to Red Wings passengers. Now the Federal Air Transport Agency ruled that Red Wings’ aircraft operator certificate should be halted, which means the air carrier cannot operate any flights starting from February 1, 2013. Ural Airlines’ management decided not to leave the company’s passengers in distress and is willing to suggest that all the passengers with Red Wings plane tickets exchange them for the Ural Airlines ones at no extra charge. The offer is valid for the following destinations: Moscow-Yekaterinburg-Moscow

February 5, 2013. ChTPZ Group is now a partner in the project on the construction of the Rubin-Arena Stadium, the main venue of the summer All-Russian Student Games 2013 in Kazan; the Games are held under the auspices of the Republic of Kazakhstan’s Government, ChTPZ press service reports. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s weldless hot-rolled pipes that range between 102mm and 325mm in diameter and have wall width of 6mm to 25mm will be used as the basis of the Pyramid, a metal wall of a complex shape made of pipe trusses; this wall is to decorate the Games

February 4, 2013. In 2012, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation was declared the best enterprise in three categories of the municipal civil defense and emergencies contest in Nizhniy Tagil. The certificates were awarded to the company representatives by Mayor Sergey Nosov at a training session of the Nizhniy Tagil section of the safety alert and ES response network. Members of Nizhniy Tagil Council and local companies’ employees came up with a report on the Nizhniy Tagil section’s performance and drew an action plan for 2013, Uralvagonzavod’s press service reports.

February 4, 2013. On February 1 Germany’s Consulate-General opened a Schengen visa application center in Yekaterinburg in cooperation with VFS Global, the Yekaterinburg-based Consulate-General’s press officer told UrBC. The visa center is located in Panorama Business Center at 44 Kuibyshev St. (second floor, entrance in Belinsky St). The center is opened from 8:30 AM to 5 PM on weekdays. Now travelers can apply for a visa without having to visit in person and without a long wait. Applications can be submitted to the visa application center by an authorized representative, and then they will

February 4, 2013. Ural Airlines is announcing the start of the summertime flights sale. Starting from February 1, all of the company’s customers will be able to book tickets at the best prices for flights that will be operated from Yekaterinburg to Sochi, Anapa, Krasnodar, Simferopol, Gelendzhik, and Myneralnye Vody and back on May 15, 2013 or later. The prices of one-way tickets are as follows: Yekaterinburg-Anapa: from 6,000 RUR Yekaterinburg-Gelendzhik: from 6,000 RUR Yekaterinburg-Sochi: from 4,000 RUR Yekaterinburg-Krasnodar: from 5,500 RUR Yekaterinburg-Myneralnye Vody: from 5,500 RUR

February 4, 2013. Karabashmed keeps on re-training workers of all specializations. In 2012, for instance, 37 managers and white-collar workers underwent professional development seminars like Standardization, Gas Treatment, Civil Protection, and others. Over 200 people upgraded their qualifications, 27 people underwent training in some blue-collar job, and 18 employees obtained a second qualification. Most of the company workers passed the annual certification procedure thanks to self-study at the computer lab using the OlIMP:OKS system, while 253 managers and white-collar workers, including

February 4, 2013. Transformer steel output at OOO VIZ-Stal came to more than 41,000 tons in the last quarter of 2012, which was 3.1% less than a year earlier. All in all, more than 164,000 tons of transformer steel was produced by the company in the year 2012. This is 3.7% less than a year earlier, the company reports. ‘An insignificant, planned-for decrease in the production output had to do with the reconstruction of the annealing units; this was aimed at improving our produce’s consumer properties and at raising the share of premium segment steel output,’ the company explains. As a result,

February 1, 2013. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation met its labor protection plan for the head plant by 100%. This cost the company about 680m RUR, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. Last year, 42 measures were taken to improve the plant employees’ working conditions. For one, the impact of the primary culprits was reduced, namely, that of noise, vibration, and fumes and dust contamination. As a result, the work places of several thousand employees were improved. The dust levels dropped for nearly 3,500 workers and vibrations were decreased for 250 staff

February 1, 2013. The share of Ural Federal District on Russia’s new foreign cars market is now 10.49%. All in all, 234,700 cars were sold, which was 18.9% more than a year earlier, AutoStat Analytical Agency reports. Central Federal District, with its 937,200 new automobiles sold last year, was the market leader. Its share of sales came to 41.9% of all the car sales in Russia. Central Federal District was followed by Volga District, where 414,100 cars were sold (this comes to an 18.5% share of the market). North-Western District, with its 264,100 cars (an 11.8% share of the market), was in

February 1, 2013. Just like very year, Ural Airlines is about to expand its international destinations network for the summer season of 2013. New scheduled flights will be operated from Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ufa, Chelyabinsk, and Yekaterinburg, the airline’s press service reports. Moscow-Pula and Moscow-Podgorice flights will depart from Domodedovo Airport every Saturday starting June 1; the cheapest tickets are available for ?390. The flight from Nizhniy Novgorod to Burgas will be operated every Tuesday starting May 28; the cheapest tickets can be booked for ?380. Also, Nizhniy

February 1, 2013. Sinara Pipe Plant/SinTZ (a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK)), purchased a modern mobile lab in order to test the quality of air samples. The machinery was supplied within the framework of SinTZ and Sinara TransAuto’s joint investment project, and its purpose is to reduce the company’s environmental impact, the enterprise’s press officer reports. This mobile environmental lab is a portable analytical facility comprising a gas-analyzing and meteorological units as well as a system for collecting, processing, and transferring data and the facilities for getting air

February 1, 2013. The end user rates of The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals Corporation (UP-UP) set for the electric power sales remained the same as in the year 2012 and came to 5.39 RUR per kilowatt-hour; this price will be valid through June 30, 2013. Under Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region’s Prices & Rates Department’s decree, the price of the electric power produced by Harp-12 Power Plant will amount to 5.39 RUR per kilowatt-hour until June 30, 2013. It is reported that electric power rates had actually been reduced twice before: from 7.3 RUR down to 6.24 RUR per kilowatt-hour and

March 31, 2013. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) won a tender for supplying a mulcher-fitted bulldozer to MRSK Center & Volga Region, an energy supplier, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. The vehicle is meant for clearing up the fire-breaks where the mains are located. Treating the wood lots with mulchers will prevent new vegetation from growing around the electric mains support. The machine’s powerful cutter processes the remainder of the lumber, tree stumps that are under 25mm in diameter, bush, and brushwood into some fine powder that does not even need disposing of –

March 31, 2013. Pipe Metallurgical Company shipped 4,218,000 tons of steel pipes to consumers in 2012. The share of weldless pipes rose by 5.3% on the year 2011 and reached 2,497,000 tons. Thus the company’s share of the domestic market came to 24.7%, which allowed the enterprise to remain the market leader, TMK press service reports. In fact, the company’s pipe production output went down by 0.3% in comparison with 2011: the production of welded pipes dropped by 7.5% down to 1,722,000 tons; the output of the company’s key produce, OCTG, actually rose by 9.5% and amounted to 40.6% in the

March 31, 2013. The construction of the high-speed links connecting Moscow with Saint Petersburg and with Yekaterinburg might start in 2013-2028, depending on the state of the Russian economy, a report on Russia’s long-term socioeconomic development uploaded on the Ministry for Economic Development’s website states. The long-term forecast on the transportation sector development in 2013-2030 was presented in three versions: the innovations-focused one, the conservative one, and the accelerated one. Under the innovations-focused option, the industry will receive 4.3 trillion RUR worth of