February 7, 2013. Railway Carriage-Builders Union, a non-profit partnership of railway vehicle manufacturers, held a general meeting in Moscow. The partnership comprises the country’s leading producers such as Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, Tver Railway Carriage-Building Plant, AltaiWagon, RKTM, Tikhvinsky and Novokusnetsk Railway Carriage-Making Plants, and a number of others. This meeting proved a significant event for the partnership on the whole and for its member enterprises in particular. The main point on the agenda had to do with adopting the new development

February 7, 2013. According to the statistical data available, about 10% of Sverdlovsk Region population live below the poverty line, head of SverdlovskStat Elena Kutina said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. Now according to Sverdlovsk Region Government’s decree, the cost of living was estimated at 7,005 RUR for the first quarter of 2013. For working individuals, this comes to 7,626 RUR, for retirees, the figure came to 5,608 RUR, and for children, the cost of living was estimated at 6,646 RUR.

February 7, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court looked into 1,022 insolvency applications in 2012, most of which had to do with the companies in the communal housing services sector, Presiding Judge Svetlana Tsvetkova announced at a press conference. The number of applications is reported to grow quite noticeably. Last year, proceedings commenced on 884 cases against 725 in 2011, resulting in a 27% increase in the arbitration court judges’ workload. ‘Mostly, these are the companies in the communal housing services sector. Unfortunately, we have to admit that this trend does not seem to

February 7, 2013. According to data supplied by the Ural Customs Administration of Russia’s Federal Tax Service (excluding the data provided by the Customs’ Energy Department). Sverdlovsk Region’s foreign trade turnover came to $11,069.3m (in current prices) in January-November 2012, which was 7.1% more than in January-November 2011. These data do not cover the export and import that did not get officially registered by the authorities. This information was carried by SverdlovskStat’s press service recently. If one analyzes these statistical data, it will become clear that the share of export

February 6, 2013. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head plant invested 98.95m RUR in environmental protection in 2012. Over 48 conservation projects were implemented over this period, which reduced the negative impact Uralvagonzavod makes on the environment and residents of Nizhniy Tagil, the corporation’s press service reports. The reconstruction of the plant’s filtering facilities was one of last year’s largest and most significant projects. Within the framework of this project, obsolete technologies are being replaced with the up-to-date ones, which will both

February 6, 2013. The Ural Federal District Women Boxing Championship started at Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s Sputnik sports arena. Women and girls are competing for the World’s Professional Boxing Champion Natalia Ragozina Prize. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation acts as the event’s primary sponsor and Sputnik Sports Club is coordinating the championship, the company’s press service reports. The tournament is being held at Natalia Ragozina’s initiative; Ms Ragozina is one of Sputnik’s most recognized alumni with the greatest number of prizes.

February 6, 2013. Sinara Development won in the tender for two land allotments meant for housing construction; the auction was held in Yekaterinburg Town Hall on January 31. As a result, the company is now entitled to the right to rent two land allotments with the total area of 3.1 hectares in Shirokaya Rechka. These land allotments will be used to put up a number of apartment buildings. The cost of the two lots located in Yekaterininskaya St and Khrustalnogorskaya St came to 221m RUR, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. The rough design will be ready in early spring 2013, and three months

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