Technika a trh

rail transport l transmission

Over the last 15 years, Wikov has developed from an occasional manufacturer of gearboxes for rail vehicles to a key player of

European importance with IRIS certification. The company is also very proud to have

done so through their own production of

key components in the Czech Republic and not through sourcing

products from branches in Eastern

Europe or China.

Hard, systematic, and longterm specialised work has borne

fruit in the form of a several-fold

increase in the numbers and turnover of gearboxes produced per year and the expansion of the product portfolio to cover virtually

all types of rolling stock.

Acquisitions

and meeting the local

content requirements

The main acquisition in recent years in Wikov was undoubtedly the takeover of the

German manufacturer of gearboxes for

rail vehicles, Gmeinder Getriebe Gruppe.

The acquisition of the German competitor

resulted in an expansion of the product

portfolio, especially for special rail vehicles, locomotives and DMU diesel units.

Gmeinder also has very valuable experience and capacity in the area of repairs

and modernisation of gearboxes for rail

vehicles.

Wikov is also considering other forms of

acquisition activities. There are more and

more countries that require the placement of part of production in their territory within the framework of large and key

orders for rolling stock. The gearbox is not

exactly a crucial component in those requirements, but frequently this request

cannot be avoided, especially where the

percentage of components that must be

manufactured locally is slowly and steadily increasing.

For example, in the spring of last year,

Wikov began assembling gearboxes for

the Russian market in Tvera, Russia,

in a joint venture with the Russian PKTS

customer with a capacity of at least 1,000

gearboxes per year.

Another significant achievement is the

WiKorea project, the main objective of

which is to assemble gearboxes for the

Seoul metro directly in South Korea.

Although the project was suspended

for a while due to the COVID pandemic,

activities resumed in June 2020, despite

bureaucratic problems.

Trams

Today, Wikov has a market-proven complete range of gearboxes and drives for

low-floor trams, both for bogies with axles

or with freely rotating wheels, with power

outputs per gearbox from 60 to 180 kW.

The market for low-floor trams is specific

in that it is still relatively new, although the

first tram came into operation in the early

1990s. 30 years may seem like a long time,

but full-scale low-floor trams were not used

more substantially outside Western Europe

until around 2012. That this is a new market is also shown by the fact that there is

still a large number of tram manufacturers

in the world compared to manufacturers

of metro units. Gradually, however, the situation is being consolidated, which brings

temporary uncertainty to the component

supply chain. This is clearly visible from the

gearbox and drive supplier point of view.

With regard to drive solutions, currently,

there are 4 groups of chassis types used

in the world . The first uses a classic axle

which provides a transverse mechanical

connection between the wheels; the second group are bogies without an axle,

but still with a transverse mechanical connection of the wheels, thanks to a special

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