Russia's first plant of rail plates for HSR launched in Veliky Novgorod

In Veliky Novgorod, mass production of rail plates for the high-speed highway (HSM) Moscow – St. Petersburg was launched. The new plant became the first in Russia, where such products are produced serially on robotic lines.

The agreement to create the production of rail plates for HSR was signed at SPIEF in June 2025, in August of the same year the first stone was laid at the site, and pilot plates were released in August 2026. At the launch of serial production was visited by the Minister of transport of Russia Andrei Nikitin, the Governor of the Novgorod region Alexander Dronov, the head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov and General Director of GC “National projectstroy” Alexei Krapivin, reported in the press service of the company.

The plant will produce reinforced concrete NSE 4.0 rail slabs designed for the high-speed highway. The design is designed for the Russian railway track with a width of 1520 mm and operation in harsh climatic conditions. The plate uses high-strength concrete and an integrated layer of elastic polymer, the estimated service life of the product is at least 50 years.

The production process is automated at almost all stages - from the preparation of forms and laying of concrete to the application of the polymer layer. The geometry of finished products is checked using 3D scanning. With a plate size of 5.3 by 2.5 meters and a weight of more than 7 tons, the declared production accuracy reaches 0.5 mm. The company has 18 industrial robots.

The design capacity of the plant exceeds 100 thousand assembly units per year. Two robotic lines are designed for about 320 plates per day, which will cover up to two-thirds of the needs of the Moscow-St. Petersburg HSR. In addition to the plates, the company will be able to produce more than 3.6 million square meters of polymeric materials.

The finished products are planned to be sent directly to the construction sites of the highway by rail. The total area of buildings and structures of the enterprise exceeds 79 thousand square meters. In addition to production workshops, there are warehouses of finished products, a dining room and a hostel for employees.

The plant expects to create about 900 jobs for operators of automated lines, engineers, technologists and logistics specialists. For training, cooperation with local colleges and universities is planned, and a training center for practical training on production equipment should appear on the territory of the enterprise.

It is very important that the Novgorod region became a participant in the project that changes the future of the country. For the region, this is a large-scale production and new high-tech jobs. We will help the enterprise to develop, and the regional economy to grow with it, said Alexander Dronov, Governor of the Novgorod Region.

He also noted the participation of National Projectstroy in regional social projects, including the High Technologies Championship and the creation of sports and children's infrastructure.

Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said that without the plant for the production of rail boards, the construction of HSR would be impossible.

I think it will be one of the most interesting technological projects in Novgorod. We will also continue to develop the transport component in Veliky Novgorod and the region, Nikitin said.

Alexey Krapivin, General Director of National Projectstroy Group, stressed that the enterprise was built in 12 months. According to him, the plate developed for HSR is produced in Russia for the first time and, according to him, surpasses foreign analogues in a number of characteristics

I want to thank all the builders, designers, engineers, of course, the Novgorod region. We all worked together hand in hand this year and did almost the impossible, Krapivin said.