Trams in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg tramway network | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Moscow Gate Square in Saint Petersburg | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Locale | Saint Petersburg, Russia | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Trams in Saint Petersburg are a major mode of
The system is operated by Gorelektrotrans (Russian: Горэлектротранс), a municipal organization that operates St. Petersburg's 40 tram routes, as well as the city's trolleybus network, and also by the private company TKK that runs the network in the eastern part of the city (green on the map).
History
Early days
Saint Petersburg saw the arrival of street
The first demonstration of an
In the winter of 1894, electric tramways came back to Saint Petersburg. This time, however, they ran on tracks over ice (during winter season) covering the
Beginning of service
On September 3, 1902, the contract between the city administration and the horsecar company expired and the entire horsecar street rail system, including track, carriages, horses, maintenance buildings and other equipment, became property of the city of Saint Petersburg - on the condition that the city would pay for the takeover over the period of 12 years. Immediately following this, Saint Petersburg began planning out the future electric tramway network, which was due to replace the ageing horsecar one. A number of issues had to be resolved; in particular, the
World War II and Soviet era
During 1918–1921 development of the Petrograd tram network stalled due to the Civil War. In 1921 the tram deal was eventually improved and new lines were constructed. In 1922 the last line was electrified and tram movement was re-established in the old city center. The tram network then further developed as the first automated needles appeared, three tram parks and a few substations were built. Among the passenger lines, the city had cargo and service tram lines; every big company had its branch from the main tram lines. However, from 1936, the development of Leningrad trams practically stopped due to the introduction of the trolleybus.
Post-Soviet Era
Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the public transportation in Saint Petersburg has been continuously underfunded, resulting in poor maintenance and an unreliable service. A lot of existing tramway track has been demolished, and this trend continues up until today, which upsets both passengers and public transit enthusiasts. There are currently no officially proclaimed plans to abandon the network completely, although mass track removals, which started in 2000, still continue.
On the other hand, two new branch lines were opened in 1999 to connect recent residential developments in the northwest (Dolgoe Ozero, Komendantsky Aerodrom, Lakhtinsky Razliv) to the newly opened
Current operations
As of 2015[update], 41 tramway routes currently operate in Saint Petersburg.[6] About one third of the tracks are operated with frequencies of 10 minutes and lower. Other sections are operated with frequencies of up to 30 minutes. The remaining lines through the city center have been more or less abandoned, carrying no passengers. Also, the fleet is still decreasing in size; by the autumn of 2006 there were about 950 cars, operating from 5 depots, most of which were the older four-axle type. About half the fleet is out-of-date, with new cars limited to 30 each year.
Rolling stock
Most of the tramway vehicles currently in use on the network were built locally by the
- LM-68M (ЛМ-68М) — four-axle, three-door single cars, manufactured 1973 through 1988 by PTMF.
- LVS-86 (ЛВС-86) and LVS-86M — six-axle, four-door articulated cars, manufactured 1987–1997 by PTMF. M designates the refurbished, modernized LVS-86 cars in use since 2003.
- LVS-97 (ЛВС-97) — six-axle articulated cars, manufactured by PTMF since 1997.
- LM-99 (ЛМ-99) — four-axle single cars, manufactured by PTMF since 1999.
- LVS-2005 (ЛВС-2005) — six-axle articulated cars, manufactured by PTMF since 2005.
- LM-2008 (ЛМ-2008) — four-axle cars, manufactured by PTMF since 2008.
Former tram models include the LM-33 (ЛМ-33), LM-47 (ЛМ-47), and LM-57 (ЛМ-57).[7] The KTM-5M3 series, which was produced in the town of Ust-Katav in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, was used in Saint Petersburg until 18 September 2007.[citation needed]
Between in 1907 and late 1960s, the Saint Petersburg tramway network operated
Today in the museum
Museum offers the exhibition of the retro-transport to visit. Anyone can rent tramway or trolleybus by contacting the partner-company Event-TRAM.ru. They offer organized excursions and private events in different languages.
See also
- LM-49 and LM-57 — trams used to operate in Saint Petersburg in 1960s–1970s
- List of town tramway systems
- List of cities with trolleybuses
- Saint Petersburg Metro
- Trams in Europe
- Buses in Saint Petersburg
References
- ^ The Pacific Electric network in Los Angeles had more than 1600 km of track. Thom Eberhardt, "This Was Pacific Electric", Sky City Productions, 2003. (DVD)
- ^ "Investing in Transport" (PDF). Victorian Department of Transport. p. 69. Retrieved 2008-12-22.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Saint Petersburg doubles investments for underground development". Railway Pro Magazine. VIII (4.12. (102)): 39. December 2013. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
- ^ C. N. Pyrgidis. Railway Transportation Systems: Design, Construction and Operation. CRC Press, 2016. P. 156
- ^ Ye. N. Petrova. St. Petersburg in Focus: Photographers of the Turn of the Century; in Celebration of the Tercentenary of St. Petersburg. Palace Ed., 2003. P. 12
- ^ Маршруты трамвая [Tram routes] (in Russian). Горэлектротранс [Gorelectrotrans]. Archived from the original on 2015-03-26. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
- ^ a b Подвижной состав - Трамваи [Rolling stock - Trams] (in Russian). Горэлектротранс [Gorelectrotrans]. Archived from the original on 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
External links
- Events in TRAMways (rent a tramway) – official website (in English)
- Заказ событий в ТРАМвае – official website (in Russian)
- Gorelektrotrans – official website (in Russian)
- St. Petersburg (tram) at UrbanRail.net
- ПЕТЕРБУРЖЦЫ - ЗА ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫЙ ТРАНСПОРТ ГОРОД ДЛЯ ЛЮДЕЙ ИЛИ ГОРОД ДЛЯ АВТОМОБИЛЕЙ? БУДУЩЕЕ ЗАВИСИТ ОТ ТЕБЯ (Petersburgers - For Public Transport CITY FOR PEOPLE OR TOWN CAR? Future Depends on You) (in Russian)
- History, photos and much more about Petersburg tramways (in German)
- Tram Travels: Gorelektrotrans
- Tramway routes on city transport map – 2015