More recently, on my Facebook blog, I announced the topic of an article about the Volgograd Metrotram - a very non-standard metro that was lucky enough to appear due to bureaucratic delays. And, today I will try to tell you about how, when and why this project arose.

Clarification: Dry facts about Metrotram at the end of the article.

To begin with, I would like to clarify that at the time of this writing, I have never been to the real Metropolitan. Since, I left Volgograd, only twice in my life, as a child. Well, like that, unfortunately, or fortunately, I am not a traveler. Therefore, Volgograd Metrotram is the only one for me.

© A.Savin, WikiCommons

At the end of World War II, Volgograd, and then it was still called Stalingrad, was almost completely destroyed, and built from scratch. The pre-war Volgograd (Stalingrad) was not famous for its developed tram system. And there was no talk about the metro. But, the Central District has received a very dense development. And in the North of Volgograd (Stalingrad), extensive industrial and defense plants were erected, for thousands of people: "Red October Plant", "Titan Barricades Plant", "Volgograd Tractor Plant".

Especially for the workers of these enterprises, the state has built many microdistricts with residential apartment buildings. Which I will definitely write about. But the growth of the city to the North faced a major problem. My city, almost completely (North and Central parts) is oriented to one highway-chord "Lenin Prospect". And, the active movement of people along this line, overloaded the traffic of the Central District. After all, bus routes were used. Not fast bus routes. There was no extensive network of large alternative roads leading to industrial areas, and there is not to this day. But the issue was resolved by a multi-lane highway and a high-speed tram.

There is an urgent need for alternative transport. And what has a high speed in our country, and does not interfere with traffic? - Metro! There was a tram service to the Tractor Plant at that time. But how to bring the tram to the narrow streets of Lenin Prospect ?! And still not to aggravate the traffic problem ?! Metro - definitely!

But Volgograd in those years did not have the status of a "city of a million" (with a million inhabitants). And according to the standards of the USSR, the metro was not built in such cities. And then a brilliant idea came to the engineers - to build a subway station, shallow immersion, and pass a tram through them. Thus, Metrotram was born.

But, any person will ask a logical question - “Is the tram speed enough for a fairly long underground communication?” If the usual, then, is not enough! Even the fastest ground tram has a relatively low speed relative to the speed of the Metro trains. But, in many cities of the world, the "High-speed tram" is used for a long time.

We did not begin to develop a model of a high-speed tram for the metro, from scratch, equal to the speed of an electric train. We have reinforced the standard city light rail by adding a power transformer unit. But, unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I could not find the exact figures for the maximum speed of the high-speed tram for Metrotram.

In Russia, we have long abandoned the models of "low-speed trams" due to their transport inefficiency. We do not build tram lines in narrow streets that actively intersect with pedestrian sidewalks. Almost everywhere, we use dedicated lines, with a relatively large distance between stops.

The key feature of the Volgograd Metrotram is that it combines two branches - aboveground and underground. And, it functions in two speed modes, switching between them. At the same time, a very interesting fact arose: the aboveground part has right-hand traffic, and the underground part has left-hand traffic! This problem has arisen due to the fact that our trams, historically, have a series of doors only on the starboard side. Therefore, when the tram descends underground, it hits the junction and changes the overpass.

As I wrote above, such a phenomenon as Metrotram exists not only in Volgograd. And Volgograd Metrotram was not the first of its kind. Similar technologies, called "Underground Tram", were used in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Ukraine, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, USA ...

And, they all also have their own dissimilar design features. Indeed, most often, the "underground tram" performs the full function of the Metro, without connecting to the overhead tram network. Or, having come to the surface, it continues to work at the speed of an electric train, stopping at large stations. And, quite often, the tram service in the tunnel was used for subsequent conversion to an electric train. In order to save money.

By the way, Metrotram in Volgograd (Russia) is most similar to Metrotram in Krivoy Rog (Ukraine). In fact, since Ukraine and Russia were previously part of the USSR, Metrotram in our countries was created according to one technological project.

Stylistically, the design of the first underground stations is very minimalistic, in contrast to the Moscow Metro. However, more recently, the reconstruction of the southern part was carried out, with the commissioning of modern stations. And, they are quite consistent with the spirit of our time.

And now, as promised at the beginning of the article "Dry facts about Metrotram":

  1. The idea of ​​creating a Soviet-style "Underground tramway" arose in the early 60s of the 20th century. And, it was dictated by bureaucratic regulations that did not allow the construction of the Metropolitan in cities with a population of less than a million people.
  2. The first underground branch of Metrotram was built in 8 years.
  3. Volgograd Metrotram was commissioned in 1984. 2 years later, in 1986, Metrotram was launched in the city of Krivoy Rog (Ukraine). For an identical project.
  4. The length of the first stage was 13.5 km. Of these, 3.5 km are the underground part.
  5. The first stage of Metrotram had 2 underground stations - Station Ploshchad Lenina, and Station Komsomolskaya. And one station on the flyover - Pionerskaya Station. Which is located at the entrance to the Akhtubinsky bridge. The name "Pionerskaya" was given in honor of the "Pionerka" river. Having the rightful title "Tsarina".
  6. The second stage began to be built in 1985. But, its construction took 26 years. And, the second stage, was put into operation - in 2011. Its length in the underground part is 3.8 km.
  7. Traffic in the underground part of the first stage of Metrotram is left-hand. And in the aboveground part - right-sided. The second stage of Metrotram, already, uses exclusively modern two-way high-speed trams. Therefore, the movement is right-handed.
  8. In the future, it is planned to extend the route of the overground line of the high-speed tram Metrotram from the stop Khlebzavod №4 to the Volgograd hydroelectric station.
  9. At the operating underground stations of Metrotram, a high level of GSM mobile signal is provided.

Metrotram has two routes:

Route "ST":

Bakery №4 - Autocenter (Vodootstoy) - Ilyich Hospital - Barricades Plant - Gymnasium №14 (School №31) - Monolit Stadium - Krasny Oktyabr Plant - Ul. 39th Guards Division - Pl. Renaissance - Palace of Sports - Mamayev Kurgan - Central Park of Culture and Leisure - TRK "Europe" - l. Lenin - Komsomolskaya - Pionerskaya.

Route "ST2":

Bakery №4 - Autocenter (Vodootstoy) - Ilyich Hospital - Barrikady Plant - Gymnasium №14 (School №31) - Monolit Stadium - Red October Plant - Ul. 39th Guards Division - Pl. Revival - Palace of Sports - Mamaev Kurgan - Central Park of Culture and Leisure - TRK "Europe" - Pl. Lenin - Komsomolskaya - Pionerskaya - Profsoyuznaya - Youth Theater.

P.S. About the Moscow and St. Petersburg Metro, I also want to post in the future. For the same Moscow Metro is a work of art and a popular tourist attraction.

P.P.S. Translated by Google Translator.