RUSSIA: The double-track interurban tram Route 333 running 8·6 km from Yekaterinburg to the neighbouring city of Verkhnaya Pyshma has been opened by Governor of the Sverdlovsk region Evgeny Kuyvashev and Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexei Orlov.
The line has been developed by the Verkhnepyshminsky Tramway subsidiary of Movista Regions under a PPP concession awarded by the Sverdlovsk regional government; this includes 10 years of operations.
The project has cost 1·8bn roubles, of which 1·43bn roubles was contributed by national economic development institution VEB.RF and 384m roubles by a loan from InfraVEB.
Services launched on August 31, using a fleet of 11 PK TS 71-911EM Lionet single section trams. These are 16·7 m long, have four axles and are a fully low-floor design with a capacity of 155 passengers.
Services run from 05.20 to 23.30, with headways varying from 8 min in the peaks to every 15-20 min off peak and at weekends. The travel time of 25 min is about half that of a bus. There are 14 stops, and fares are 22 roubles within one municipality or 38 roubles for an end-to-end trip.
Ridership is predicted at 4 million passengers/year.
The Yekaterinburg terminus is at Ulitsa Frezerovshchikov, next to Prospekt Kosmonavtov metro station and served by the municipal operator’s urban trams.
