RUSSIA: Sinara Transport Machines has signed a 1·6bn rouble contract to supply 30 trams to the city of Chelyabinsk, enabling the replacement of about 20% of the fleet.
Production of the trams at manufacturing partner UKVZ’s plant will start in May, with the first 10 scheduled to be delivered in September and the final batch by December.
The partly low-floor, four-axle, single-ended trams based on the Type 71-623 design will have wheelchair spaces and priority seats for passengers with reduced mobility, air-conditioning and heating with a ‘curtain heater’ mode for use in winter, CCTV, scrolling LED displays, wi-fi and USB charging points. A green and white livery has been chosen, rather than the traditional red and cream.
The warranty will cover two years or 100 000 km.
‘The tram is not only one of the most ecofriendly means of transport, but it is also very popular with citizens’, said STM General Director Anton Zubikhin. ‘It is essential to make it also the most comfortable one. I am confident that the new modern trams will fulfil this task, and will also help to increase ridership significantly and relieve the city roads.’
