Kryvyi Rih Metrotram - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Kryvyi Rih Metrotram is a partially underground rapid tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

system that serves the city of Kryvyi Rih

Kryvyi Rih

Kryvyi Rih or Krivoy Rog is a city in central Ukraine. It is situated in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, to the southwest of the oblast's administrative center, Dnipropetrovsk, at the confluence of the Inhulets and Saksahan rivers...

, the eighth largest city in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. Despite of naming and use of tram rolling stock, de facto this is completely rapid transit system with fenced stations and tracks that are fully separated from roads

Grade separation

Grade separation is the method of aligning a junction of two or more transport axes at different heights so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other. The composition of such transport axes does not have to be uniform; it can consist of a...

and segregated from city's conventional tram system.

History

The design of the Metrotram that one sees in Kryvyi Rih finds its roots in the socialist urban planning guidelines that were formed in the 1960s for model designs on how urban centers grow and the transport arrangements that would suit them. In particular how a small settlement would grow into a full city and at what point would a rapid transit system be built. Kryvyi Rih and Volgograd

Volgograd

Volgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...

were both chosen to test whether or not it could be avoided building a full scale Metro system and instead adopt the light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

design to a socialist city. Both cities had developed tram

Tram

networks, but like most urban centres, the overcrowding and large congestion proved to much for the trams to serve roles of transport arteries. Moreover both cities were destroyed in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and built anew, with all the requirements of a modern city in plan.

In both cases the Metrotram would only serve as an interim, but necessary role, with provision for conversion into a full Metro

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

system. Construction began simultaneously in mid 1970s. In Volgograd this involved separating an existing tram route with an underground section in the city centre. In Kryvyi Rih, however, the Metrotram route was laid anew, but in a similar manner, with most of the section going on the surface, save the centre of the city. All of the underground dimensions were made with provision for eventual conversion into a full Metro system.

As the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram was built anew, even the surface sections are referred to as stations (as opposed to stops) and all are separate complexes, showing some of the more elaborate designs of late Soviet architecture.

On 26 December 1986, the Ukrainian SSR

Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

received its third underground rapid-transit system, after Kiev

Kiev Metro

The Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...

and Kharkiv

Kharkiv Metro

The Kharkiv Metro is the metro system that serves the city of Kharkiv , the second largest city in Ukraine. The metro was the second in Ukraine and the sixth in the USSR when it opened in 1975.-Lines and Stations:...

Metros.

Timeline

Segment	Date opened
Dzerzhinska Dzerzhinska (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Dzerzhynska is a station on the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram. Originally opened on 26 December 1986, the present structure dates to 23 February 1988. This confusion is best described, in the Tram arrangement and necessity to have a reversal ring for a terminus... -Maidan Pratsi Maidan Pratsi (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Maidan Pratsi is a station on the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram. Opened on 29 December 1986, it was the original northern terminus of the system and remains the terminus of the route №1....	December 26, 1986
Dzerzhinska Dzerzhinska (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Dzerzhynska is a station on the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram. Originally opened on 26 December 1986, the present structure dates to 23 February 1988. This confusion is best described, in the Tram arrangement and necessity to have a reversal ring for a terminus... -Budynok Rad Budynok Rad (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Budynok Rad is a station on the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram. It opened on February 23, 1988 as part of the first segment of the second stage.The station sits right in the centre of the city next to the city council building...	February 23, 1988
Budynok Rad Budynok Rad (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Budynok Rad is a station on the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram. It opened on February 23, 1988 as part of the first segment of the second stage.The station sits right in the centre of the city next to the city council building... -Kiltseva Kiltseva (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Kiltseva is a station of the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram. It opened on May 2, 1989, as the last station of the second stage, and is thus the southern terminus of the system....	May 2, 1989
Imeni Hutovskoho-Zarichna Zarichna (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Zarichna is a station of the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram, and is presentely the northern terminus of the system.The station was opened on October 25, 1999 by the then president Leonid Kuchma and consists of a large two story structure, with the ground floor consisting of a vestibule and the first floor...	October 25, 1999
Elektrozavodska Elektrozavodska (Kryvyi Rih Metrotram) Elektozavodska is a station of the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram.In honour of the city's 225th anniversary on May 27, 2000, Elektrozavodska was opened on an existing track between Industrialna and Zarichna stations. The station is a subterranean, shallow level construction with two side platforms. A...	June 9, 2000
Miska Likarnia	May 19, 2001

Facts and Numbers

The system is operated by the city municipal company, and has a total length of 17.7 km, 6.8 km of which are fully underground. The entire system has 11 stations, 4 of which are located underground and built up to the metro

Rapid transit

standard. In addition there is also one station, Vovnopriadilna, that was built but is currently not opened due to the absence of passenger traffic in the area. There are two routes: Kiltseva-Maidan Pratsi, and Kiltseva-Zarichna with a branch at Imeni Hutovskoho. In perspective if the city was to grow further and at one point overcome one million residents all of the Metrotram infrastructure can be converted into a full metro system.

The rolling stock

Rolling stock

Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

used on the system are the Tatra T3
Tatra T3
The T3 is a type of tramcar produced by Tatra. During its period of production, between 1960 and 1989, 13,991 multiple units and 122 sidecars were sold worldwide, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union...

, and the KTM-11/11T. The only tram depot

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

that serves the system is located near the Maidan Pratsi station. For more convenient turnarounds of the tram, there are turn-around circles on both ends of the lines.

Future

When the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

collapsed

History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)

The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991, spans the period from Leonid Brezhnev's death and funeral until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Due to the years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, economic growth stagnated...

, the rapid transit development in all of the republics was cut off from funding and neglected. In many cases, cities which did obtain a Metro system in the late 1980s only gained a starting stretch with passenger flows hardly making the systems significant. In both Metrotram cities, the case was the opposite. Annually the KRMT carries 40 million people, with a record of 56 million in 1997. In comparison the annual ridership of Dnipropetrovsk Metro

Dnipropetrovsk Metro

The Dnipropetrovsk Metro is a single-line metro system that serves the city of Dnipropetrovsk, the third largest city in Ukraine by population. The metro was the third system constructed in Ukraine, after the Kiev and Kharkiv metro systems, respectfully, when it opened on December 29, 1995...

, which opened in 1995 is only 12 million. In the present financial spectre, the latter system will be unlikely to gain new extensions that would allow it to approach anywhere near the Metrotram system within the next 15 years at least. In such a case, the Metrotram proved its compatibility and low construction costs as superior to the Metro in every respect, and unlike the Metros in Dnipropetrovsk, or many other post Soviet cities, the Tram now carries the role of an important traffic artery, which is by far more important in terms of securing funds for future extensions.

At present there are no construction processes going, however in both northern and southern directions there is clear need for the tram to be expanded. In addition procurement of newer rolling stock is also important and will likely to continue.

History

Timeline

Facts and Numbers

Future

See also