RUSSIA: Three tram manufacturers presented new vehicle designs incorporating a high level of domestic technology at this year’s Innoprom trade fair in Yekaterinburg.
UKVZ showed its 32 m long five-sectional bidirectional Type 71-665 tram, known as Arcturus, which was branded ‘80th Anniversary of the Victory’ to commemorate the end of World War II. The vehicle has 72 seats and is capable of 1 km of off-wire operation.
Transmashholding subsidiary PK TS showed its 37·5 m long, five-sectional bidirectional Type 71-952 tram, branded Voevoda (‘Chieftain’). This offers 68 seats, and has an off-wire operating range of 25 km at full speed. It also makes provision for automation.
Both trams are developments of the manufacturers’ existing platforms, with 95% domestic content, and are priced at around 250m roubles each.
Sinara showed two trams, including its Type 71-233 which has been developed domestically since 2023 to replace a planned co-operation with Czech company Škoda which was agreed in 2019 but later cancelled. The 28·6 m long three-sectional unidirectional tram features a new generation of bogie enabling a better low-floor interior layout as well as lower noise and reduced energy consumption. This vehicle is capable of 3 km of off-wire running.
An agreement was signed at Innoprom for the Industry Development Fund and VTB to invest 4·4bn roubles jointly in a factory in Yekaterinburg where Sinara will produce vehicles for Russia’s only 1 435 mm gauge tram network in Rostov-na-Donu. The company is upgrading this network under a PPP concession agreement dating from 2023.
The factory would have sufficient capacity to produce up to 200 tram sections per year. It could also assemble 1 524 mm gauge trams for Krasnodar and Taganrog, where Sinara also has PPP concessions.
