Voronezh. Metro: myth or reality?

It's no secret that the metro is the cheapest and one of the most convenient forms of public urban transport. It has long been rumored that Voronezh can acquire such a kind of message. The metro would be an excellent way to relieve traffic stress in the city. But how high is the probability of building a subway in Voronezh, and at what stage is this idea now?

Background of the project

Let's find out right away what prompted the idea of building a subway in Voronezh.

For the first time the plan for creating underground transport in the city was discussed back in the days of the USSR. In the 80s of the last century, the city's population reached almost 900 thousand people, which led to a very heavy load on the existing transport network, with which it could not fully cope. This was the reason for the appearance of talks about the construction of a subway in Voronezh. Moreover, these conversations grew into something more. There was even a plan for building a "subway".

But the Soviet Union broke up into 15 republics, the country's economy was going through bad times, and money was needed for urgent needs. So it was not up to the project, and later it was completely forgotten. Since 1998, the gradual decline in the population of the city began. As a result, it reached 850 thousand people, so the construction of the metro was not so urgent.

Reasons for the revival of the idea

At the same time, the difficult situation in the country in the 1990s and early 2000s led to the situation that the trolleybus fleet in Voronezh began to decline rapidly. Salaries to depot workers were paid with great delays, staff reduced, cut cars for scrap. This led to the fact that in 2009 the tram routes from Voronezh completely disappeared. Dismantling of tram rails continues to this day, although most of them have long been removed. The trolleybus park has also seriously reduced . Thus, Voronezh acquired a rather sad achievement - it became the largest European city, in which there is no urban rail transport.

Since the second half of the first decade of this century, the situation has changed. The population of the city began to grow and by 2013 exceeded 1 million. If even earlier, in the 80s, the transport system did not quite cope with the quality of passenger service, now, with the disappearance of the metro and the reduction of the trolleybus park, and even more so. But by that time, Russia's economy began to show significant growth, which allowed us to talk about allocating funds for promising projects.

Thus, due to the increase in the number of residents, the transport problem has returned, but - and this is the main thing - there are financial opportunities to solve it. Residents of the city and local authorities again started talking about the possible construction of the metro.

A tram or a subway?

At the same time, several alternative ideas began to develop in Voronezh, which were supposed to contribute to solving the transport problem in the city.

The most popular options, which were offered by various experts, government officials and just urban residents, were the construction of a metro in Voronezh and the laying of ways for a high-speed tram, or what is also called a light metro. Each of the above two options had both pluses and minuses.

Easy Metro

The idea of an easy metro, or high-speed tram, was especially actively put forward from 2013 by the Moscow company MostGeoCenter, which offers Voronezh authorities its project.

Its essence consists in laying 89 km of roads for a high-speed tram. Of these, 74 km will have to pass on the surface and, by and large, repeat the path of old tram lines, and 15 km is supposed to be laid underground. Therefore, another name for this project is a light metro, or metrotram. According to the "MostGeoCentre" project, 57 stations should be located above the ground, and in the underground part - 6. In addition, the entire high-speed tram line will be divided into 4 depots.

By the way, the city transport communication of this type already exists in another Russian city - in Volgograd. There metrotram was built in the Soviet times, in 1984. In addition, in the post-Soviet space such a transport project operates in Krivoy Rog (Ukraine).

What will Voronezh receive from the implementation of this project? Metro light type will significantly relieve the passenger traffic from other modes of transport, in particular with fixed-route taxis. In addition, the underground tram, unlike conventional trams, is able to move at a faster speed - an average of 24-30 km / h, and in some areas - up to 75 km / h, while the average speed of its slower counterpart reaches 15 -24 km / h.

Classic Metro

At the same time, many Voronezh people do not perceive the idea of metrotram, since in the case of its implementation of a full-fledged metro project, they will most likely have to be forgotten. And to have a classic "subway" for the city of a million people is very prestigious. Imagine how the opinion of the city's residents will rise when the visitors ask them: "How to get to the metro?" Voronezh does not want to be worse than other Russian cities, such as Nizhny Novgorod, Samara or Omsk, which have long been operating underground.

The idea of refusing metrotrans in favor of building a full-fledged metro was supported by such organizations as Giprokommundortrans and Kinosarg. Their opinion, they justify the fact that it is already impossible to build rails along the old routes. Most of the places where tram tracks have not been operating for a long time are now asphalted, as the road for cars has been expanded. And in some areas have already erected buildings.

In addition, an increase in the speed of 6-9 km / h, in contrast to the usual tram that the metrotram project offers, is insufficient for such a settlement as Voronezh. Metro allows you to move much faster.

Opponents of the idea of building a full-fledged "subway" criticize the Kinosarg project, saying that it is populist. After all, the construction of the metro will require more money than metrotram. And everyone knows that in many cities due to lack of funding in Russia are in the frozen state of the subway project. Thus, having chosen this path, the city of Voronezh can generally remain without urban rail transport. Metro in this case would turn into an unrealizable long-term construction.

Expenses

However, according to the estimates of the company "Kinosarg", the construction of a full-fledged metro will cost the city 79.3 billion rubles. Surprisingly, this amount is even less than the costs that the budget will have to pay if the project of MostGeoCenter is adopted. Metrotram is estimated at 89.0 billion rubles. But many experts believe that the level of expenses for the Kinosarg project is too understated, and the construction of the metro will cost a much larger amount of money.

What variant will Voronezh choose? Metro or underground tram? Which of the organizations will the authorities of the city believe more?

Metro scheme

The first scheme of the metro Voronezh appeared in early 2013. Then one of the sites collected signatures in favor of the idea of the underground and for refusing to build metrotram. However, later the author of the scheme admitted that he does not have sufficient knowledge to make a scientifically based plan. So his work, rather, was designed to attract the attention of city residents to the problem, and was not actually a proposal to implement this particular metro scheme in reality.

Later, at the end of January 2014, the companies "Kinosarg" and "MostGeoCenter" offered the mayor of Voronezh Alexander Gusev his plans for the metro and metro.

What will they build in Voronezh?

And yet, what will be built in Voronezh - a metro or metrotram?

Apparently, the city administration is inclined to the proposal of "MostGeoCenter" company, that is, to lay down the lines of the high-speed tram, or the light metro. This is justified by the fact that the construction of a transport network of this type was laid down in the general plan for the development of Voronezh in 2008.

The mayor said that in the future the construction of an underground tram is planned in February 2014. Of course, after that, from the supporters of the alternative project, he heard many unflattering words addressed to him. Metro Voronezh, most likely, will remain a mythical project.

Prospects

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the local budget does not have the required money to implement any of the two projects, so the city administration is looking for private investors. On the basis of how quickly she finds them, and whether she finds anything at all, the concrete prospects and terms for the realization of the building depend.

And although at the moment the specifics about the appearance of rail transport in the city remains covered with fog, it is possible to say with a high degree of probability that in the future, if there is a metro in Voronezh, the answer to the questioner will be the phrase: "There is no metro. There are metrotram. "