In Kazan, a hundred drivers will be retrained to drive electric buses

Last year, the metro was the most popular electric transport–accounting for 14% of the city transport volume.

In 2021, a large-scale renovation of electric transport rolling stock was carried out in Kazan, an electric bus was tested as well. A retraining program for drivers has already been developed for the introduction of 50 new electric vehicles. Aidar Abdulkhakov, Director General of the Municipal Unitary Enterprise Metroelectrotrans, told Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, about this during a report on the work over last year.

Fifteen trains carry out the passenger transportation in the Kazan metro. Due to the excessive mileage, the current maintenance of two 2011 Rusich trains and the medium maintenance of three 2005 Chekh brand trains were carried out last year. The medium maintenance is carried out within three months. After the service, the drivers run trains to identify compliance with the required parameters.

According to A.Abdulkhakov, a medium maintenance of three more trains is planned for 2022.

Close attention is also paid to the condition of the rolling stock of trams. “Negotiations were held with manufacturers of tramcars. According to the results of the negotiations, the tram depot was visited by specialists of these plants”, - A.Abdulkhakov said. Taking into account the recommendations of specialists, the axle bearings of five trams of the City-Star brand were replaced, as well as the engines of two tramcars of the Spectrum 71-409 were replaced. At the moment, another tramcar of this brand is under repair. 10 three-section trams were also repaired.

“At present, there are still 19 tramcars that require overhaul”, - said the Director General of the MUE Metroelectrotrans. In total, there are 106 tramcars in the company.

A.Abdulkhakov noted that Kazan has a fairly young trolleybus fleet, but 25 trolleybuses produced in 2007 are fully overaged. “Renewal of trolleybuses is possible under the “System-wide measures for the development of road facilities” federal project of the Safe and Quality Roads national project. Under this program, a subsidy is provided for a discount under transport rolling stock leasing agreements in the amount of no more than 60% of the purchase price, but no more than 12.2 million rubles per trolleybus”, - A.Abdulkhakov reported.

A test drive of a new type of transport is taking place in Kazan. Last year, an electric bus ran for three months along the trolleybus route No.3. From July to October, it transported more than 38 thousand passengers and ran almost 15 thousand kilometers. “We have received more than two thousand positive comments from passengers,”- Aidar Abdulkhakov said. Now, the MUE Metroelectrotrans implements a program for retraining drivers for “D” category for the operation of 50 electric buses. The first 100 drivers will obtain this category by May 1.

During his report to the Mayor of Kazan, A.Abdulkhakov noted that 60.3 million passengers used electric transport services in Kazan last year. This is 29.1% of the total volume of traffic in the city. Compared to 2020, passenger traffic increased by 18%, but it did not reach the level of the pre-pandemic 2019.

The metro became the most popular type of electric transport in 2021. It accounts for 14% of the total volume of the city traffic.