It is no secret that the metro is the cheapest and one of the most convenient types of public urban transport. It has long been rumored that Voronezh could get a similar type of message. The metro would be an excellent outlet for the discharge of transport voltage in the city. But how likely is the construction of the metro in Voronezh, and at what stage is this idea now?
Project Background
Let's find out right away what triggered the idea of building a metro 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 population of the city reached almost 900 thousand inhabitants, which led to a very large load on the existing transport network, with which it could not fully cope. This was the reason for the talk about the construction of a metro in Voronezh. Moreover, these conversations have grown into something more. There was even a plan to build a "subway".
But the Soviet Union fell into 15 republics, the country's economy was going through hard times, and money was needed for urgent needs. So it was not up to the project, but later it was completely forgotten about it. Since 1998, a gradual decline in the population of the city began. As a result, it reached a value of 850 thousand people, so the construction of the subway was not so relevant.
Reasons for the revival of ideas
However, the country's difficult situation in the 1990s and early 2000s led to the situation that the trolleybus fleet in Voronezh began to rapidly decline. Salaries to depot workers were paid with great delays, staff were cut, wagons were cut for scrap. This led to the fact that in 2009 the tram routes from Voronezh completely disappeared. The dismantling of tram rails continues to the present time, although most of them have long been removed. The trolleybus fleet has also been seriously reduced. Thus, Voronezh gained a rather sad achievement - it became the largest European city in which there is no urban rail transport.
From 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 could not quite cope with the high-quality passenger service, now, with the disappearance of the metro and the reduction of the trolleybus fleet, even more so. But at this point, the Russian economy began to show significant growth, which allowed us to talk about the allocation of funds for promising projects.
Thus, due to the increase in the number of residents, the transport problem returned, but - and this is most important - financial opportunities appeared to solve it. Residents of the city and local authorities again talked about the possible construction of the metro.
Tram or metro?
At the same time, several alternative ideas began to develop in Voronezh at once, which were supposed to contribute to solving the transport problem in the city.
The most popular options offered by various experts, representatives of the authorities and simply city dwellers were the construction of a metro in Voronezh and the laying of tracks for a light rail, or as it is also called a light metro. Each of the two above options had both its pros and cons.
Easy subway
The idea of a light metro, or light rail, has been particularly actively put forward since 2013 by the Moscow company MostGeoCenter, which has been proposing its project to the Voronezh authorities.
Its essence lies in laying 89 km of light rail tracks. Of these, 74 km will have to pass on the surface and, by and large, follow the path of the old tram tracks, and 15 km are supposed to be laid underground. Therefore, another name for this project is the light metro, or metrotram. According to the BridgeGeoCenter project, 57 stations should be located above the ground, and 6. in the underground part. In addition, the entire light rail line will be divided into 4 depots.
By the way, urban transport of this type is already in another Russian city - in Volgograd. There metrotram was built back in Soviet times, in 1984. In addition, in the post-Soviet space, a similar transport project operates in Krivoy Rog (Ukraine).
What will Voronezh get from the implementation of this project? The light metro will significantly relieve passenger traffic from other modes of transport, in particular from fixed-route taxis. In addition, the underground tram, unlike the usual one, is able to travel at a faster speed - on average 24-30 km / h, and in some sections - up to 75 km / h, while the average speed of its slower counterpart reaches only 15 -24 km / h
Classic subway
At the same time, many Voronezh residents do not accept the idea of metrotram, because if it is implemented, they will most likely have to forget about the full-fledged metro project. And having a classic "subway" for a millionaire city is very prestigious. Imagine how the opinion of city residents will rise when visitors will 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, in which the metro has long been operating.
The idea of abandoning metrotram in favor of building a full-fledged metro was supported by organizations such as Giprokommundortrans and Kinosarg. They justify their opinion by the fact that it is no longer possible to lay rails on old routes. Most of the places where tram tracks ran not so long ago are now asphalted, as the carriageway was widened. And in some areas already built structures.
In addition, an increase in speed of 6-9 km / h, in contrast to the usual tram, which offers a metrotram project, is insufficient for a settlement like the city of Voronezh. Metro allows you to move much faster.
Opponents of the idea of building a full-fledged "underground" criticize the Kinosarga project, saying that it is populist. After all, the construction of the subway will require more money than the metro. And everyone knows that in many cities, due to lack of funding in Russia, subway construction projects are in a frozen state. Thus, choosing this path, the city of Voronezh may be left without urban rail transport. In this case, the metro would turn into an unrealizable long-term construction.
Expenses
However, according to 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 bear if the project of the MostGeoCenter organization is adopted. Metrotram is estimated at 89.0 billion rubles. But many experts believe that the cost level for the Kinosarga project is too low, and the construction of the metro will cost a lot more money.
What option will Voronezh choose? Metro or underground tram? The assurances of which organization are more likely to believe the city leadership?
Metro map
The first metro scheme of Voronezh appeared in early 2013. Then, one of the sites collected signatures in favor of the idea of the subway and for refusing to build a metro tram. However, later the author of the scheme admitted that he did not have enough knowledge to draw up a scientifically based plan. So his work, rather, was intended to attract the attention of city residents to the problem, and was not actually a proposal to translate this particular metro scheme into reality.
Later, at the end of January 2014, the Kinosarg and MostGeoCenter companies proposed their plans for the subway and metrotram to the mayor of Voronezh, Alexander Gusev.
What will be built in Voronezh?
And yet, what will they build in Voronezh - the subway or metrotram?
Apparently, the city leadership is leaning towards the proposal of the MostGeoCenter company, that is, to laying lines of a light rail or light metro. This is justified by the fact that the construction of a transport network of this type was laid down in the master plan for the development of Voronezh back in 2008.
The fact that in the future it is planned to build an underground tram, the mayor said in February 2014. Of course, after that he heard a lot of unflattering words from supporters of an alternative project. Voronezh Metro, most likely, will remain a mythical project.
