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Moscow not going to give up trams, mayor Sobyanin says

Tramways are now under reconstruction. This year at least 61,170 kilometres of tramways should be renovated

MOSCOW, November 26 (Itar-Tass) — Moscow is not going to give up trams, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

By inspecting the reconstruction of tramways in the east of the city on Monday, Sobyanin said Moscow would get new and modern electric transport.

“We are not going to close tram service in the city. On the contrary, we intend to work on to make Moscow trams more comfortable and fast moving for passengers,” the Moscow mayor said.

“About 600,000 passengers go by trams every day. This is the serious segment of our transport,” the mayor stressed. He also noted that tramways were now under reconstruction. During the reconstruction, “we will do our best to reduce noise and vibration and increase trams’ speed. We hope that after the reconstruction the speed of Moscow trams will reach at least 23–24 kilometres per hour”, he added.

In addition, Deputy Mayor for Transport Maxim Liksutov said the existing and new cars would be fully adapted for movement. “The city will not sustain additional expenses by receiving new tram-cars in 2014–2015,” the deputy mayor said.

According to his data, 60 percent of tramways will be fully designed to increase the speed of trams by 50 percent and the flow of passengers by 20 percent respectively. “The tender to create a tram of new generation has been announced. On December 3, applications will be stopped to be received. On December 15, we will sum up the results. New and modern trams will run in Moscow in 2014–2015,” Liksutov stressed.

This year at least 61,170 kilometres of tramways should be renovated. Next year “we are planning to reconstruct 71,400 kilometres and about 55 kilometres of tramways in 2014. In 2015 we are expected to repair about 20 kilometres of tramways,” Liksutov noted.

In his words, “we break a record. This year we will reconstruct tramways 2.5 times more than last year. So many tramways have never been reconstructed in Moscow.”

The first trams emerged in Moscow in 1899. The first itinerary of the city electric railway ran from Butyrskaya Square to Nizhnyaya Maslovka and Verkhnyaya Maslovka.