Bastrykin called the tram to the arrow

The head of the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) Alexander Bastrykin instructed to initiate a criminal case under Art. 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of power) on the fact of closing the high-speed tram line in the city of Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk Region. Earlier, residents of the city repeatedly appealed to the head of the TFR, as well as to the chairman of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, with requests not to allow the closure of the line, “having important social significance.” In addition, the tram line is notable for being called the northernmost in Russia. In turn, the owner of the line, the Ilim Group, indicates that the tram has never been used as a municipal transport and served exclusively for the free transportation of employees to work and home. The company does not rule out that local residents, taking advantage of the absence of conductors in the tram, could get on it on their own business, for example, to their dachas. Now, according to Ilim, the cars have been replaced by buses, but the company is ready to “participate in the discussion of the ‘tram issue’.”

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastrykin instructed and. O. Head of the Investigative Department of the ICR for the Irkutsk Region, Dmitry Pozovsky, to initiate a criminal case in connection with the appeal of the inhabitants of the Angara region to close the high-speed tram line in Ust-Ilimsk.

The appeal of the residents of the city of Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk region, where the tram line has been closed for more than a month, has been published on social networks. Citizens criticize the investigation due to the lack of a procedural decision on their repeated statements. Earlier, in connection with the appeal of residents with a request to sort out the situation, the regional investigation department organized an inspection under Art. 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of official powers). Currently, investigators are conducting an additional procedural check on this fact, ”the report says.

The press service of the regional department of the Investigative Committee told Kommersant that Mr. Bastrykin “has already been presented with a report on the preliminary results of the criminal case.”

The department also clarifies that the pre-investigation check on the facts of the closure of the tram line in Ust-Ilimsk was launched on December 21, 2022.

Ust-Ilimsky tram is a high-speed tram line that operated in the city from 1988 to 2022. The line, about 15 km long, connected the residential microdistrict and the industrial site of the Ust-Ilimsky CPP, and most of it passed along the route laid in the taiga massif adjacent to the city. In modern Russia, it was called the northernmost light rail line.

The tram line in Ust-Ilimsk was closed on December 22, 2022. Two days before that, the first appeal to the chairman of the TFR appeared on the YouTube account of the initiative group of Ust-Ilimsk residents. Within a month, citizens published three more videos.

“Our socially significant high-speed trams have not been running for more than a month now, which private owners are trying to destroy with the inaction of city administration officials and mayor Anna Shchekina. People have lost the ability to safely and quickly move around the city and in the suburbs. Residents have repeatedly stated to the mayor of the city and other officials that we are categorically against replacing trams with buses, we need trams,” the last appeal says.

The initiative group also notes that it appealed to the regional administration “to transfer the line to the budget balance, but no decision was made.”

As “Kommersant” was told in the administration of Ust-Ilimsk, “employees of the mayor’s office are not involved in the decision to close the tram line and cannot influence the resumption of its work.”

A similar position at the time of the closure of the tram line was expressed by the mayor of the city Anna Shchekina. “We contacted the owner regarding the closure of the tram line. The situation is not easy. Many tram line infrastructure facilities have not been repaired since they were put into operation, and this is 1987. Therefore, conditions for comfortable and safe transportation of workers to the industrial site cannot be provided now,” Ms. Shchekina said in her Telegam channel.

In turn, the directorate for public relations of the Ilim Group explained to Kommersant that from the very beginning it was a departmental transport and, as a separate workshop (management), was part of various divisions of the Ust-Ilim timber industry complex (UI LPK). In 1995, the city was offered to take tram routes and infrastructure into balance, but the city refused (the second similar offer was made in October 2022). In 2003, the light rail management was removed from the CLP and transferred to Ilimlestrans LLC.

In 2020, after numerous failures in passenger traffic, the tram was purchased by the Ilim Group, since the former owner of the tram suffered constant losses from its maintenance. The Ilimom tram was used exclusively for the free delivery of employees to and from work and was completely unprofitable. Moreover, it caused a lot of complaints from the employees of the enterprise themselves.

The company noted that the tram route was not a municipal one, perhaps the townspeople really used the tram, for example, in the summer to travel to their summer cottages, since travel along the technological line was free and was not serviced by conductors.

“Initially, plans were considered to modernize tram traffic,” the company explained. “However, calculations showed that the reconstruction of tram tracks alone exceeds the cost of 350 million rubles, the cost of one car is more than 73.5 million rubles. Whereas a warm, comfortable and high-speed bus costs 8.5 million rubles. After long and deep calculations, it was decided in favor of buses. At the same time, it was not about the closure of the tram, but about the organization of a new scheme for the delivery of employees of the enterprises of the industrial site. As a result, 55 buses were purchased and put into operation, which cost the company several hundred million rubles. Currently, all buses have been purchased and put into operation. For the convenience of employees, 48 ​​routes around the city and the nearest villages are organized, as close as possible to their places of residence. Several routes coincide with the tram route. Travel time has been reduced to 15 minutes.

“At the same time, we intend to participate in the discussion of the “tram issue”, organized by the city administration, and convey our position. Corresponding explanations were given in the framework of the criminal case,” the company added.