Frankly, the city’s residents no longer believe that the subway will ever work. However, the authorities said that by 2025 the first metro line will be put into operation. For these purposes, the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation allocated 72.9 billion rubles.

Are the projects for the construction of new and modernization of existing transport systems in the city justified or are these all inefficient spending of huge amounts of budget funds?

Deep unfinished

It was decided to build the metro in Chelyabinsk back in 1976. The project of the first line was developed in 1991, work began in 1992. As a result, they managed to build a platform and one vestibule of the Komsomolskaya Ploshchad station, and almost complete the construction of the platform and one of the two vestibules of the Trade Center station, after which everything stalled …

And now the failed project decided to resume. Interestingly, back in 2018, the City Hall held an auction for the construction of the first launch section of the first metro line from Traktorozavodskaya station to Prospekt Pobedy station. But, as “74.ru” wrote, the money went to maintain the life of existing metro facilities. We are talking about the amount of 1.7 billion rubles, in 2019 it was supposed to amount to more than a quarter of a billion rubles from the city budget.

As a result, it turns out that the metro, even in an unfinished form, requires enormous costs.

In February 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin called the construction of the Chelyabinsk subway economically inexpedient. But he noted that in order to avoid a man-made disaster, it is necessary to bring the metro to mind.

It is noteworthy that Governor Alexei Teksler said that the project would be completed in 2024, but it was again postponed for a year. If the metro does not appear by the promised time, hardly anyone will be surprised.

The Chelyabinsk Citizens Fund asked the President to instruct him to check the rationale for the modernization projects proposed by the officials. The fund’s managers and experts believe that the metrotram is a “cut” of budget money.

Two in one

The project itself provides for the completion of the construction of the metro with integration into the tram network. At the moment, there is a metro tram in Russia only in Volgograd. Chelyabinsk can become the second city.

The main differences between the metrotram and the conventional metro are the length of the stations, the requirements for tracks and rolling stock. In Chelyabinsk, the cars will be smaller than in the metro, but larger than the trams currently used in the city. Due to the fact that the trains will pass part of the way underground, the movement along the route will become faster.

As a result, the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation will provide the Chelyabinsk Region with an infrastructure budget loan of 73 billion rubles for the construction of a metro tram and the restoration of the tram network with the replacement of rolling stock. Federal funds will be transferred in 2024-2025.

tram pain

Along with the launch of the metro tram in Chelyabinsk, it is planned to modernize the existing tram system. The authorities intend to renew the entire rolling stock, reconstruct 65% and isolate 95% of the tram lines, modernize two depots and 22 traction substations.

But with public transport, Chelyabinsk also has some misunderstandings.

Yakov Gurevich from the Citizens Foundation recently said that new trams are being actively purchased, but the existing infrastructure does not allow them to be operated without the risk of wagon failure. It is also not a fact that they can be used in the metrotam system. If they turn out to be unsuitable, the “new thing” will again need money.

In 2021, the Sinara company, owned by the infamous oligarch Dmitry Pumpyansky, won the auction for new trams. Then there were rumors that the victory allegedly went to him not by chance. The businessman has long wanted to control the Russian tram market. In addition to everything, “Sinara GTR” was given a concession of Chelyabinsk trolleybuses. Very strange coincidence…

Does Texler see Pumpyansky as a benefit? Photo: Petr Kovalev / TASS

As for trams, another new scandal has surfaced. The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Chelyabinsk region revealed collusion in auctions for the supply of spare parts for trams, Kommersant reported.

We are talking about nine contracts concluded in 2019-2021, worth 124 million rubles. 4 companies were involved in the scheme – Bazis LLC, Trade House Yuzhuralelektrotrans LLC, Yuzhuralelectrotrans LLC and Electrotransport LLC. Together, the firms created imaginary competition and promoted a specific winner. Conscientious participants were eliminated by dumping the initial price according to the “ram” model.

Problems were not only with trams. In 2019, it was noted that public transport in Chelyabinsk poses major financial risks to the budget. Another audit of the Chamber of Control and Accounts revealed in the MUP “Traffic Organization Service” the inefficient use of property worth tens of millions of rubles and lost revenues to the budget as a result of the actions of officials.

Building a metrotram in the current circumstances, making the most of the existing underground infrastructure, is a chance for Chelyabinsk to solve at least part of its transport problems. But will the city be able to seize this chance?

The Chelyabinsk region is not lucky with the heads. Due to inefficient budget spending and corruption scandals, two previous governors, Mikhail Yurevich and Boris Dubrovsky, fled abroad after the resignation.

Alexei Teksler should have remembered the sad experience of his colleagues in order not to fall into the failed top three governors. And it remains only to observe whether the metro will appear after all, or its construction with multimillion-dollar costs will be postponed again.