One of the authors of a challenging transport project recounts about the origins of their idea, cost of its implementation, and partnership relations with the authorities.

Last December, public activists presented to the Krasnodar public their idea of fast and convenient travel around the city. Both the City Hall and the Russian Railways Company are known to have supported the project. So - what would be the benefits of the Krasnodar City Rail (the so-called ‘Light Metro’), and when may it be launched?

“There are several factors that determine the uniqueness of the new project.

“First, the railways [in Krasnodar] in fact go along [the city’s] main traffic flows - and we are going to use this peculiarity as much as possible. Second, we plan to go well beyond the city boundaries - into the Krasnodar City Agglomeration. It is planned that the metro will be available for the dwellers of villages and towns lying within 30 km from Krasnodar. Its easternmost point will be Vasiurinskaya; northernmost - Novotitarovskaya; north-eastern - Dinskaya; south-western - Severskaya. It would take the passengers less than an hour to reach any station within the city boundaries. For instance, it would take 36 minutes to get from Krasnodar II railway station to the airpot.

“According to the project, the traffic interval would be 20 minutes in rush hours, and 40 minutes during the day - from 6 am until midnight. The trains would be making a lot of stops on the way, which would be very convenient for the dwellers of Krasnodar and the neighbouring localities.

“Every day, at least 150,000 vehicles come to Krasnodar, of which 65,000 come from the adjacent localities - people use their cars to go to work, to do shopping, to hospitals, to visit their relatives, etc., in rush hours. If at least a half of them would change for the metro, the project would justify.

“An important factor is the cost of the travels: the petrol costs approximately 40 rubles per 10 km. If you add the cost of the car parks, the sum would be a lot higher. A train would cost you much less, and without any traffic jams.

“Our project supposes the use of the existing railways and the construction of simple ‘economy-class’ railway platforms. The budget of their

construction is about 100 million rubles. Now we are waiting for the Russian Railways to provide us with calculations per station.”

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