Type Tramway Owner Volchansk Municipality Line length 7.6 km (4.7 mi) Termini Volchansk Stations 13 | Opened 31 December 1951 Rolling stock 5 trams Locale Volchansk Began operation December 31, 1951 | |
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Operator(s) MUP «Volchansky Avtoelektrotransport» | ||
The Tram in Volchansk (Russian: Волчанский трамвай) is the primary transportation mode connecting the northern and southern region of Sverdlovsk in Russia, specifically, the southern town of Volchansk and northern town of Lenaya Volchanka. Volchansk's population is 10,403. The Tram has been in operation since December 31, 1951. The system contains one line which is 7–8 kilometers long.
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History
Volchansk is the smallest Russian town with a tram according to Volchansk and is located about 2105 km east of Moscow and 452 km north of Yekaterinburg. The Volchansk tram service started on December 31, 1951. At that time Volchansk did not have town status (it was declared a town in 1956), but the population was at least 30,000.
Initially, the line continued past Volchanka depot to Opencast Colliery #5 (Razrez 5). This was closed in 1994 due to theft of the trolley wire. There was also an interurban tram line to the neighbouring town of Karpinsk, that had been working from 1953 to April 22, 1965. It was dismantled due to the transfer of a large walking excavator from Karpinsk to Volchansk along the road between these two towns.
Description
The Volchansk Tram System consists of one line connecting Volchanka with Lesnaya Volchanka. The length of the line is 7.6 kilometers. The line is single-track. Previously existing passing tracks have been dismantled. The tram route between townships passes through taiga and meadows.
The tram tracks need repair, but depot workers carry out track service as much as possible with the available materials and equipment: tracks transposition, replacement of ties, smoothing of track rails, mounting of switches, etc. Derailments have been known to happen, however reported incidents have decreased.
The tramway depot is situated in the southern district of Volchanka and is the southern terminus. The depot consists of a one-story headquarters, a brick shed for two tramcars, an area for tramcar parking, and a utility building.
Service
There is only one route with one tram running between Lovchanka in the south and Lesnaya Volchanka in the north. The trams operate between 6:00 a.m. and midnight. The time between the two cities is approximately 30 minutes one way or 60 minutes round trip. The northbound trip is slightly longer based on the uphill terrain.
Rolling stock
The rolling stock consists of two tramcars of model 71-605 (stock numbers #7 and #8), one tramcar 71-608KM (stock number #1), one tramcar 71-402 “SPECTR” (stock number #2) and one tramcar 71-619 (stock number #3). The last one came to the town in January, 2008. The SPECTR had arrived a couple of years before. Thereby Volchansk has completely renewed all its rolling stock and unlike many similar towns in Russia it has enough tramcars to operate its transport system.
Passenger tramcars are equipped with bow-type current collectors, which are suitable for operation on the existing catenary. It is planned to equip tramcars with modified pantographs adapted to work in local conditions.
The depot has a snow plow “GS-4” (may be incorrect as the machine's stock number is unknown), though it is currently nonfunctioning due to vandalism. However, Volchansk workers intend to restore the machine. Currently, a tractor is used to shovel snow off the track.
The depot uses an old flatcar that was a tramcar of model KTM-1 many years ago. It is coupled with a passenger tramcar and used to transport materials and tools to the track-works places.
A body of a tramcar model MTV-82 is used as a warehouse.
Guinness World Record claim
Although not verifiable through the Guinness Book of World Records, local lore claims it is the smallest city in the world to have its own independent stand-alone tram system. Volchansk citizens have applied to the Russian Records Book in order to have an official confirmation of their town as being the smallest one in Russia with its own tram service.