Tramway

Categories / City Services/Transportation/Municipal Transportation
TRAMWAY (borrowed into Russian as the word derived from English tram (carriage) and way), a means of city rail transport. Three kinds of tramways are known: horse-drawn (see Horse-tram), steam-operated (see Steam railroad) and electricity-operated trams. In 1880 on the corner of Degtyarnaya Street and Bolotnaya Street engineer F.A. Pirotsky tested the first electrically driven tramway in Russia. The first electrical tramway track linking Palace Embankment and the Spit of Vasilievsky Island was built in 1895 on the ice of the Neva River. G.O. Graftio, Y.M. Gakkel and other engineers contributed to the project design of the city tramway lines. The first launching of overland single-track tram railway (linking the Chief Admiralty and the 8th line of Vasilievsky Island) was opened on 16 September 1907. The tramway line linking Sadovaya Street and Nevsky Prospect was launched In October–December 1907. By 1909 13 routes functioned in St. Petersburg, operated by 190 cars made at English Bruch Plant and 235 Russian-made cars (50 of those were made on Putilovsky Plant). The second stage of tramway route building started in 1913 and was ended in 1916 due to WWI. Freight tramway transportation was launched in 1914. A suburban tram-line towards Oranienbaum was opened in 1917 and called Oranienbaum Electrical Tram-Line. In 1918-23 the municipal economy was on the decline, thus only 150-200 cars criss-crossed the lines daily (tramways functioned at weekdays only). In the late 1920s laying of tramway routes picked up at Okhta, Rzhevka, and Ozerki. By 1941 the total length of tram-lines exceeded 700 km, and nearly 1900 tram cars went on the line. In June 1941 the Leningrad tramway system was put on a war footing. On 8 December 1941 due to electrical power failure the tramway transportation was discontinued, but as early as on 15 April 1942 tramways were set going again. In 1943, there were 13 routes functioning in the city. By 1947 tramway facilities were fully restored. In 1958, there were no more fare collectors aboard; they reappeared again in 1997. Starting in 1947 tramway tracks were removed from the main city traffic arteries (Stachek Avenue, Nevsky Prospect, Kirovsky Avenue etc.), in the meantime new tram-lines were being built, and by 1980 over 20 new routes entered into operation. In the early 1990s, tramways proved unprofitable, and the number of tram-lines was reduced again (the lines on Engelsa Avenue, Admiralteysky Avenue, Vosstaniya Street, Zhukovskogo Street, etc. were dismantled). Since 1998 the rail tracks have been laid on spring cushions, so-called “smooth way” tracks (Sadovaya Street, Bolshaya Zelenina Street, etc.), which allowed to reduce the level of noise. In 2003 nearly 50 tramway lines were operating in St. Petersburg, using LM-97 and LM-99 tram cars manufactured at St. Petersburg Tram Mechanical Plant; the tram route network totalled 300 km. The museum of tramway equipment was founded in 1997 on the territory of Tram Depot No. 2 (77 Sredny Avenue of Vasilievsky Island,). Museum articles are also on display in Tram Depot No.1 (83 Moskovsky Avenue), and other locations. In 1998 a museum tram line was opened between Turgeneva Square and Finlyandsky Railway Station, it is operated by one or two cars from the museum collection. In March 2003 the first line of express tramway was launched on Prosvescheniya Avenue.

References: Годес Я. Г. Этот новый старый трамвай. Л., 1982; От конки до трамвая: Из истории петерб. транспорта / Авт.-сост. Е. Шапилов и др. СПб.; М., 1994; Трамвай и троллейбус Санкт-Петербурга / Авт.-сост. М. Н. Величенко. СПб., 1997.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Gakkel Yakov Modestovich
Graftio Heinrich Osipovich
Pirotsky F.A.
8th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city
Admiralteysky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Bolshaya Zelenina Street/Saint Petersburg, city
Dvortsovaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Engelsa Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Kamennoostrovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 83
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Sredny Ave of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 77
Stachek Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Turgeneva Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Vosstaniya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Zhukovskogo Street/Saint Petersburg, city
Годес Я. Г. Этот новый старый трамвай. Л., 1982
От конки до трамвая: Из истории петерб. транспорта: [Альбом] / Авт.-сост. Е. Шапилов и др. СПб.; М., 1994
Трамвай и троллейбус Санкт-Петербурга / Авт.-сост. М. Н. Величенко. СПб., 1997 Horse-car
Steam Railway
Admiralty
Finlyandsky Railway Station
1907