By 2013, Belarus's urban transport fleets will be replenished with 947 trolleybuses and 133 trams

June 4, Minsk /Olga Belyavskaya - BELTA/. The Belarusian government has approved the State Program for Providing Cities with Ground Urban Electric Transport for 2009-2013. The relevant decision is contained in Resolution No. 686 of the Council of Ministers of Belarus, the BELTA correspondent was informed at the Council of Ministers' Office. As Andrey Gladkiy, consultant of the passenger transport department of the road transport directorate of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, told the BELTA correspondent, the program measures will help increase the payback of urban electric transport passenger services and reduce the volume of budget subsidies to cover the expenses necessary for organizing such services. This will be achieved through the renewal of the country's trolleybus and tram fleet, modernization of its infrastructure, and development of the route network. During the program implementation, urban rolling stock fleets will be replenished with 947 trolleybuses and 133 trams. For example, Brest will purchase 45 new trolleybuses, Vitebsk - 70, Gomel - 107, Grodno - 63, Mogilev - 112, Bobruisk - 30, and Minsk - 520. In addition, 65 new trams will run on the urban routes of Minsk, 50 in Vitebsk, and 18 in Novopolotsk. Special attention will be paid to the development of urban transport infrastructure. Over the next four years, 156.99 km of trolleybus lines and 20.52 km of tram lines will be built in the country, and 103.926 km of trolleybus tracks and 112.58 km of tram tracks will be repaired. The appearance of enterprises providing operation and repair of urban rolling stock will also be updated. For example, new trolleybus depots will be built and commissioned in Minsk and Grodno, and tram depots will be reconstructed in Novopolotsk and Vitebsk. The program also separately outlines measures for the use of new technologies in the urban electric transport system. In particular, the document provides for the phased implementation in the country's cities of automated traffic control systems for trolleybuses and trams using domestic technical means. For example, Minsk plans to implement an automated cashless payment system for passengers traveling on trolleybuses and trams. The development of this innovation has already begun. The program will give a special impetus to the development of research and development (R&D) work in the transport sector in Belarus. In the coming years, it is planned to develop new models of trolleybuses and trams with reduced noise and vibration levels, as well as increased comfort, efficiency, and safety. A modern mechanized complex of machines and mechanisms for the construction and reconstruction of tram tracks based on domestic machine-building products will be created, and new types of tram line designs will be developed, which will reduce the costs of maintaining domestic track infrastructure. -0-