The probability of the return of Baku trams is zero

Baku/28.04.23/Turan: On April 19, Baku  has begun testing of electric bus produced by the Chinese company BYD, brought to the capital of Azerbaijan. The bus with a length of 12 meters and a capacity of 33 seated passengers will be tested on various Baku routes with different travel features. Upon completion of the testing, the results will be reported to the Cabinet of Ministers for further decision-making on the possibility of operating this type of transport in Baku.

At the same time, the last official statement in Azerbaijan about the future return of trams to Baku and Ganja was in 2000. Since then, there has been no official talk about restoring the movement of this absolutely environmentally friendly urban type of passenger transport.

Trams and trolleybuses were actively used in Soviet Azerbaijan, the cost of tickets in trams and trolleybuses was 3 and 4 kopecks (buses - 5 kopecks). Electric passenger transport is currently operated in the cities of Russia, Turkey, everywhere in Europe, Georgia, and Armenia. But Azerbaijani cities are gradually switching to electric transport exclusively in the personal transport sector. The use of comfortable liquefied gas buses in Baku is presented in the official press as a concern of the state for the environment. But gas engines also poison the atmosphere. Does the appearance of one trial electric bus in Baku mean the rejection of the plan to restore trams (the return of trolleybuses was never mentioned)?

The head of the BTA press service, Mais Agayev, told Turan that the test of the electric bus does not mean abandoning intentions to revive trams in Baku.

"According to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers No.74 of March 4, 2019, the transition to environmentally friendly public transport is underway in the capital. 76% of new buses run on liquefied gas (Euro 6 standard), 61% of buses are new. There should be a transition to electric public transport. But taking into account the difficulties of private transport companies, the Design Bureau extended the execution of this decision until 2025." BYD electric buses are certified in the EU, M. Agayev added.

The battery capacity of these buses is 383 kVt-hours, you can drive 350 km on one charge.

M.Agayev did not confirm Turan's assumption that importing one electric bus means abandoning trams, because it is cheaper to buy electric buses and build night charging stations to restore the operability of bus batteries than to build tram depots, rails, and electric traction wires for trams in the city. According to the representative of the transport agency, it is right for the city to use different types of transport.

"Tram service for Baku is provided in the project of the future passenger transport of the capital. But I cannot say about the economic advantage of one type of transport over another," M. Agayev replied.

Simple calculations suggest that the test of an electric bus may actually indicate a rejection of the tram perspective. Firstly, the functions of regulating ground public transport in Baku were recently transferred to the branch ministry again (on April 19, 2023, the BTA was transferred to the balance of the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan), and now the BTA is not a state structure of the capital's subordination. The administrative and economic changes caused by this decree will delay the reform of the Baku passenger transport.

Secondly, and this is the main thing, the creation of a network of tram lines is significantly more expensive than the purchase and operation of electric buses.

Mais Agayev said that he does not have information about the economic component of replacing passenger transport with trams. Therefore, let us turn to the information of a country close to Azerbaijan-Russia.

According to estimates of Russian experts, the construction of 1 km of a double-track tram line costs 1 million 656 thousand manats, so the construction of 100 km of a double-track line will cost 165 million manats.

The construction of 1 km of a double-track contact network is 313 thousand manats. We will add another 31 million 300 thousand manats to the expenses for the construction of 100 km of tram lines in Baku. It turns out that the infrastructure of a 100 km tram route without the construction of a depot will cost the treasury almost 200 million manats.

One Russian single - section tram costs about 312 thousand manats, a large three—section tram costs 938 thousand manats, a two-cab shuttle tram costs 1 million 042 thousand manats.

And for the operation of electric buses, only charging stations need to be imported and installed, and the import of this equipment is exempt from customs duty. On average, in the Russian Federation, one electric bus costs about 624 thousand manats, and an ultrafast battery charging station costs 312 thousand.

The third important condition for the creation of tram routes is the need to allocate separate lanes for tram lines on urban roads, the width of which is much larger than the allocated lanes for electric buses.

Let us calculate the approximate cost of transportation of one conditional passenger in the two discussed types of urban transport, without the price of electricity, remuneration of employees and repair / operation of equipment. Suppose ten trams or electric buses are needed for day work on one ten-kilometer route.

The purchase of ten single-section trams (3 million 120 thousand mans), the purchase and installation of 10 km of contact electrical wires on masts (3 million 130 thousand) and 10 km of double-track rail tracks (16 million 650 thousand) will cost the treasury or private entrepreneurs 22 million 900 thousand manats.

For the purchase of ten Russian electric buses (6 million 240 thousand manats) and one charging station (312 thousand manats) needs to allocate 6 million 552 thousand manats of public or private funds.

Consequently, the cost of transportation of one conditional passenger is by more than three times cheaper when operating electric buses that do not need contact wires and rail tracks. --0--