Sochi Light Metro was a planned public transportation system in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, with an intended completion date of 2013. The system was intended to be used during the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

. The plans for the light metro were abandoned in favor of the reconstruction of the railway.

History

According to a press release of Sochi Olympics, a light rail system was originally proposed which would span 36 km, but eventually a Russian-style

light metro A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS’s trains are usually 1-4 cars, or 1 ligh ...

system was chosen instead. After

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

's Butovskaya Line and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

's Nadzemny Express, the Sochi Light Metro would have been Russia's third light metro, among 11 Russian rail rapid transit systems altogether. Due to a crisis, the project was changed from a light metro to a scaled-down commuter-style railway called the Sochi Aeroexpress. The line will connect the airport with Krasnaya Polyana with an intermediate stop in Adler. The abbreviated version will include a 2.8 km tunnel. The estimated construction budget is $758,8 million. Original plans for the system were the building of three interconnected lines, with a total of 86.4 km of track and 24 stations running in a mixture of underground, mountain tunnels, elevated, and at-grade construction: * ''Olympic Village'' — ''Grushevaya Polyana'', 49.9 km, 6 stations; according to the ongoing construction, the airport Sochi is not connected to this line. The airport Sochi is connected only by a dead-end station to

Adler railway station Adler railway station (russian: link=no, Адлер) is a railway station in Adler District of Sochi. It is located on the North Caucasus Railway, a regional subsidiary of Russian Railways, and one of the largest rail passenger terminals in Rus ...

. * ''Olympic Village'' — ''Mamayka'', via ''Adler Station'' and ''Downtown Sochi'' (with possible extension to Dagomys and Uch-Dere westwards): 36.3 km, 20 stations; * ''Mamayka'' — ''Grushevaya Polyana'', via ''Adler Station'' and ''Sochi International Airport'': 69.9 km, 17 stations. In December 2008

RZD Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both mana ...

announced it would be tendering for 54 dual voltage (AC and DC), trains with capacities of about 1000 passengers for use in southern Russia, and for use during the

Sochi Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...

. In February 2009

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...

was reported as the winner with its «Spacium» train design. In December 2009 the formal contract for 54 trains (valued $598 million) was signed with

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

. Siemens designates the train type Desiro RUS, the trains have been named Ласточка (Lastochka, Swallow). A news report of January 27, 2012 by Rail.co website (

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

) stated that the rail link between Adler and the

Sochi International Airport Sochi International Airport (russian: Международный Аэропорт Сочи; ) is an airport located in Adler District of the resort city of Sochi, on the coast of the Black Sea in the federal subject of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. So ...

will be operational later that year. As of December 31, 2013, the scaled-down version of the system, the Sochi Aeroexpress, is in operation, on a route between

and the

with a stop in Adler.

References

External links

Sochi Light Metro project page
, NPO Mostovik Corporate (outdated)

on Subways.net {{Rapid transit in the former Soviet Union, center Rapid transit in Russia Proposed public transport in Russia Light rail in Russia Cancelled rapid transit lines and systems