Kryvyi Rih Metrotram

The Kryvyi Rih Metrotram (Криворізький метротрам, colloquially: Kryvyi Rih Metro), officially the Kryvyi Rih Rapid Tram is a partially underground rapid transit light rail system that serves the city of Kryvyi Rih, the seventh-largest city in Ukraine.

History
The design of the Metrotram seen in Kryvyi Rih has its roots in the socialist urban planning guidelines that were formulated in the 1960s, based on models of the emergence of new urban centers and the transport arrangements that would suit them, in particular, how a small settlement would grow into a full-sized city, and at which point a rapid transit system would need to be built. Kryvyi Rih was chosen to test whether the construction of a full-scale metro system could be avoided by adopting a light rail design for a socialist city. The city had a developed tram network, but like most urban centers, overcrowding and widespread congestion proved too much for the light rail to serve as the main transport arteries. Moreover, the city was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt, with all the requirements of a modern city considered in planning.

The Metrotram was intended to serve only an interim, albeit necessary, role, with provision for conversion into a full rapid transit system.

Construction began in the mid-1970s. In Kryvyi Rih, the Metrotram route was built from scratch, with most of the section running along the surface, except in the very center of the city and wherever it was required. All of the underground dimensions were made with provision for eventual conversion into a full metro system.

Each metro station is an architectural monument for its neighborhood, in the style of late Soviet architecture.

On 26 December 1986, the first 8 km long segment was opened with four stations, becoming the third underground rapid transit system in Ukraine, after Kyiv and Kharkiv metros. Between 1988 and 1989, a second segment was opened in the southern direction with three additional stations, and after 1991, the line was extended northward, reaching in the year 2001 almost 18 km and 11 stations.

In 2012, the southern end of the line was connected with the city's conventional tram system and an additional route 3М was created extending to the nearby metallurgical plant and closest tram stops.

In Winter 2017, a new route 4М towards NKGZK was launched, and also, route 3М was extended to PivdHZK (Southern Mining and Processing Plant).

On 1 May 2021 Kryvyi Rih became the first city in Ukraine to introduce free travel in public transport for its citizens. In order not to pay for municipal transport one must show a special electronic "Kryvyi Riher's Card".

In Spring 2022 travel by city public transport became free for all passengers.

Facts and figures
The system is operated by the city municipal company and has a total length of 17.7 km, 7 km of which (40%) are fully underground. The entire system has 11 stations: 4 of them are located underground, 3 stations have only underground vestibules and also 2 stations are elevated — all built up to metro standard. In addition, there is one station, Vovnopriadylna, that was built but is currently not opened due to the absence of passenger traffic in the area. There are four routes: Kiltseva — Maidan Pratsi, Kiltseva — Zarichna, Zarichna — NKGZK tram stop and Zarichna — PGZK tram stop, with a branch at Soniachna, separating two lines.

The rolling stock used on the system consists of Tatra T3 tramcars in plenty different modifications. Two depots serve the system: one is located near Maidan Pratsi station; the other one is situated in Tram Park in the southwestern edge of Metalurhiinyi District. For more convenient tram turnarounds, there are turning circles at both ends of the lines, and there also are some more along the pathway.

Prospects for growth
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the development of rapid transit systems in all of the former republics was deprived of funding and neglected. In many cases, cities that acquired a metro system in the late 1980s only gained an initial stretch with passenger flows barely making the systems significant. In metrotram cities, however, the reverse was the case.

The KRMT carries 40 million people annually, with a record of 56 million in 1997. The light rail's compatibility and low construction costs have shown it to be superior to the "hard rail" in every respect, and, unlike the metros in some other post-Soviet cities, KR Metro now functions as an important traffic artery.