The city in the middle of the deserted prairies was built to house a workforce for the secret military industrial installations in the area. Naturally under the Soviet rule this was a closed city. Given the nature of local industry’s production, the industrial plants were built at the safe distance, far away from the residential area. Consequently, a high capacity reliable mode of transportation was needed to transport a large workforce of people. An electrified rail line was built between the city and the industrial park, to be used by the suburban-style electric trains. Ten 8-car electric train sets of the ER-22 type were delivered second hand from Moscow in 1990. Five shortened train sets remain on the property now. The ER-22 electric cars are unique due to 3 passenger galleries per car, as opposed to 2 galleries on other trains. These cars used to operate on rail lines with high passenger load turnover. Beginning from the year 2000 the Stepnogorsk interurban line is the only remaining system in the world to operate this unique equipment.
21 авг 2024
