The End Of The Tashkent Tramway System

Around 2010 the Tashkent tramway system consisted of about 200 kilometres of track linking up nearly the whole of the city.

Soon after 2010 the system was reduced to about 90 kilometres with most of the tram routes which formerly passed through the city centre being closed. The remaining tram routes being diverted around the city and only linking up at the railway station. Thus only buses went into the central business and shopping centre at Navoi. However, at that time the city government claimed that the remaining tramways still had a future and invested in a number of new trams.

In May of this year the Mayor of Tashkent informed the citizens that not enough people were using the trams and that the trams would be gone from the city by the end of August. This proved not to be the case.

Within three weeks of the Mayor's announcement the entire tram system had closed down and was being ripped up at a lightening speed. The work of destruction went on day and night so that by the end of June few traces of the tramway tracks and centenary remained. Four lane roads became six lane roads and the the replacement buses, some carrying tram numbers, are not appreciated by the citizens who are forced to use the diesel belching replacements..

What was even more disturbing for the transport pressed citizens of Tashkent was that there was no consultation with citizenry at the time of the 2010 closures or the latest 2016 closures. The Mayor gave four months notice of the recent closures but then reneged on his statement and the trams were gone in a matter of weeks before any protests could be organised.

Where ever I go in the world I see light railway systems being planned and installed and extended by forward looking cities. Sadly Uzbekistan's transport authority only looks backwards. It destroyed the trolley bus system in 2009, the remains of the tram system this year and has recently stated that the planned Metro extension originally intended to be completed by 2020 was to be put back until at least 2030.

Tashkent has since become a car and bus infested city with noticeable increased levels of traffic pollution and congestion. An example of local government transport policy at its worst.

 

Shades of some British cities many years ago except there was a much better degree of consultations.
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Those of us with very long memories sometimes time seems endless and sometimes quite irrelevant. I did manage to be present at one cities last trolleybuses and trams.

 

Which British cities lost their trams in the 70s and 80s?

 

Yes ! I can recall the mad rush in 1950s Edinburgh to replace the tramway network with a bus fleet and some 60 years later - with 400 bus movements per hour in Princes St - the city Transport network is now seeing the restitution of a tramway network. Presumably the next stage is to buy power from the proposed new Power Station at Millerhill instead of buying from Portobello and distributing it through Shrubhill. A case of what goes around comes around ?

 

As an aside, Tashkent is a great city to visit for the railway enthusiast. They have an open-air railway museum (and everything's pretty-well looked after for open air) with absolutely nothing to stop you climbing into the cabs or on the front of the engines for a good look. About 30 Soviet-era locos (I went before I really got back in to all this, so I didn't really find out what they were).

The subway system is also fascinating, each station has a theme and is decorated accordingly. I spent an entire day visiting every station. Sadly they don't allow photography, but it was a day well-spent. There's one themed like a fairy grotto, one dedicated to the cosmonauts in shades of deep blue tiling.

The trams were pretty knackered, it must be said. Like going everywhere by a particularly wheezy pacer. It's still a shame that they're gone, though.

 

Do they have anything on the system beyond the KTM-19s and Varion LFs?

 

Tashkent isn't the only city to get rid of trams recently. Almaty, Kazakhstan tram service was discontinued on 31 Oct 2015 "until further notice". The main depot looked pretty well abandoned when I was there in May. At least the city seemed to be operating a fleet of quite modern looking trolley buses.