Temirtau (KZ) – October
After the closure happened in February 2023 we were glad to get the news that the new owner of the steel works was going to bring the trams back (completely rebuilding the line and buying new trams as well). We looked at pics on the internet whilst planning this tour and we decided that even if the new tramway was not back in service by the time we got there we should at least try to visit the depot and see what survived there. This worked out just fine and we witnessed the scrapping of the last few remaining KTM-5s and also saw the worn out ex Postdam Tatra cars awaiting the same fait. The depot is being upgraded (it looked like this was restricted to the admin building at this stage) and we noticed that the track beyond the depot is still under rebuilding. The rest of the line seemed ready but one could see that the overhead wires needed adjusting still. We had heard that the first new car had arrived and they duly showed it to us after the depot visit (they drove us to the main entrance of the plant by car where the tram sits outside at the tram platform – our hotel was just round the corner from there anyway). This very long single-ended four axle car is made by QAZ TEHNA and this is a joint Kazakh and Chinese company building these cars in KTZ (we noted that the newest YUTONG buses here also carried this name, in Almaty the new trolleybuses and CNG buses are labelled as YUTONG only). They would not let us see inside (there were technicians inside doing stuff) though. The next day when we returned to the hotel in the evening (having walked most of the line) we noticed that the tram had been driven onto the reserved track in the big street leading to the plant. They were doing tests with it and needed to adjust the overhead wires. It rained a lot and progress was slow. In the end the car was driven back to the platforms (using the front cab – it looks like that the rear cab is “empty”). We assume they have to adjust the wires along most of the line. There are photos on the web where the car sits outside the depot. Was it pulled to the plant by a truck or does it have batteries? We don’t know. It carried no fleet number yet and the remaining 7 cars are still to arrive. An old KTM-1 car sits in a park on the long closed line to old Temirtau in the West (no traces of this line remain and there wasn’t much active industry to be seen between new and old Temirtau which might be the reason for the closure). Not the most beautiful and vibrant city but we hope to return one day to ride the new trams.
Öskemen (KZ) – October
We had planned a few days here (like Pavlodar) but soon found out that the active fleet is rather small and the same trams run every day (well, we did see one other KTM-5 later). Services are not very frequent. Like Pavlodar there are no timetables (but in Pavlodar you never ever wait very long). 3 lines operate: two to three cars on line 3 and one car each on lines 1 and 4. Line 2 no longer operates (possibly due to shortage of trams or drivers?). The trams go from line to line sometimes. The three modern BKM cars (built in 2022) ran all the time plus one KTM-5 and one very sorry looking Tatra (ex Almaty ex Berlin). Our apartment was near the railway station tram loop and we noticed many people giving up the long wait for trams and walking to the nearby bus stop a couple of times. Some of the trams run into the depot and then re-appear very shortly with the same driver. Tickets are sold by the driver but some people scanned QR codes. There seem to be 2-3 tickets inspectors (maybe ex tram conductors) and they check tickets all day long – so with 5 cars in service you see them a lot and often you get checked and then two stops down the line another inspector checks you again. Buses (some are very frequent) still have conductors! We spent some time with the depot security guard calling all sorts of people to get us inside but it turned out that the director was away in Almaty for 2 days and without his (or her) presence nobody would allow us in. There was some movement of trams inside and we saw some of the other KTM-5s that looked OK from a distance. Maybe they just don’t have enough funds for enough drivers. The system was closed for two months in 2018. We got our first snow here. All in all a much more vibrant city “downtown” compared to Temirtau but with long waits for trams to photograph we quickly got cold and used buses and also Yandex taxis to move around faster.
Bishkek (KG) – October
The following three trolleybus lines were still in use during our visit: line 8 (residential area “Ak-Orgoo” – Timur-Frunze Street – Moscow Street – Abdrakhmanov Street – Chuy Avenue – Lermontova Street – Lenin Avenue – Tokmakskaya Street – Alamovsky- Street – Alam Microdistrict -1”), line 11 (Jal Microdistrict – Manas Street – Western Bus Station) and line 14 (Jal Microdistrict – Manas Street – Osh Bazar – Kirkstrom). The mayor has decided (as in Moscow) to purchase battery buses to replace the trolleybus system. 120 such vehicles are expected to come from China by 2025. Depot 2 in the east was only used to park vehicles (others are in depot 1). Both locations are to be converted for battery bus operation. Only the younger vehicles were seen in service (BKM 321 and Trolza-5275.03 “Optima”, the 35 green VMZ-5298.01 “Avangard” were all parked up withdrawn, three of them went to Naryn. Other older trolleybuses went to Naryn and Osh. The already converted trolleybus lines (like almost all bus lines) were served by modern midi buses (CNG), which also come from China. The overhead line systems on the disused lines were mostly still in place (we did not travel along all of the old lines). There were around 40-50 trolleybuses in daily service. However, most of the time during the busy hours of the day one is stuck in traffic. The very long line 8 was probably the most interesting during our stay: it traveled through rural suburbs, small commercial areas, industrial areas, the city center with culture and commerce, then industry, suburbs and finally residential areas. A journey easily took 1.5 hours during the peak. The overall infrastructure looked rather dilapidated and the overhead line crews were observed mending poles and overhead lines. We ended-up spending a number of days in Bishkek
Note: on November 3rd trolleybuses were unexpectedly abandoned in Bishkek! We are glad that we went when we did but we should have really gone there in 2022 or before…
Naryn (KG) – October
We went from Bishkek to Naryn by taxi (5 hours including a breakfast stop and a short break near the summit of 3,000 meters – cold!). Splendid views along the way. We went straight to the depot and noticed that the gate was locked (and we had not seen any trolleybuses on the road). An old man with a plank approached the gate and he had the phone number of the boss! With almost no wait (he appeared in his car very quickly) we got shown round the small depot which has a tiny workshop builsing which is unfinished and thus completely unused and all the vehicles just sit in the open. We saw the latest additions to the fleet (from Bishkek again – everything they have is from Bishkek), some of the newer vehicles will need some attention before they can be used. Why was nothing running? The week before the substation developed a fault and no electricity was available. A specialist from Russia was working on it but it would not be ready in time before we had to leave the next day. Naryn is a nice small town but there is not much going on there, so we had only planned one night in an apartment (we mostly stayed in apartments during our whole trip). There are plenty of trolleybuses but we understand that when they run only one or two vehicles are used. They did receive 5 new battery buses in July and we did spot two of them running on two lines but it took forever for them to appear and just by observing the scene at the eastern trolleybus terminus (which was locked with a chain) one could clearly see that people just take the minibuses (marshrutkas) and even taxis (they seem to offer shared rides, people even tried to hail our Bishkek taxi). These appear every few minutes. Wish we had been able to see how busy the trolleybuses can get there. To be honest, we are not sure that the trolleybuses are really needed (the replacement buses go beyond the wires of course) and they need to invest a lot of money into the depot and the vehicles as well. We only saw two of the battery buses (the next day a third one was parked in the depot, yes we returned for more photos as the sun was different allowing different angles – we did not find out where the other 2 buses were (maybe there is a charging location somewhere). We ran into a tram enthusiast from Russia in the depot on day 2. We may return one day if the trolleybuses are running.
Osh (KG) – October
Looking back at our trip to KG and KZ we can say that Osh was the city we liked the most of all places visited. It was probably the weather – about 30 Celsius. Our flight there got cancelled and we thus lost a day (having to wait till the next morning). We made it straight to the depot and had no problems to talk our way in. The depot is very full of “new” trolleybuses from Bishkek which they one by one overhaul and then press into service. They do get a new fleet number on the front but the old Bishkek number remains on the sides and back. They even managed to get the digital displays working on some. Many of these buses came from the capital with the old plastic destination signs still inside (same in Naryn) and we thus managed to take home a few souvenirs from all three KG trolleybus systems (but of course all are Bishkek signs). We did ride the two lines but discovered that most of the way the traffic is so intense that is completely impossible to take any good photos (they never leave enough space – one needs a quite morning or weekend maybe to get good photos). The southern terminus is ideal for photos and we spent rather a long time there seeing all vehicles in service (they run every few minutes). We did manage a few more spots later but would like to return one day and hopefully find some nice spots along the routes (hopefully with less traffic). They did tell us that two more lines are planned (there is quite a long non-revenue line connecting the two northern ends of lines 1+2 with the depot near one of them but there are almost no people living along this quite industrial area and possibly with little passenger potential). They should get about 100 trolleybuses from Bishkek and will need a bigger depot for this fleet. We will return once the new lines are operational for sure.
Hamburg (DE) – October/November
Just a few pics taken at S-Bahn stations (HH-Ohlsdorf & HH-Poppenbüttel). I should get out more often I guess…
