Krivoy Rog


Mister M presents
High-speed tram of Krivoy Rog

Kryvyi Rih High-Speed Tram Museum

The Kryvyi Rih Metrotram or the Kryvyi Rih Metro (Ukrainian: Криворізький метрополітен) is a partially underground rapid premetro/light rail system that serves the city of Kryvyi Rih, the seventh-largest city in Ukraine.

Despite its designation as a "metro tram" and its use of tram cars as rolling stock, the Kryvyi Rih Metrotram is a fully grade-separated both from roads and from the city's conventional tram lines, with enclosed stations and tracks.

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 and Volgograd were both chosen to test whether construction of a full-scale metro system could be avoided by adopting a light rail design for a socialist city. Both cities had developed tram networks, but like most urban centers, overcrowding and widespread congestion proved too much for the trams to serve as the main transport arteries. Moreover, both cities were destroyed in World War II and rebuilt, with all the requirements of a modern city considered in planning.

In both cases, the Metrotram was intended to serve only an interim, albeit necessary, role, with provision for conversion into a full metro system. Construction in both cities began simultaneously in the mid 1970s. In Volgograd, this involved separating off an existing tram route with an underground section in the city center. In Kryvyi Rih, however, the Metrotram route was built from scratch, albeit in a similar manner, with most of the section running along the surface, except in the very center of the city. All of the underground dimensions were made with provision for eventual conversion into a full metro system.


MAPLINE routes

The style of the capital, as an indicator, reflects the era in which it appears - either economic, cultural, ideological upsurges or times of stagnation. Traits of style are assessed by a person both rationally and emotionally, therefore it is the era of a particular style that bears the imprint of its time, at a subconscious level it transfers a certain range of sensations to a person.
Our metro, along with the Moscow, Petersburg and others in the former USSR, without prejudice, is part of a unique phenomenon in world culture - a successfully implemented attempt to synthesize art with a utilitarian system. Unlike its Western counterparts, the artistic component is not separated from the viewer, placed in a certain volume. It has become a symbolic system, appeals to the viewer's perception and ideals.

The project for the construction of a light rail system was developed in 1972 in Kharkov. The Kryvyi Rih high-speed tram meets the metro standards, but the rolling stock consists of ordinary tram cars. Many are interested in why not a full-fledged metro, but only a high-speed tram? Yes, because in those days only million-plus cities had the right to build a subway, and at the time of the appearance of the light rail transport system, about 700 thousand people lived in Krivoy Rog. And there is also an opinion that in an ordinary regional center they could not build a metro until there is such a type of public transport in the regional center, Dnipro.

Kryvyi Rih high-speed tram or metro tram, the only one in Ukraine. The 16.5 km long line runs partly underground and on the surface. The whole system is arranged like a subway with a fenced area, entrance through turnstiles. The city is trying to integrate metro tram into the city tram network.