The Government of Ekaterinburg and its area announced their intention to discuss the project of the second line of the metro system with the foreign specialists.
The city Ekaterinburg in Russia. Author: Vadim Balakin.
The working group will include the representatives of Herrenknecht AG, specialists of the Moscow Design Institute AO Metrogiprotrans, specialists of the Chinese civil engineering consulting corporation (ССЕСС) and representatives of the Italian metro.
The specialists preliminary estimated the cost of the project as 75 million rubles. Ekaterinburg does not expect the project to be federally funded and plans to sign the concession agreement with an investor. At present Ekaterinburg’s metro system has only 1 line, 13 km long. It consists of 9 stations.
The metro map in Ekaterinburg (russian language)
The total population of the city is about 1.5 million people. Most of the discussions on necessity of the metro construction include the popular argument about the underground construction being expensive work. At present the public transportation system of Ekaterinburg still may carry all the passengers, but in the nearest future the system will fail the rapidly expanding city, and the metro will become absolutely needed.