Tatarstan devises concept of river routes

Tatarstan has developed a concept of river routes, said the Transport and Road Facilities Ministry’s press service.

The plan was presented by the Kazan River Passenger Agency director Alexander Baburin. He began with a retrospect analysis of using river routes in Tatarstan for passenger transportation.

Before the 90es, the Kazan river port transported up to 3 million passengers during the navigation period. The number of passenger lines was up to 35, of which 7 were transit high-speed routes. The number of departures from the river port was up to 150 a day, the passenger fleet at the Kazan port was up to 50 units. The total length of operated river routes was 1,079 kilometres.

The geography of Kazan river operators covers mostly the right bank of the Volga river. The number of passenger lines has reduced to 21, of which 13 suburban. The passenger fleet has reduced to 26 units, of which 18 are suburban vessels, 4 high-speed boats. The total length of river routes does not exceed 150 kilometres.

According to Alexander Baburin, the situation in the industry is accounted for by a large network of motorways with hard surface and a great number of personal autos. Due to this, passengers prefer travelling to Kazan and other cities by car. River transport operators feel an acute shortage of passengers.

“To increase the efficiency of using river routes, the Kazan Passenger River Passenger Agency plans in 2010-2020 to renew the fleet, which includes renovation of the available high-speed fleet of the Meteor and Voskhod types. The river transport operators intend to purchase new speed hydrofoils of various capacity. Several displacement vessels and hovercrafts for year-round transportation are intended to be bought, as well as ground effect vehicles seating 25 passengers, with a speed of 150 kilometres per hour. Ground effect vehicles will be used for transit interregional traveling all year round,” said Baburin.

Excursion and tourism business will be promoted. To do that, new vessels for recreation, trips and tours need to be purchased and a network of “green stops” developed in Kazan suburbs, Alexander Baburin said.