UST: News

The program "Sphere of interests" of the first national TV channel "Belarus 1" has released a video report highlighting Anatoly Yunitskiy's innovative transport technology. The video was filmed during the press conference on June 28, 2017 at SkyWay EcoTechnoPark, where industrial samples of SkyWay rolling stock were demonstrated to media representatives in action.

Translation of the video:

Newsreader: Vehicles of the future that are solving today's problems. Who produces string transport and low-floor trams here? The report of the program explains the specifics of national technologies.

Sphere of interests

Newsreader: Vehicles of the future that are solving today's problems. Belarusian engineers have presented a unibus and a unibike. The so-called SkyWay string transport moves above the ground surface. The maximum acceleration is 150 km/h, but in future it will be 350 km/h. Pilot models are being tested at EcoTechnoPark, Minsk region. Right here, not far from the capital, low-floor trams are produced. The development is designed for export. Alexey Kondratenko has researched technical and marketing specifics of the innovative transport at the test drive.

Victor Baburin: That's how the transport of the future looks like.

Reporter: EcoTechnoPark near the town of Maryina Gorka. A unibike is at the start. A double-seat model. In future it will be able to take aboard a family of 6 people. The transport of the future has completely today's features. The maximum speed in a city is 150 km/h. Thus, in the intercity format, a travel from the capital to Logoysk will take only 12 minutes. Two string rails instead of a roadbed, absence of obstacles in motion and eco-friendliness. SkyWay designers assure such rail electric transport has lower operational cost and, respectively, lower prime cost of urban and passenger transportation.

Anatoly Yunitskiy: This is a new mode of transport of elevated overpass type, where the base is a string rail. The mounted and suspended rolling stock is on steel wheels with an electric drive. Compared with conventional railway flyovers, our overpass is 30 times less costly. Compared with monorail flyovers, our overpass is 15-20 times less costly. Naturally, it will pay back much faster.

Reporter: Today above 300 people are developing and producing the transport of the future. This is the work of designers, engineers, architects. Now export is oriented to such Asian countries as India, Indonesia and China.

Victor Baburin: We are now working in several main directions: transportation within a city, transportation from a city to satellite towns and cargo traffic for mining companies, for instance, transportation of coal, iron ore, etc. We are also planning to start container traffic, because it is a separate huge direction for seaports.

Reporter: The enterprise Stadler-Minsk has its own export vector. The trams "Metelitsa" are the newest design. They are being prepared for shipping to Saint Petersburg. The low-floor vehicles were produced exclusively against the order from our neighbors. One of the boroughs in the city on Neva River will get a full network of this electric transport. The export potential of "Metelitsa" is not limited only by our Eastern neighbors. This technology is ready to get on the rails of any CIS city having trams. Charging for gadgets, light-emitting diode illumination, passenger counting system - these are not all the options of the low-floor transport.

Chief Designer Alexey Kovetskiy: The unique length of a tramcar exceeds 33 meters and allows to take aboard 376 passengers. Certainly, the tram is designed to transport persons with limited mobility. It has special places not only for a wheel-chair, but also for aged persons.

Reporter: Now these trams are undergoing tests on Minsk streets. The vehicles are moving both unloaded and with a ballast. They check all the systems in operation. The machine producers are confident that "Metelitsa" will take a rightful place in the company of their world best-sellers with equally pleasant names: "Kiss" and "Flirt".