The Russian capital is considering a 3S gondola, similar to that seen in Koblenz (pictured above). The proposal hopes to service two districts which are currently separated by the Khimki reservoir. Image by CUP.
At a recent economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, the deputy mayor of Moscow announced that the government is in the midst of planning an urban gondola 15km northwest of the city center. Project proponents are envisioning a 2.3km tricable detachable gondola (TDG/3S) which connects Skhodnenskaya Metro station (Line 7) to Rechnoy Vokzal Metro station (Line 2).
At this time, the Khimki reservoir (Moscow Canal) lies in the middle of the two Metro stations which makes travel between the stations incredibly challenging and time-consuming.
Basically this means it takes up to 45 minutes (10km) by road to travel between Yuzhnoye Tushino District (Skhodnenskaya station) and the Levoberezhny District (Rechnoy Vokzal station) despite the fact that the two areas are just separated by a few hundred meters of water.
Green route illustrates gondola alignment over the Khimki reservoir. Existing transport route via road transport is shown in the blue line. Screenshot from mu24.
With the proposed US$64 million (4 billion rubles) 3S gondola, the city hopes to cut travel times down to seven minutes for an estimated 19,000 daily passengers while reducing the amount of road congestion.
It appears that the system may be built under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) structure where the city is only involved in providing the land for construction. The private sector partner, meanwhile, will be responsible for building and operating the cable car over a 22 year concession. Officials hope to connect the gondola with the rest of Moscow’s transit fare payment system, Troika.
While urban gondolas are still a fairly new concept in modern Russia, Nizhny Novgorod (400km east of Moscow) has operated a river-crossing gondola since 2011 while an upcoming recreational cable car (Vorobyovy Gory to Luzhniki Stadium) is expected to begin commercial service this year in Moscow.
The city and its partners hope that they can open the 3S gondola between Skhodnenskaya station to Rechnoy Vokzal station within three years.