In St. Petersburg, the cost of creating the country's first specialized testing ground for unmanned trams was estimated at 1.5 billion rubles. This initiative was put forward by the city's Transport Committee, which proposed to locate the facility on an existing site in Shavrova.
To implement the project, it is proposed to use the existing infrastructure, which already has tram tracks, a contact network, power equipment, turnouts, and traffic light objects. According to the committee's assessment, this will significantly reduce costs.
Denis Minkin, Chairman of the Transport Committee, said that building a similar testing ground from scratch would require about 6 billion rubles. Using a ready-made site will limit the project cost to about 1.5 billion rubles, as the main infrastructure elements have already been created.
The project is considered part of the preparation for the introduction of unmanned urban electric transport. Earlier it was reported that the first unmanned trams could start operating in St. Petersburg by 2030. In addition, by the end of 2026, the city plans to complete the development of domestically produced trams with an autonomous control system.
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