Volodin — Saratov authorities: What are you doing?

The chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin made a harsh criticism of the Saratov authorities for the downtime of new trams. He drew attention to the fact that 20 of the 45 recently purchased trams are damaged after accidents.

In the Telegram channel "Volodin. Saratov", dedicated to the regional projects of the Chairman of the State Duma, the parliamentarian recalled that 45 units of equipment worth about 5 billion rubles were purchased for routes 9, 8 and 6 of the high-speed tram in 2025. These funds were raised not through loans, but through federal funding, which made it possible not to increase the fare.

"Now we have already found funds, again federal, again non-refundable, for the purchase of 16 Vityaz trams, three-section, for the 3rd route. And we need another 10. I told the governor and the mayor: until these 20 come on the line, forget about 10. Take it and explain yourself to the residents. You can't do that. Repair, look for a solution," Volodin said.

"But the question is: how do we use the new trams? They all cost 130 million rubles. 45 units of equipment were purchased. I asked the governor [Roman Busargin] to sort it out — the city tells him that [it costs] 16 units, the television says the plot was being prepared — 20 units. They stand <> broken, after leaving the line and then got into an accident. This is billions of rubles," Volodin said in a published video.

He called on local authorities to immediately resolve the issue with the repair and release of new trams on the route.

EADaily adds: due to the heavy snow that has fallen, which leads to traffic collapses, the tram remains almost the only means of transport for citizens, since the movement of buses and minibuses on city roads is difficult.

The Saratov Region is one of the nine regions of the Russian Federation where the tram network modernization project is being implemented. As the governor noted, the last repair was more than 40 years ago. In total, the tram network includes 121 km — these are 10 tram routes, 2 depots and 1 repair depot. The modernization project includes four routes — № 3, 6, 8, 9. Now work is underway on the longest route No. 3.