Chernihiv purchased four battery trolleybuses "Etalon"
photo: Production of the first battery trolleybus "Etalon T12220" at the Chernihiv Automobile Plant, May 23, 2013. Source: NGO "Vision Zero"
Municipal Enterprise Chernihiv Trolleybus Management continues to upgrade its park. In December, the municipal carrier signed an agreement with Etalon Leasing for the supply of four battery trolleybuses Etalon T12220 with an extended range. These vehicles can cover a distance of up to 35 km without a contact network. This is evidenced by the contract posted in the ProZorro.
The first battery trolleybus "Etalon T12220" was received by the municipal carrier in mid-December 2023. The other three units of the same type will be delivered to the Municipal Enterprise Chernihiv Trolleybus Management by the end of July 2024. The purchase price of the four trolleybuses is UAH 53.5 million.
Planned routes
The battery trolleybus is currently being tested. It is expected that in the first quarter of 2024 it will serve a route connecting the center of Chernihiv and the western part of the city, primarily the Podusivka neighborhood, which suffered during the siege in March 2022, when the contact network was destroyed.
"This will be a good connection to those areas where there is no contact network. We declared that Podusivka would be the first to be connected. We have developed four routes where it can be used. I think the next one will be Sherstyanka - this is an important direction and people have been waiting for electric transport for many years, and there is a new road there, there is room for it to turn around," said Chernihiv Mayor Oleksandr Lomako at a weekly meeting in the municipality, according to the New Chernihiv TV channel.
Trolleybuses manufactured by Etalon are the most popular in Chernihiv. Source: NGO "Vision Zero"
Chernihiv trolleybus park
Chernihiv's trolleybus park currently includes 76 vehicles. In 2012, the city began to gradually renew the rolling stock, purchasing trolleybuses from the local manufacturer Etalon and decommissioning outdated ZiU trolleybuses.
As a result, two-thirds of the park now consists of new low-floor trolleybuses from Etalon: 43 units of the Etalon T12110 model and 1 unit of the Etalon T12120 model. The second most numerous type of trolleybus in Chernihiv is the YMZ T2, which was manufactured in the mid-1990s. There are 23 of these vehicles in the city.
In 2022, after repulsing Russian armed aggression and the retreat of the occupiers outside the region, Chernihiv introduced a new route network and a new system of relations with passenger transportation operators, with elements of the PSO model, which is standard for EU member states. Details of this transportation reform can be found in an article on the CTS website.