Vinnytsia develops its own trolleybus assembly
The new VinLine trolleybus with the board number 066. This is the 26th vehicle of this model assembled by the Vinnytsia Transportation Company (VTK). Source: Vinnytsia City Council.
In January 2024, two new VinLine trolleybuses started running regularly on the streets of Vinnytsia. They were manufactured by specialists of the municipal enterprise Vinnytsia Transport Company (VTC) together with Politechnoservice LLC on the basis of the body of the Turkish manufacturer AKIA and equipped with equipment from Ukrainian manufacturers.
The total number of VinLine trolleybuses has increased to 26 units, of which 22 have batteries for overhead transportation. This was reported to Vision Zero by Andriy Sorokin, Director of the Department of Transport and Urban Mobility at Vinnytsia City Council.
"Currently, our trolleybus fleet includes 26 VinLine trolleybuses. Almost all of them, except for the first four, are equipped with batteries for autonomous operation. The entire assembly process takes place in Vinnytsia, at the depot of the Vehicle Technical Control Center. For this purpose, we purchase bodies from AKIA, a Turkish company, and batteries, traction and other electrical equipment from Politechnoservice, a Ukrainian manufacturer. We buy a current pickup system in Lviv, an information system in Vinnytsia, and compressors in Kharkiv," said Andriy Sorokin.
Advantages of VinLine
VTK began assembling VinLine trolleybuses in 2019. This model is designed to replace outdated Soviet-made ZiU-9 vehicles.
"VinLine trolleybuses have several advantages. First of all, they consume 30% less electricity compared to ZiU-9 trolleybuses. Also, these trolleybuses are low-floor, which makes them convenient for passengers with limited mobility. And the third advantage is the availability of a 65 kWh battery, which allows them to move without a contact network for a distance of up to 20 km. They can travel more, but we are focusing on this figure," added the director of the Department of Transport and Urban Mobility of Vinnytsia City Council.
Routes for VinLine
According to the official, VinLine battery trolleybuses serve five trolleybus routes that connect the city center and remote parts of the city. These lines also include sections without a contact network: No. 16 VPZ - Vyshenka, No. 17 Railway Station - Akademichnyi, No. 18 Railway Station - Vyshenka, No. 19 Hnivanske Shosse - Pysarivka, No. 20 Khutor Shevchenko - Vyshenka. The length of the sections without a contact network on these routes varies from 1.7 to 7.5 km, and their total length is about 20 km.
Vinnytsia trolleybus park
The trolleybus fleet of Vinnytsia Trolleybus Company currently includes 186 units of rolling stock. Of these, 115 trolleybuses run daily, serving 21 routes with a total length of over 165 km. "We have a lot of ZiU-9 trolleybuses that need to be written off. We are gradually withdrawing them from our fleet," added Andriy Sorokin.
Of the 115 trolleybuses that run on Vinnytsia routes, only 28 are outdated ZiU-9 vehicles. The rest are modern low-floor vehicles. These are 26 units of the VinLine model, 21 units of the Solaris Trollino model, and 40 units of the Bogdan T70117 model.