The official name of this failed type of transport for Kyiv is “A prototype of a self-propelled passenger module (car) with an external power source for a new type of second-level vehicle (Capway).” Capway’s first test ride dates back to October 2004.
The territory of the test site was built in less than 3 months and consists of a platform for boarding and disembarking passengers with an electrical panel underneath, a security house, a rail track approximately 300 meters long, a train, a platform with a cart and wheels already installed on it (apparently there were plans for creating another test train) and a couple of garage-type buildings for repairs and maintenance.
Periodically, both Kyiv officials and officials from other cities and even countries visited the test site, but Capvey’s project failed to interest anyone during all this time. On top of that, the management of the company that developed the Kyiv monorail turned out to be involved in illegal affairs, including, according to some media reports, even the famous unfinished “Dneprovskie towers“.
This is interesting!
1. The construction of an experimental prototype of the Kyiv monorail was carried out by the BKM company (Belkommunmash)
2. Why is transport called a capway? The name of the president of the group of companies that participated in the development of the monorail is Kapitonov. Kapvey is a compound word from the surname “kap” and the English word “way” (way; road) = Kapvey.
3. About $3.5 million was spent on the development of the Kyiv monorail.
4. Capway could reach speeds of up to 100 km/h and drive almost silently, since it has rubber wheels.
5. The main advantage of elevated transport (which is the monorail) is the speed of construction and commissioning compared to the underground metro without the need for expensive digging of underground tunnels or relocation of underground communications.
6. The capacity of the Kyiv monorail car was up to 150 people.
7. The cost of one Capway carriage is about $500,000.
8. The Capway track could be used to transport goods using special trolley cars.
In 2009, Capvey lost wire communications and other electrical parts necessary for movement. In 2015, for an unknown reason, the test rail track was dismantled – now Capvey, even with the installation of the missing elements, will not be able to move. As of 2018, there is information that the Kiev monorail will become completely history – the car, which the ubiquitous graffiti artists have already somehow outlined under the noses of the landfill guards, is thinking of selling it for scrap metal. Thus, the reason for dismantling the rail route becomes clear – Kapvey has no chance of life as a city transport in Kyiv.
In April 2018, it became known about the order of the Kyiv City State Administration to create a working group in the transport department on the project of a new transportation system in Kyiv (the planned route is Poshtovaya Square – Troeschinsky Market – Nikolai Zakrevsky Street) called Skyway. SkyWay is an overhead transport system in which movement is organized using suspended rails stretched between supports. The speed of the rolling stock can reach 500 km/h, and its movement is controlled automatically. The preliminary cost of implementing this project, which, like Capvey, has Belarusian roots, but now not as a prototype manufacturing company, but as an investment project, is $120 million. Judging by the video presentation, which is very similar to Capvey, and also by the fact that the construction of the Podolsk bridge crossing with the highway is currently underway metro, it is likely that the Skyway will suffer the same fate as its predecessor, the monorail. Already in June 2018, Skyway was recognized as an impractical project and work on it was stopped.
Where is the Kiev monorail Capway?
Gostomel, Lenin Street