Funicular
Funicular in Vladivostok
"Funicular, funicular, stubborn wagon descends from the mountains..." - sings in the song of the popular Vladivostok group "Foggy Moan."
>The history of the funicular creation
The idea of building a funicular in Vladivostok belongs to Nikita Khrushchev. Visiting Vladivostok for the first time in 1954, he proposed to build several funiculars in the city. According to the General Plan for the construction of Vladivostok, approved by the USSR Council of Ministers in December 1954, it was planned to build two funiculars. One on the site of the current length of 300 meters, the second - in the area of Gaydamak Park with a length of 800 meters. But the work began only in 1959, when Khrushchev, returning after a visit to the United States, again visited Vladivostok and found that the construction of funiculars never began.
The first funicular was planned to open in 1960 for the 100th anniversary of Vladivostok. But it took a while. As a result, a line of two stations on the hillside Orlina was opened on May 5, 1962. This is how the seaside newspaper “Red Banner” described that day:
Last Saturday, by fifteen o'clock in the afternoon, hundreds of Vladivostok residents flooded Pushkinskaya Street near the main building of the Far Eastern Polytechnic Institute. Here the grand opening of the first city funicular took place. The red tape stretched before the entrance is cut. People fill the waiting room, sit in the trailer. At the same time in the same trailer is landing on the upper platform. The locksmith Yuri Patrick once again inspects the brake system. Conductors Lyubov Sozinova and Galina Strizhak are worried. This is their first flight with passengers. Finally, we're done. The lights go on, the bells go off. Engineers Antonina Udodova and Klavdia Nikitenko include mechanisms of ascent and descent. At once, two wagons moved smoothly towards each other. In the middle of the road, they "missed." The flight lasted about two minutes. And now the wagons are full again. Flight again.
The funicular connected Pushkinskaya and Sukhanov streets. The length of the route - 183 meters - was shorter by about 100 meters from the originally planned (the project had to be the upper station on the site of the current viewing platform). The construction of the second funicular was never started.
The funicular cars were made by individual order at the Leningrad Car Repair Plant, and the lifting plant - at the plant for the production of mining equipment in the city of Stalino (Donetsk). Those very first wagons serve faith and truth to this day. However, periodically changing appearance. In different years, they were white, yellow, now painted in blue and red, and in 2019 they completely acquired a tiger color.
The history of the Vladivostok funicular can be found at the lower station on Pushkinskaya Street. Old photos and historical documents hang in the lobby.
A funicular is a complex technical object. It is maintained every hour every day. Once a year, the funicular is closed for planned prevention, during which the replaced mechanisms are carried out. In the first years, the shortage of spare parts was satisfied by a set of cars for the second funicular, which stood in the tram depot on Lugovoi. Over time, the repair and manufacture of spare parts became the concern of the team servicing the funicular.
> In 2002, the mountain tram due to wear of equipment and dilapidated condition of the tracks was closed for major repairs for a long three years. The second long “rest” funicular received in 2008 during the construction of the Golden Bridge and the automobile tunnel.
What did you not know about the funicular
For many years, the main passengers of the funicular were students of the Technical University, whose buildings were next to the lower and upper stations. But after the university moved to Russian Island, passenger traffic decreased significantly.
But the funicular is still in demand. The newlyweds love to ride on the mountain tram. And, of course, it is a popular tourist destination. Every guest of Vladivostok wants to ride on an unusual tram. For a minute and a half on the way you can enjoy the beautiful views of Vladivostok and take unusual photos. According to the stories of conductors, some tourists, enchanted by the opening views, ride up and down several times: from the sea to the sky and back.
