Great Rostov.
Introduction
The current stage of urbanization at the global level is characterized not just by the rapid increase in the share of the urban population, but by its growing concentration within the agglomerations and, in the future, mega-agglomerations, hundreds of kilometers long.
It is urban agglomerations that currently are the locomotives of the development of regions and macroregions, as they concentrate resources for the dynamic growth of the consumer market, the possibility of forming new science-intensive sectors of the economy, etc. Following this, for each individual territory of settlement, the problem of competition with other territories is aggravated, ultimately, meaning the struggle for the preservation of the population: if the city (for all the current conventionality of this concept) is not competitive, people leave it, as a result of which the territory fades.
A common place for understanding the competitiveness of the territory is the idea of its economic efficiency and investment attractiveness. However, economic development must be sustainable, that is, taking into account such aspects as the formation of the social infrastructure of the territory, the multiplication of its human capital, environmental responsibility, etc.
One of the most important elements of any agglomeration is the transport infrastructure, which provides stable and regular connections between its parts. It is transport accessibility that determines the ability of people from remote agglomeration areas to receive education, employment, medical care, etc. It is not necessary to consider the transport system as an enterprise with a “debit and credit”, calculate the spent funds for maintenance and development and expect a comparable benefit through the provision of direct or indirect services.
Within the agglomeration (conurbation) of Great Rostov, the formation of single transport infrastructure is the most important task of its development, based on the existing network of public transport, primarily rail.
The history of the tram in Rostov-on-Don began in 1887, and after a hundred years the tram network gradually appeared in almost all parts of the city. In Taganrog, there is a tram since 1932, in Novocherkassk since 1954. Three tramway systems of the conurbation include 131 km of tram tracks and 161 wagons, according to official documents, although in reality about half of these actually functions.
The railway communication within the conurbation is part of the system of the North Caucasian Railway (a subsidiary of RZhD) and includes intercity trains, region trains, and local trains communication.
The construction of the railway in the south of Russia began in 1861 with the laying of the Shakhtnaya-Aksai line. Then Zverevo-Shakhtnaya (1871), Aksai-Rostov (1875), Rostov-Vladikavkaz (1872-1875) were built. With the exit of the road to the ports, grain flows for export increased sharply, which gave an additional impetus to the development of the road. By October 1917, the total length of the road was 5000 km.
The main railway station of Rostov-on-Don took the first train in January 1876, becoming common for the three existing railways in those years, including one of the largest in Russia Rostov-on-Don – Vladikavkaz. A year earlier, a railway bridge across the river Don was opened for train traffic, built on the design of engineer E. M. Zubov. The bridge was single-track and included five spans. Rostov station of that time was a huge three-story building, built explicitly “for growth” taking into account the development prospects of the city and transport hub. The train station project was sent from the Ministry of Railways. The name of the architect of the station is unknown.
The appearance of the railway station served as a strong impetus to the development of the city’s economy. Rostov-on-Don became a major commercial and industrial center of the south of Russia, taking the palm of Nakhchivan-on-Don and overtaking it in economic growth. It was after the construction of the railway station that most of the famous Nakhichevan merchants moved to Rostov. By the beginning of the 20th century, Rostov had a large number of profitable houses, shops, factories and even cinemas belonging to Nakhichevan Armenians. The North Caucasian railway has always been one of the most demanded passenger highways of the country. Already in the late 1930s, hundreds of thousands of people rested at the Black Sea resorts and resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, and the number of passengers transported increased sharply. But the Second World War mixed all plans. In the autumn of 1941, the Rostov station was destroyed after a fierce air raid of fascist aircraft.
Macroregion – logistics, production and distribution, global and regional communication, infrastructure
One of the key tasks of the development of the Rostov conurbation is the neutralization of disproportions in the spatial development of Russia. The Moscow agglomeration already accommodates about 30% of the country’s population, its rapid growth creates a strain of all possible resources, and it becomes necessary to create alternative active points of growth within the country, one of which is Great Rostov.
A similar example in Russian practice is the St. Petersburg agglomeration, today the second largest in the Russian Federation, home to 6.2 million people, or 4.29% of the country’s population. The vector of its development is based on new strategic documents: the concept of urban development of the city and the Leningrad region and the new Master Plan. In addition, during recent years, the activities of the coordination councils for social and economic development and transport planning of the unified agglomeration of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, which are unique for Russia, are constantly acting platforms for interregional dialogue and solving specific development tasks. Taking this approach as a basis, Great Rostov is capable of claiming the third place in the list of Russian conurbations. The concept of Great Rostov agglomeration was first used in the document of the Strategy of socio-economic development of the Rostov region until 2020, adopted in 2007 and adjusted in 2011, where Rostov conurbation is called the main zone of economic development of the region.
The presence of one of the largest conurbations in Russia, whose population, according to various estimates, is from 1.8 to 3 million people, that is, from 1.25 to 2.07% of the country’s population, is named in this document an undeniable advantage of the region.
The issue of the development of the road transport infrastructure of the Rostov conurbation is also touched upon within the framework of the regional strategy. “The main transport hub of the region – the city of Rostov-on-Don – requires a comprehensive linking of all modes of transport (road, rail, water, and air, combined with intraurban and suburban),” the document says.
In Russia, according to the geographer G. M. Lappo, there are only four large conurbations: Samara-Togliatti (Samara, Togliatti, Syzran) on the banks of the Volga; the cities of the Caucasian Mineral Waters (Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Essentuki, Zheleznovodsk, Lermontov, Mineralnye Vody, Georgievsk); Rostov conurbation (Rostov-on-Don, Bataysk, Aksay, Taganrog, Novocherkassk, Azov and Shakhty); Kuzbass conurbation (Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, Leninsk-Kuznetsk).
The term “Great Rostov” basically refers to the Rostov agglomeration – the largest similar structure in the Rostov region and in the south of Russia. In general, it has pronounced monocentric features, although, given the technical, industrial, educational, cultural and transport potential of the “second” cities of this association, Rostov-on-Don outperforms other cities mainly by only the population. That gives us a reason to apply the term conurbation to the territory described.
Taganrog and Novocherkassk have strong polytechnics schools, industrial clusters, and transport hubs. In particular, Novocherkassk is located in close proximity to the new airport “Platov”, which provides its potential in the service of air passenger and freight traffic. Taganrog in connection with the recent events in Ukraine has largely become a dead-end city (transit passenger railway traffic through Ukraine is terminated), however, the freight traffic with the Donbas remains quite saturated. Bataisk in general historically arose as a city at the sorting center of railway cargoes of the Rostov industrial hub. The railway station of Bataysk is a major junction of railway lines (to Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Krasnodar, Salsk, Tikhoretsk) and highways (Rostov-Baku highway passes through the city). The water transport of Rostov conurbation is represented in Rostov-on-Don, Azov, and Taganrog, although in comparison with the Soviet period its passenger part practically ceased to exist, with the exception of recreational motor ships in Rostov. Azov, Tanais, Starocherkassk, Novocherkassk, and Taganrog have a deeper and more rich history than Rostov-on-Don, which in the current borders was formed only in the twentieth century by combining Rostov-on-Don and Nakhichevan.
Conurbation is a region within itself
In the conditions of conurbations, the most reliable, fast and accurate type of public transport from the point of view of organizing a timetable for the provision of separate traffic is rail transportation.
Currently, rail transport in Rostov-on-Don is represented in the following types:
The tram, whose presence was significantly reduced during the 1990s;
Proceeding from this disposition, it is obvious that the priority in the development of public transport in Rostov-on-Don and conurbation should be given to trams and city trains.
The tramway, in this case, is the basis for creating a light rail system, or LRT (Light Rail Transit). LRT a rail system that is, by its performance, more similar to rapid transit than to streetcars operating in mixed street traffic. In modern practice, LRT includes all types of rail transport, which are engineered from the general flow of vehicles on most of the length of their lines laid along the ground, overpasses or shallow tunnels.
In terms of operating speed and capacity, the LRT occupies an intermediate place between the traditional tram and metro. This category of public transport includes, in particular, the high-speed tram and the “light metro” (in Russia the corresponding samples are presented in Kazan and Moscow).
In Rostov-on-Don, the existing tram network is an obvious basis for the development of the LRT rail infrastructure, but it requires substantial refinement for more efficient organization of urban transport communications. In particular, it is necessary to organize the movement of rail transport, separated from the general automobile traffic, the organization of priority traffic intersections, including the provision of technical solutions for the automation of traffic lights and other regulatory infrastructure for automatic work with full priority, ensuring unimpeded passage of intersections with LRT compounds, arrows at the intersection in the organization of track facilities, etc. At the present time, radio-controlled arrows and other arrows constructions are becoming more widespread, not imposing restrictions on the mode of movement at the entrance to the arrow.
When updating the tram park, it is necessary, among other things, to purchase articulated multi-axle wagons with an entirely low floor level. To date, the Rostov tram fleet is replenished by trams 71-911 City Star LLC “PC Transport Systems”, which are a four-door single-sided tram car with a completely low floor level. At the same manufacturer, there is a model 71-931M “Vityaz-m” – articulated six-axle tram car with a completely low level of the floor, which is more suitable for trunk routes to provide more mass traffic along the main routes, along the routes in the city center or passing through the central part of the city (with the main passenger flow). Existing smaller cars are recommended to be used to provide less busy routes.
City electric trains in Russia are widely used in rail suburban and near-interurban communications, as well as urban transport (the most vivid example of the recent time is the Moscow Central Ring). Unlike other types of traction vehicles, they are able to quickly accelerate and brake on short distances between stations, are relatively quiet and do not pollute the environment, which is very important in densely populated areas. In addition, electric trains are used in high-speed passenger traffic. The electric train typically consists of large four-axle electric rail vehicles (up to 70 m2), which operate in convoys of up to 10 wagons. The full control system by means of signal monitoring provides high speed, reliability, and throughput, fast landing / disembarkation at stations and fault-tolerant operation. Modern electric trains are also characterized by a high degree of automated work or fully automated work without a driver. The trend of unmanned control of trains is being actively developed and is gradually being introduced in the Moscow metro.
A city train, or a suburban-city train, has recently become one of the types of public transportation of the Great Rostov conurbation. The railway network used for passenger transportation within Great Rostov is about 250 km of tracks. The city electric train is included in the united transport system of the Great Rostov conurbation. Despite the availability of various operators of transport systems, the recommendation to create a completely unified system for payment of city electric trains, trams, trolleybuses and buses with a zone payment system remains relevant. Zones and payment are formed depending on the distance from the center of Rostov-on-Don and the distance traveled. The zone is not directly tied to the location and is determined by the length of the route with differentiation by factors, for example, for driving inside the city and between cities. In addition to zoning, payment depends on the time interval, including free transfers within a certain period of time and zone.
The concept of a compact city and the so-called urban operations
In the conditions of conurbations, the most reliable, fast and accurate type of public transport from the point of view of organizing a timetable for the provision of separate traffic is rail transportation.
Currently, rail transport in Rostov-on-Don is represented in the following types:
The tram, whose presence was significantly reduced during the 1990s;
Proceeding from this disposition, it is obvious that the priority in the development of public transport in Rostov-on-Don and conurbation should be given to trams and city trains.
The tramway, in this case, is the basis for creating a light rail system, or LRT (Light Rail Transit). LRT a rail system that is, by its performance, more similar to rapid transit than to streetcars operating in mixed street traffic. In modern practice, LRT includes all types of rail transport, which are engineered from the general flow of vehicles on most of the length of their lines laid along the ground, overpasses or shallow tunnels.
In terms of operating speed and capacity, the LRT occupies an intermediate place between the traditional tram and metro. This category of public transport includes, in particular, the high-speed tram and the “light metro” (in Russia the corresponding samples are presented in Kazan and Moscow).
In Rostov-on-Don, the existing tram network is an obvious basis for the development of the LRT rail infrastructure, but it requires substantial refinement for more efficient organization of urban transport communications. In particular, it is necessary to organize the movement of rail transport, separated from the general automobile traffic, the organization of priority traffic intersections, including the provision of technical solutions for the automation of traffic lights and other regulatory infrastructure for automatic work with full priority, ensuring unimpeded passage of intersections with LRT compounds, arrows at the intersection in the organization of track facilities, etc. At the present time, radio-controlled arrows and other arrows constructions are becoming more widespread, not imposing restrictions on the mode of movement at the entrance to the arrow.
When updating the tram park, it is necessary, among other things, to purchase articulated multi-axle wagons with an entirely low floor level. To date, the Rostov tram fleet is replenished by trams 71-911 City Star LLC “PC Transport Systems”, which are a four-door single-sided tram car with a completely low floor level. At the same manufacturer, there is a model 71-931M “Vityaz-m” – articulated six-axle tram car with a completely low level of the floor, which is more suitable for trunk routes to provide more mass traffic along the main routes, along the routes in the city center or passing through the central part of the city (with the main passenger flow). Existing smaller cars are recommended to be used to provide less busy routes.
City electric trains in Russia are widely used in rail suburban and near-interurban communications, as well as urban transport (the most vivid example of the recent time is the Moscow Central Ring). Unlike other types of traction vehicles, they are able to quickly accelerate and brake on short distances between stations, are relatively quiet and do not pollute the environment, which is very important in densely populated areas. In addition, electric trains are used in high-speed passenger traffic. The electric train typically consists of large four-axle electric rail vehicles (up to 70 m2), which operate in convoys of up to 10 wagons. The full control system by means of signal monitoring provides high speed, reliability, and throughput, fast landing / disembarkation at stations and fault-tolerant operation. Modern electric trains are also characterized by a high degree of automated work or fully automated work without a driver. The trend of unmanned control of trains is being actively developed and is gradually being introduced in the Moscow metro.
A city train, or a suburban-city train, has recently become one of the types of public transportation of the Great Rostov conurbation. The railway network used for passenger transportation within Great Rostov is about 250 km of tracks. The city electric train is included in the united transport system of the Great Rostov conurbation. Despite the availability of various operators of transport systems, the recommendation to create a completely unified system for payment of city electric trains, trams, trolleybuses and buses with a zone payment system remains relevant. Zones and payment are formed depending on the distance from the center of Rostov-on-Don and the distance traveled. The zone is not directly tied to the location and is determined by the length of the route with differentiation by factors, for example, for driving inside the city and between cities. In addition to zoning, payment depends on the time interval, including free transfers within a certain period of time and zone.
Conclusion
The key thesis of the proposed project is that the advanced development of the Great Rostov conurbation transport infrastructure will be a decisive factor for increasing its competitiveness in the macro-regional (Southern Russia – the Great Mediterranean – Eurasia), and ultimately on a global scale.
Transport efficiency is not only a key factor in the economic development of the territory but also a social good, an indispensable part of the quality of life in the city, its social connections and other aspects of the diversity of city life. At the same time, transport is an integral part of the urban environment, therefore modern transport solutions are obliged to consider, in addition to functional significance, such aspects as architectural integration into space, aesthetic filling of the city, connectivity of not only individual areas but also within the immediate environment of the transport hub.
The location of the new station in Rostov is proposed to be placed along the existing axis in a straight section, near the Aviatorov park. This solution will help to reduce the distance between the Platov airport, the Rostov-on-Don railway station, and also reduce and eliminate the need to make the journey along sections with a limited speed of travel.
Based on the existing project of Russian Railways for the construction of the Moscow-Adler high-speed railway, it is proposed to provide an abutment of the high-speed railway in the vicinity of the Platov airport, then to provide communication with the city through the territory of the old airport, connect to the existing railway network east of the Aviator park.
Extension of the line from Azov to the southwest for inclusion in the overall development of the coastal zone, which is actively developing as a sports and tourist cluster on the Pavlo-Ochakovo Spit and the settlement of Port-Caton, up to Azov-City all along the coast of Azov sea.
In the second phase of the development of rail transport, as envisaged by these developments, it is proposed to build a new line between Azov and the western part of Rostov in order to shorten the route from Azov to both Rostov and Taganrog and cover the settlements between Azov and the western part of Rostov. In the western part of Rostov, there is a railway station “Pervomaiskaya”, which is supposed to be reconstructed into the station, which should become the second train station in the city. Great Rostov has, first of all, the potential of a logistics center in the region and is considered as the basis for the development of the territory, based on the combination of existing routes and various modes of transport.
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