VITEBSK, 31 December (BelTA) – As many as 13 battery-assisted trolleybuses will be deployed in Vitebsk in 2020, BelTA learned from Sergei Medvedev, Director of the Vitebsk city urban electric transport enterprise of the Vitebsk Oblast mass transit company.
On New Year's Eve the enterprise received two AKSM-43300D trolleybuses made by the Belarusian mechanical engineering company Belkommunmash. The trolleybuses rely heavily on modern technologies and have been made specifically for Vitebsk. The trolleybuses can travel for 15-20km without using overhead wires. “We've signed 13 contracts with Belkommunmash. We've already received two articulated vehicles and expect another one in February or March 2020. Apart from that, we will get ten non-articulated battery-assisted trolleybuses next year,” Sergei Medvedev said.
The two articulated trolleybuses are already being trialed. One of them was tested by the New Year fairy-tale characters Grandfather Frost and Snow Maiden in Vitebsk streets on 31 December. If the vehicles perform well, they may be put to use on regular lines as soon as 3 January. One such trolleybus can carry 151 passengers.
