Farit Khanifov: ‘People like the metro, people love the metro’
The metro will become the framework of the new public transport scheme in Kazan, and the project for the third terminal of the MAK has been adjusted to the mark of 7.5 million passengers
The reorganisation of the public transport route network in Kazan, which began in the spring of 2024 due to an acute shortage of buses, will be completed in 2025. The Ministry of Transport and Road Facilities of Tatarstan proposes to make the metro the backbone of the future ground transport scheme of the capital. “We will definitely ‘sew’ these routes with new metro stations,” said the head of the Ministry of Transport Farit Khanifov. By 2027, four stations of the second line will be built, and this will make it possible to stabilise purchases of up to 100 buses per year, he believes. The priority for 2025 is to preserve regional roads, so the authorities are preparing to impose a ban on heavy-duty vehicles. Read more about it in a report of Realnoe Vremya.
Khanifov's nightmare: “The facility's delivery cannot be postponed”
Regional roads and public transport are at the top of the goals for 2025, the head of the Ministry of Transport and Road Facilities of the Republic of Tatarstan Farit Khanifov announced the reboot of the strategy. This morning, he gathered journalists for a large press conference, at which he shared fresh ideas about what and how will be restarted in the republic's transport infrastructure. Of course, global projects remain on the agenda — approval of the concept of the third terminal of the Kazan airport, the placement of transport and logistics hubs, attracting investors to toll roads. But it seems that these mega-projects are not destined to reach specific design solutions during this year. At least, the head of the Ministry of Transport is determined to “land,” that is, to take on the “unravelling” pressing road and transport problems.
They were constantly put off “for later”: first, time was spent on the construction of the M-12 highway, then on the accelerated construction of BRICS facilities. Later, Farit Khanifov admitted in a conversation with Realnoe Vremya that the most terrible thing in preparing for the summit was that “the delivery of facilities cannot be postponed”: “It's like a bad dream.” In a word, it's time to take on everyday concerns.
A new route network scheme for Kazan is expected by the end of the year
First of all, for public transport. As you know, in the spring of 2024, Kazan carriers cut a significant part of their bus routes. Long “direct” routes were cut into several short ones, and residents had to get there with two or three transfers. It is clear that transportation costs hit families' wallets. The reason for the sequestration is the wear and tear of buses, whose service life is limited to 10 years. Currently, the city authorities are developing a new public transport scheme. It is expected to be presented at the end of the year.
The head of the Ministry of Transport proposed to make it the backbone of the Kazan metro line. According to him, ground transport routes should be adjacent to metro stations so that passengers can seamlessly transfer from one mode of transport to another.
“You have probably noticed that the bus route network in Kazan is being reorganized. We are analysing the passenger flow of public transport in terms of time and logistics. But we will definitely ‘sew up’ new routes with new metro stations. ‘Seamless’ routes need to be connected to them. If a person gets off the metro, there should be a public transport stop nearby,” he said.
According to him, by 2027, four stations are planned to be completed in Kazan on the second metro line, the first will be Akademicheskaya Station in the Azino microdistrict.
The metro remains the most popular mode of transportation, statistics show.
“Passenger traffic in public transport has recovered by 87% compared to 2019. Although the tram has fully recovered by 100%, trolleybuses — more than 100%, but the largest flow is in the metro. An increase of 30% compared to 2019,” Farit Khanifov cited data in favour of the Kazan subway. “People like the metro, people love the metro.”
But the main argument in favour of linking with the metro is that such an approach will make it possible to plan the purchase of buses within 100 vehicles per year. A new route network scheme for Kazan is expected by the end of the year, Khanifov said. Moreover, the Ministry of Land and Urban Development is discussing the issue of allocating land plots to large families not just anywhere, but within the boundaries of access to the transport infrastructure.
Restrictors for heavy-duty trucks will be installed on the roads
Another pain point is the repair of regional roads in the republic's agglomerations. As the head of the Ministry of Transport reported, this year efforts will be directed at restoring those that were damaged during the construction of the M-12 highway, the bypass around Nizhnekamsk and Naberezhnye Chelny. They experienced high loads during the delivery of crushed stone, gravel, and cement.
“It is necessary to restore the roads that were damaged during the construction of new federal highways. By 2030, 60% of roads must meet regulatory values,” the speaker said.
The authorities will decide which roads need to be repaired together with municipalities. In February, the head of the Ministry of Transport will hold four sectional meetings with agglomerations.
The installation of limiters may become a barrier to further overloading of roads. Most likely, speed cameras will be supplemented with a new weight monitoring function.
“We have learned to build quickly, and now we need roads to last a long time. Now we have forgotten that there used to be signs on the roads prohibiting entry for heavy vehicles. They remained at the entrance to the bridge, and left the roads. And it seems that you can’t stop and punish if there is no sign. We will restore this work, now we are working out how to do it technically and legally,” said the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Tatarstan.
This year, 33 billion rubles have been allocated for major road repairs, and taking into account new construction, the road budget will amount to 56 billion rubles, said Farit Khanifov.
“It's better to work more on paper”: the MAK project was sent back for revision
For the first time, Minister of Transport and Road Facilities of the Republic of Tatarstan Farit Khanifov named the parameters of the third terminal of the Kazan airport, which has been designed since last year. According to him, it will be designed to annually service 7.5 million passengers by 2030. He did not say what the initial mark was. But due to the change in the projected number of passengers, the original project was sent back for revision.
“Today, pre-design work is being carried out, passenger flow schemes for departure and arrival on domestic and international routes are being developed. It is better to work more on paper in order to avoid mistakes in the future, so that the third terminal is comfortable. There is no need to rush here. Therefore, consultations are underway,” the head of the Ministry of Transport said.
Khanifov recalled that now the Kazan airport is designed to service 2.5 million passengers per year, but the passenger flow has already exceeded 5 million people.
“Therefore, the third terminal project is being adjusted. Initially, the project had a large margin of safety, but was expensive. Rais Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov returned it for revision, and today we are working on it. We must not allow inefficient use of funds. This is a lot of money,” the minister emphasised.
It is planned to begin construction of the facility after the design is completed and a positive conclusion on the project is received from the Main State Expertise.
“It is better to work more on paper today in order to avoid mistakes in the future, so that the third terminal of the airport is optimal and comfortable and can operate until 2030. Such a task is set, there is no need to rush with the decision, consultations are underway now. Yesterday, [Tatarstan Prime Minister Alexey] Pesoshin and I got off the plane and held a meeting with the designers right at the airport,” he added.
