in 2012|thumb|left By the mid-1950s, tram fleets in Soviet cities were technically outdated, with most of the vehicles in service produced before
World War II. The majority of domestically produced trams were small, two-axle vehicles, whose design severely limited passenger capacity on growing systems. In
European Russia, large cities operated spacious, four-axle double
bogie trams; Moscow was able to import the
Czechoslovak Tatra T2, and domestic
MTV-82 trams produced by
RVR in the
Latvian SSR.
Leningrad was supplied by the local tram builder,
Leningrad Wagon Repair Plant. Initially, it was expected that RVR would be able to mass produce the MTV-82, but production could not scaled to supply the Soviet Union. Additionally, MTV-82 trams were outdated in their design and could not operate with a trailer or with one another as an
electric multiple unit. In December 1959, the
Council of Ministers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic appointed Ust-Katav Wagon-Building Plant (UKVZ) to lead the development and eventual mass production for a four-axle, double
bogie tram capable of operating as a multiple unit.
Prototypes The original KTM-5 was built in 1963 and consisted of two
prototype tramcars. The electrical, mechanical, and aesthetic designs were derived from the Soviet
RVZ-6, based on the Czechoslovak Tatra T2, which in turn was a licensed adaptation of the North American
PCC tram. The design used a
rheostat control system. Compared to later variations of the KTM-5, the aesthetic design of the original prototypes featured a
streamlined all-steel body, which was also influenced by the recently introduced
Tatra T3 and
LM-57 trams. In 1964 the prototype trams were delivered to
Chelyabinsk for testing and were returned to UKVZ for revisions in 1965. The aesthetic appearance of the tram was completely redesigned from the prototype KTM-5, which was considered to be outdated. Led by the
Institute of Technical Aesthetics in
Sverdlovsk, the new tram design featured sharp edges, large windows, and the metal body was replaced with
fiberglass paneling. The choice to use fiberglass reduced the weight of the tram by , which, along with lighter and more powerful
traction motors, improved the tram's capacity, acceleration, and speed. Production models would use the sliding frame windows as well as forced air. Upon arrival in Moscow in March 1966, tram #1 was displayed at the
Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy before joining tram #2 in passenger testing in July. In 1968 one of the trams was displayed along with the
LM-68 at "Interbytmash-68" () at the
Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Centre. Three prototype trams were constructed and delivered to
Omsk in December 1967 for testing in the harsh
Siberian climate. The KTM-5M proved to be successful in testing, and in 1968 they were recommenced for mass production. In December 1968 the modification of the UKVZ plant was completed and the first batch of production model trams were delivered to Omsk in 1969. In June 1989 the first improved trams were delivered to
Prokopyevsk. In 1988 UKVZ began prototyping a successor, the
71-608, but mass production would not begin until 1991. May 1990 saw the introduction of a unique variation, the 71-605U (), built exclusively for the
standard gauge system in
Rostov-on-Don. Because the
system could accommodate wider vehicles, the only modification needed was standard gauge bogies on the traditional 71-605A tram. Build quality declined during the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. After the introduction of the 71-608, production of the 71-605A and 71-605U ceased in late 1992, ending 23 years of continuous mass production of the KTM-5. For some cities, a cheaper solution than to buy a new tram was to undergo a body replacement, where the only original parts are usually the bogies. These upgrades cost less than a completely new tram, at 100,000 rubles for the upgrade compared to 28 million rubles for a new car. The upgrades features a completely new body with touchscreens for the driver, climate control, lighting, new traction converters and new flooring. These particular vehicles are rebuilt by Gorizont LLC, named 71-605RM13 and sees use in
Magnitogorsk,
Zlatoust and
Saratov. Other modifications with different layouts were created in
Krasnodar '71-605TH', '71-605EP' in
Omsk, a number of modernized cars in
Chelyabinsk and one example in
Mykolaiv. ==References==