Metrovagonmash 81-717/81-714

Background By the 1970s, most metro lines in the Soviet Union were using the E-series trainsets, which started mass production in 1963 (although the prototype was built in 1959). This greatly increased the passenger capacity and performance. But despite its advantages, it posed disadvantages to its manufacturers: it was too complex to be mass-produced, in such a short time. The factories that were to produce the cars could not set up aluminium manufacturing facilities in such a short time, and additionally, the voltage regulation system and thyristors required refinement. The type 1 prototype of the I-series was eventually made, but the production of the Ež3/Em508T subseries continued, also due to lower costs of manufacture. The base model . By the early 1970s, the Metrovagonmash factory already designed a trailer car type, based on the never-built Ež2 subseries. The control cars were also based on the Ež2, but the front end was modified, along with the drivers controls. These two types of cars later became 81-714 and 81-717, respectively. With more lessons learnt from the electrical propulsion system of the I-series, in the first half of 1976, the Mytishchi factory produced the first six cars of the 81-series. These carriages were 5846, 5854, 5855 (control cars) and 5837, 5867, 5868 (trailer cars). The design of the new cars was both similar and different from the newest E-series cars. The carbodies were roughly similar to them, having same dimensions. Certain equipment (doors, motor-compressors, batteries and other pneumatic equipment) were also carried over from the Ež3 subseries. However the most noticeable external change was in the front ends of the train: the driver car was placed in the middle of the front end of the head car as opposed to its right front end side as before. Additionally, the emergency exit doors were removed, because of this. Traction motors from the I-series, the DK-117B, now producing 110 kWh, were installed. Compared to the older trains, an Auxiliary Power Supply Unit (Блок Питания Собственных Нужд) was installed to power the batteries. Lighting in the passenger area was now made with fluorescent lamps. This led to an increase in the tare weight of the cars, so it was decided to use a springs-based suspension. The 81-series cars never got a lettered classification, because these were an experimental alternative to the complex I-series cars. But the complexity of the I-series cars, which meant endless adjustments regarding aluminium production, pulse regulation, at the time when newly opened Soviet metro networks (such as in Tashkent, Kharkiv, etc.) were in dire need of new cars, led to the selection of the 81-series to become the new standard metro trainset of the Soviet Union. The production of prototypes of the I-series continued in the 1980s, but they were the last to receive a lettered classification, which meant that metro sets produced from the 81-717/714 onwards never received a lettered classification. With the appearance of newer sets (such as the Yauza, Rusich, Oka, Neva, Moskva), the 81-series then became known as the "Numbered Train" (Номерной Поезд; Nomernoy Poezd). It should also be noted that "nomernoy" also stands for vehicle registration plates, so this can be a widely interpreted name in the English language. The demand for the cars was very high at the beginning, so high, that production at the I. E. Yegorov factory in Leningrad (now known as Vagonmash Saint Petersburg) began in January 1980 and in the Tver (then known as Kalinin) Railcar Factory later on as well. The base model of 81-717/714 rolling stock was produced between 1977 and 1988. == Operation ==

Since its start of production, the 81-series has been delivered to all metro networks of the former Soviet Union, and also to most of the Warsaw Pact countries. while in 2023, 60 81-717.3/714.3 carriages were donated to Kyiv from Warsaw. All the 81-717/714 trainsets from the 1980s underwent a major overhaul in 2019-20. Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) 81-717/714 trains and many of their modified variants are in service on Line 2 (Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya Line), Line 4 (Pravoberezhnaya Line) and Line 5 (Frunzensko-Primorskaya Line) of the Saint Petersburg Metro since the 1980s, though the oldest 81-717/714 trains for the metro system were manufactured in 1977. Tashkent Trains of types 81-717/714 and 81-717.5/714.5 were delivered to Tashkent from 1980 to 1993 in order to replace the Ezh3/Em-508T cars on the Chilonzor Line and enter service on the Uzbekistan Line. Currently, there are 168 81-series cars in operation in the metro system, most of which have been modernized. Yerevan . Trains of type 81-717/714 have been in service in Yerevan ever since the opening of the metro system in 1981. Two four-car 81-717.5/714.5 trainsets were delivered in 1993. In the early 1990s many 81-717/714 trains were sold to the Moscow Metro. Since 2001, all 81-717/714 trainsets in Yerevan consist of two cars. 112 81-717/714 cars were delivered to the city's metro system in 1983 in order to increase the number of the rolling stock of the metropolitan, followed by twenty-eight 81-717.5/714.5 cars in the 1990s. Plastic seats are being installed on the rolling stock of the metro for the past ten years. Minsk . 81-717/717 trainsets are in service in the Minsk Metro ever since the opening of the metro system's first line in 1984. All of them have been modernized. In the late 1980s 81-717.5/714.5 trains were delivered to the city, followed by 81-717.5M/714.5M trainsets between 1993 and 2014. Nizhny Novgorod 58 81-717/714 carriages were given to Nizhny Novgorod from Leningrad in 1985 (these trains ran alongside D-type trainsets until 1993). These cars were enough to form 12 four-car trainsets, with some cars being in reserve. They were followed by 2 four-car 81-717/714 train in 1987, five four-car 81-717.5/714.5 trains in 1989-1992, two four-car 81-717.5M/714.5M trains in 2006 and 2007, and 1 four-car 81-717.5N/714.5N trains in 2010. Samara 81-717/714 trains for the Samara Metro were manufactured in 1987 prior to the opening of the metropolitan the same year, followed by 81-717.5/714.5 and 81-717.6/714.6 trainsets in the 1990s and in the 2020s respectively. All trains consists of four cars (two head ones and two intermediate ones) and run on all three lines of the metro system. The 1987-built units are being systematically modernized since 2020. Tbilisi . 81-717/714 trains are in service on both the Akhmeteli-Varketili Line (on this line there are some Ež3 and Em-508T modernized cars as well), and the Saburtalo Line of the Tbilisi Metro since 1987. All trains have been refurbished and are now running as 81-717M/714M rolling stock. The 81-717/714 trains were modified into 81-717M/714Ms using Czech blueprints, hence the similar cab and livery designs, and thus should not be confused with their Czech counterparts. Yekaterinburg 46 trains of type 81-717.5/714.5 were delivered to Yekaterinburg when the first and still only line of the city's metro system was opened in 1991. and by eight 81-717.6/714.6 cars in 2019. Currently, there are 62 four-car trains in the Yekaterinburg Metro, all from the 81-series. Dnipro . 45 cars (18 head ones and 27 intermediate ones) of types 81-717.5/714.5 and 81-717.5M/714.5M, are operated in the Dnipro Metro, serving on the metropolitan's only line since 1995. Outside the USSR Outside the USSR, 81-717/714 modified trainsets were delivered initially to Prague and Budapest, and later on to Warsaw and Sofia. forming 101 five-car sets with two intermediate cars kept as spares, adding onto the Ečs trains that had been delivered earlier. Three cars were lost: one was scrapped after a derailment at (now Dejvická) station in 1986, while two were lost in a fire at (now Háje) station in 1987. Full overhauls had been scheduled for the oldest cars in the early 1990s, but it was eventually decided that a more complete rebuild was required, and between 1994 and 2010 most but not all of the 81-717.1/714.1 cars were rebuilt as 81-71M stock by Škoda and ČKD. Since 2005 series 81 trains on line C were replaced by new trains produced jointly by ČKD, Adtrans and Siemens, 41 modernized 81-71M remain in service on Line A and 52 on Line B. Budapest . 32 trains of type 81-717.2/714.2 were delivered to Hungary between 1979 and 1991, followed by two 81-717.2M/714.2M trainsets; all in service on lines M2 and M3, being used alongside the older type E-series trains built several years earlier. In 2015, a contract was signed on the modernization of the existing older subway cars on the metro. In 2016, the first subway train left Budapest and was delivered back to Metrovagonmash in Russia to be overhauled into type 81-717.2K/714.2K. The first train reentered service in March 2017, with the original DC motors replaced by Japanese Hitachi VVVF traction systems and motors. The remaining trains were delivered by August 2018. The 81-717.2K/714.2K trains look very similar to type 81-717.6/714.6 of the Moscow Metro on the outside. The units on line 2 were replaced by modern Alstom Metropolis vehicles. Warsaw . In 1982, during Leonid Brezhniev's visit to the Polish People's Republic (a satellite state of the USSR), a contract was signed for the delivery of 90 rail-cars for the planned Warsaw Metro, portrayed as a gift to the Polish nation. Only ten 81-717.3/714.3 cars produced by Metrovagonmash in Mytishchi in 1989 were actually delivered to Poland. Before the first segment of the metro was opened in 1994 an additional 32 cars of the same type were purchased from Vagonmash in Sankt Petersburg, there designated as 81-572/81-573. The rail-cars were used to form 14 three-car train-sets operating with 5-minute intervals during peak-hours. In 1995 an additional 18 cars were ordered to extend the train-sets to four cars and add a fifteenth train-set by 1998. Since 2000 the metro began purchasing modern Alstom Metropolis rolling stock, however in 2005 an additional 30 cars of type 81-714.3 were purchased to extend the existing trains to six cars each and the cars in operation underwent modernization by PESA Bydgoszcz. In a controversial decision in 2007, a final seven new six-car 81-572.2/573.2 train-sets were ordered from Vagonmash. Since 2012 the metro has been again purchasing modern Siemens Inspiro rolling stock to expand its capacity along with the extending network and in 2020 a contract was signed with Škoda Transportation for 37 new Škoda Varsovia train-sets intended among others to replace the 22 aging 81-717.3/714.4 trains. In 2023, the trains from the 81-series that were still in good technical condition were donated to Kyiv and Kharkiv in Ukraine where such models are still in common use. In 2025 there will be only one train left. Sofia . Note the LED display board. Forty-eight cars (twenty-four head ones and twenty-four intermediate ones) of type 81-717.4/714.4 were delivered to Bulgaria in 1989–90, At first, the trainsets were formed of three carriages – two head ones and an intermediate one (due to small passenger numbers), while nowadays the trains are formed of four carriages – the head ones with side numbers from 1004 to 1024, while the intermediate ones with side numbers from 5001 to 5024 respectively. However, between 2005 and 2013 the Bulgarian metro system had been receiving trains of type 81-740.2/741.2 and 81-740.2B/741.2B, and currently there are only 12 four-car trainsets of type 81-717.4/714.4 and 40 three-car trainsets of type 81-740.2/741.2. A contract was signed in late 2018 for the modernization of all the 81-717.4/714.4 cars. The first two refurbished trains were delivered in early 2020 as 81-717.4K/81-714.4K rolling stock. They were followed by an additional six modernized trainsets that were delivered in 2021-2022, though the last four 81-717.4/714.4 trains couldn't be modernized due to sanctions imposed on Metrovagonmash following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. . The 81-717.4K/714.K trainsets look very similar to the 81-717.2K/714.2Ks in Budapest, though there are some differences. For instance, in Budapest, the driver's cabin has two front windows and the electronic board on the outside is positioned on the top left side of the train's head mask, while in the Sofia Metro, the driver's cabin has just one front window and the electronic board on the outside is positioned at the top middle of the head mask. Also, the visual announcements in Budapest are announced on TVs, while in Sofia, there are two electronic boards on each end of the carriage for this purpose. The lifespan of the refurbished 81-717.4/714.4 trains was prolonged by at least 15 years following their modernization . Since November 2023, Bulgaria is the only post-communist European country where original 81-717/714 metro trains are still in active service. Despite this, the last four 81-717.4/714.4 trains are to be kept in service for an indefinite amount of time. Both the refurbished and the non-refurbished 81-717/714 trains of the Sofia Metro are used on lines one, two, and four, where they run alongside 81-740/741 trainsets, while line three is exclusively served by 30 three-car Siemens Inspiro trains, with more to be delivered in the upcoming years). Both the modernized and the non-modernized 81-717.4/714.4 trains are being operated by the Obelya train depot. All 81-717.4/714.4 rolling stock was equipped with LED display boards 2012–13. == Technical ==

. The 81-717/714 cars in the former Soviet Union operate on metro networks with and s. The Sofia, Budapest, Warsaw and Prague metro networks use . Trains receive power from the third rail via a bottom-contact shoe at either 750 or 825 volts, except in Budapest, which uses top-contact shoes. Composition of the trains The trains usually have a flexible formation, of 2 control cars at each end, and a variable number of trailer cars in the middle. Thus, a train can have only 1 car in the middle, or up to 6, making 3 to 8 car formations. However, a notable exception is Yerevan, where trains there can operate even with no trailer cars. Interior fittings . Like all metro trains of the now former Soviet Union, the 81-717/714 trains feature longitudinal bench seating, which is placed to the walls of the cars between the doors and an empty central aisle. The passenger area is ventilated with the help of air vents on the roof of the car, along with small sliding windows. , with vandal-proof seating instead of leather benches. Originally, bench seats with hard leather trim were fitted on these cars, but they were subject to vandalism in the 1990s and 2000s, and thus, the new and the refurbished trains, as well as the later modifications of the model feature vandal-proof seating with a plastic base and leatherette linings, separate for each passenger. Sometimes, metal partitions can be added too. Overall, the bench seats can accommodate as many as 6 people (or 3 at the end sections), which means that the seating space in each car is 40, 44, or 48 (depending on the modification of the carriage), while seated. While there are access doors between each car, passing from one car to the other while the train is moving is very dangerous, and due to this only staff permits such tasks usually. The doors can be used in an emergency, but they are sometimes used by zatsepers (Russian trainsurfers) to climb on the roof of the train on over-ground sections. == Replacement ==

As the wear and aging of these trains began to be replaced with newer ones, but in different subways this happened differently , in the Moscow Metro as a replacement first were the trains Rusich, later Oka and Moscow. In Saint Petersburg, 81-556 Nevatrains are used as replacements. In Minsk, the 81-717 train started to run on new Stadler cars manufactured in the Fanipol suburb of Minsk. In Novosibirsk, some 81-717/714 trains were replaced by 81-540/541 units. In Baku, as well as in Moscow, 81-765 trains are used to replace the 81-717/714 trainsets, though 81-765 trains made for the Baku Metro are called Baku. == In popular culture ==

Presence in filmography • Original 81-717/714 trains were featured in the 1988 Soviet film Mobius Strip. • In 2009, trainset A6 (type 81-717.4/714.4) of the Sofia Metro was used for the filming of the films Thick as Thieves and Ninja. Because the plot of the former was in the New York City Subway, the train was painted grey so that it looked like a NYC subway train. Slivnitsa Station, the oldest metro station of the Sofia Metro, was also decorated as a typical New York subway station for the duration of filming. It was later decided to paint all the 81-717.4/714.4 trains of the Sofia Metro grey on the outside; to this day, the exterior of the last four remaining 81-717.4/714.4 trainsets is such. • An 81-717.5/714.5 train of the Moscow Metro was used for the filming of the film Metro in 2013. • A 81-717.2/714.2 set from the Budapest Metro was used in the 2017 movie Atomic Blonde. Elsewhere Many mobile and video games have depicted the metrovagonmash 81-717/714 through the years, some making amazing recreations of the model and its various modifications. There are also many real-life models of such trains around the world. == References ==