The movement of the trams in Almaty was suspended on October 31, 2015. Tram infrastructure and the tracks condition are in a critical condition and demand repair. The citizens complained a lot of big intervals in the movement in recent years and as a result during several years there was low passenger traffic. Proposals on upgrading the tram service (tracks, depot and purchase of additional rolling stock) are under consideration in Almaty city Akimat.
Regardless of the decision on old tram tracks, the high-speed light rail tram (LRT) project has been considered in Almaty since 2009. According to the data of International Union of Public Transport (UITP), nowadays LRT is being revived as highly safe transport and 80 cities of the world are either already constructing, or are planning construction of the first line.
During the period from 2009 to 2011 various institutes by request of Almaty city Akimat prepared feasibility studies, carried out research and coordination regarding the format of implementation and financing of the LRT project, but the decision on project implementation wasn't made.
Since 2013 a new project phase has begun at the request of Almaty city Akimat, with assistance of the PROON-GEF Project "City of Almaty Sustainable Transport" and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and three groups of consultants were invited for preparation of the tender documentation for project implementation according to the scheme of the public private partnership (PPP): technical specialists of Idom (Spain), Norton Rose law company (Great Britain/Kazakhstan), financial consultants of Ernst & Young company (Kazakhstan).
The Service Center for Investors of JSC “NC SEC” Almaty” is engaged in coordination of this project from the Almaty city Akimat: http://spk-almaty.kz/index.php/ru/for-investor/investor-service
The project includes construction of the LRT line 22.9 km long. The forecast capacity will be 77–106 thousand passengers a day. The preliminary route of the light rail transport will pass from the depot in Alatau district, further down Momyshuly and Tole bi streets, Panfilov street to Astana square, and down Makatayev and Zhetysuskaya streets. The additional branch will go to the designed metro station in Kalkaman microdistrict. Design speed of the movement will be 24 km/h with 35 stops, the full route will be covered in 40 minutes. The rolling stock will consist of 36 trains, and one train will carry up to 200 passengers.
More details about the LRT systems and the project for Almaty can be found at:
Official site of the project LRT: http://almaty-lrt.kz
http://alatransit.kz/ru/content/legkorelsovyy-transport-lrt-v-almaty-obzor-i-perspektivy
http://alatransit.kz/ru/content/razvitie-sistem-lrt-v-mire
Photo source: http://investinalmaty.com/presentation/LRT_Presentation_ru.pdf