First trolleybus will be assembled in Chisinau in June

The Chisinau Electric Transport Company will assemble the first trolleybus by June 20. The repair workshop is now being prepared and a line with seven posts that will enable to assemble four trolleybuses a month is being modernized. Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said that €8 million was transferred to the Minsk trolleybus plant on May 29. This money is for the first bodies and equipment needed to start the assembly works in Chisinau. “We now afford to purchase by 10 trolleybuses a year. In the future, we will increase the assembly capacity to 50 units of transport so as to fully renew the trolleybus stock,” he stated. “New trolleybuses will be added to the 102 new trolleybuses that run on routes in Chisinau so as to reach a number of 250 units. If the number of minibuses is reduced, we will have to increase the number of trolleybuses to 300,” said the mayor. After the trolleybus stock in Chisinau is modernized, a similar process will be launched in such towns as Balti and Tiraspol. A trolleybus assembled in Chisinau will cost €135,000, which is by €10,000 less than a trolleybus bought from the Minsk plant. Compared with last year, the price of a trolleybus is by €20,000 higher. The producers argued the rise is due to the higher price of electric power and of the parts needed to assemble the trolleybuses. Gheorghe Morgoci, director general of the Chisinau Electric Transport Company, said the trolleybuses will be brought to Chisinau by train. “A part of the assembly works are performed in Minsk, while the other part in Chisinau. This process will continue until we gain sufficient experience in the field so as to be able to execute all the works in Chisinau,” he said. A number of 250 trolleybuses run daily on the streets of Chisinau.