I. Metshin: “The level of motorization in Kazan is growing so cleaning on the roads will not be easier”

(KZN.RU, October 25, Mikhail Chentsov). Today Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, inspected the readiness of the city's road services to clean streets of snow during the winter season. The Mayor visited the fleet of one of the four enterprises that serve the city, the MUP “Trust “Gorvodselenhoz”, where he estimated the condition of snow-removing machinery.

A diverse line of special machines for cleaning roads is at the disposal of one of the leading service enterprises of the capital of Tatarstan. There are 124 units of winter cleaning machinery, 53 of them are designed to perform the operations of the first stage (30 combined road machines (CRM), 23 brush tractors), and others. In addition, this year the “Gorvodselenhoz” bought 4 more tractors. Also, the enterprise has prepared 15 thousand tons of sand and salt mixture and 2.4 thousand tons of the reagent for the winter season.

Rosa Zabbarova, the company's manager, noted that the prepared machinery and anti-ice materials will allow the organization to maintain about 7 thousand square meters of roads on its own territory in the Vakhitovskiy and Privolzhsky districts of Kazan. “We organize the removing of snow from 70% of the roads of the first category on our own. We attracted five more contracting organizations for the timely cleaning of the remaining roads. We work together not for the first time, everybody is tested”, she told Ilsur Metshin.

R. Zabbarova marked that all machinery has already been converted and ready for departure. “Since October 15, we have already transferred to the winter mode. Now the work is conducted in two shifts on duty including Saturdays and Sundays”, said the manager.

I. Metshin noted at the same time, the level of motorization in Kazan is growing and the number of cars among the citizens is growing, too. According to the traffic police of the city, the number of registered vehicles for September 1 in Kazan was 395 thousand 360 units, an increase of 10 thousand 416 units per year. Therefore, a snow removal on roads will not be easier compared to last year, despite the availability of machinery and reagent stocks. The Mayor asked Igor Kulyazhev, the deputy head of the Executive Committee and the chairman of the Committee for External Improvement, to report on the readiness of the remaining servicing companies for the winter period: the MUP “Gorodskoe Blagoustroistvo”, the MUP “Gorodskie Mosty”, and the MUP “DREU”.

According to I. Kulyazhev, all MUPs are completely ready. “The commissions are conducted: the machinery is ready, the enterprises are ready, premises are prepared, in which the duty personnel can work in comfortable conditions. Schemes and routes are made. Each driver has a route card, they already know it by heart”, the chairman of the Committee for External Improvement told the Mayor.

He also noted that this year the fleet of servicing enterprises of Kazan will be replenished with 25 new CRM thanks to the support of the republic. “The first diesel cars will arrive in November, and the methane machinery – in the middle of December. Also, an overhaul of 46 old KamAZ trucks is underway. They will be completely rebuilt, only the old frame will remain. The rest will be new” the engine, chassis, and other details”, said I. Kulyazhev.

Another innovation that will be applied this season is a new kind of two-phase reagent with wetting technology, noted the chairman. Due to active components, the reagent starts to act immediately after putting to the road. Such reagent is environmentally harmless, keeps melting ability up to 25 degrees minus and improves coupling with a road. The reagent will be used on the main highways with intensive traffic, where the route of public transport and bridges pass.

At the conclusion of the meeting, I. Metshin urged the city's services to be ready: “The team is well-coordinated, experts know their work. But, nevertheless, we must be ready. We should meet all the storms and all bad weather in time”.

Andrey Lobov, the head of the Vakhitovsky and Privolzhsky districts’ administration, also took part in the inspection.

On October 15, Kazan's road services switched to winter maintenance mode of the street-road network. In total, the enterprises of the capital of the RT have 513 units of winter cleaning machinery, including 224 for first-stage operations (120 CRM and 104 brush tractors), 50 units of small-scale mechanization machinery and so on. In case of a deterioration in weather conditions in Kazan, the operational plan “Buran” was developed, which makes it possible to increase the number of snow-removing machinery in the city to 1000 units in a short time. 100 thousand tons of sand-salt mixture and 6500 tons of the reagent were prepared for anti-ice treatment of city roads.