A Stadler tram, which arrived in Kharkiv in September 2021 and was stored in a depot since the beginning of the Russian invasion, has been sent back to the manufacturer.
This information was shared in a post in the Facebook group "Electric Transport of the World," the CFTS portal reports.
The post included a photo of a tram section being transported, with the author's comment: "Today, the Stadler BKM-85300 'Metelica' tram, which underwent trial operations in Kharkiv in the fall of 2021, has left the city. The tram was dismantled and disassembled into sections for transportation to the manufacturer."
Trams of this model were manufactured at the Stadler Minsk plant in Belarus. These trams were also delivered to the Russian city of St. Petersburg.
In October 2021, Kharkiv signed a memorandum with the Swiss rolling stock manufacturer Stadler to modernize the city's tram fleet. In May 2022, after the Russian invasion, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said he would like to see the city's citizens riding Stadler trams after the war.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) urged Stadler to cease operations in Russia and Belarus. Later, the head of the Swiss company, Peter Spuhler, said that Stadler supported the sanctions imposed on Belarus in connection with the war in Ukraine and that it was partially moving production out of Belarus.
In 2023, in response to an information request from the CFTS portal, Stadler said it did not intend to close its plant in Belarus completely and would ramp up production at the plant after the sanctions are lifted.
