Underground horizons: Samara schoolchildren saw the infrastructure of the Samara metro and took part in the regional stage of the All-Russian Transport Olympiad | 04/26/2024 | Samara

This week the Samara stage of the All-Russian Transport Olympiad 2024, organized by “Association of Off-Street Transport Employers of Russia” In parallel, competitors from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg also participate in the regional stages in their cities. The goal of the Olympiad is to identify and support talented youth who are interested in organizing the work of underground urban public transport and its infrastructure.

For a deeper immersion in the topic, Samara schoolchildren taking part in the Olympiad were given a fascinating tour of the Samara metro – young citizens had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with how it works. At the Alabinskaya metro station, the teenagers were shown what departments operate in the “subway”, what are the features of the technical component, what devices and mechanisms ensure the uninterrupted and reliable operation of the Samara metro. Of particular interest were the services of track and tunnel structures, rolling stock, power supply, signaling and communications, as well as the electromechanical escalator service. Note that each metro station is equipped with technical complexes hidden from the eyes of passengers, and these are multi-story buildings underground, essentially a “city within a city.”

In addition to a detailed and eventful tour of the metro station “Alabinskaya“, the contestants also visited the Kirovskoye electric depot, where they saw how electric trains were undergoing maintenance and preparing for release on the line. In addition, the guys toured the Yugorodok metro station, where the history of the Samara metro began, and at the Metro Administration they studied exhibits of the specialized museum.

Experts are confident that the knowledge gained will help Samara schoolchildren demonstrate good results at the Transport Olympiad and, perhaps, earn tickets to the 2024 thematic session at the Artek International Children’s Center.

Members of the competition committee assessed the current level of preparation of the contestants on April 25. The regional stage of the competition took place in the conference hall of the Samara metro, in which two teams of students in the age category from 12 to 15 years (inclusive) presented their projects – “Advanced solutions” And “Samara impulse”

According to Sergei Shamin, director of the Samara Metro, the competition participants showed genuine interest in the work of our metro and a desire to implement solutions that could popularize this type of transport.

One of the teams defended the project “Advanced solutions for my city”, which talks about “smart” stops equipped with special navigation, with convenient functionality and design. According to schoolchildren, such pavilions would not only be comfortable to be in. You can familiarize yourself with the public transport schedule, learn more about the history and attractions of the inner-city area in which passengers are currently waiting for rolling stock.

The second team of participants proposed a project to improve service in the Samara metro and introduce the possibility of receiving a discount on metro travel for those who are active in sports. In particular, a model is described in which a discount can be used on the day of the race and on training days. Schoolchildren believe that this approach can be scaled up to include participants in sporting events taking place along the Volga River embankment. According to the school project, during the registration process, participants can receive a QR code that can be used at the metro station and pay for the trip at a discount.

Both projects received high marks from the commission, gaining the same number of points – 99. As a result, both teams were allowed to participate in the finals of the competition, which will be held via videoconference in mid-May.

As the Deputy Director of the MP noted, “Samara metro» Oleg Yakhin, the participants demonstrated a competent approach when choosing the topic of their project, and were able to reveal it.

“It’s also good that the younger generation is interested in the work of the metro. Schoolchildren propose new approaches that could make travel on public transport more attractive for passengers, – commented Oleg Yakhin . – Time will tell whether school projects will get a start in life .

This kind of competition is being organized for the first time. It is possible that in the future, based on the experience of the competition, career guidance courses for schoolchildren will be developed.