Norilsk

Buses from around the World – Part 5

Posted on March 19, 2016 Updated on March 19, 2016

“Isolated, polluted and – above all – cold, it is a city built on misery and blood.”

Welcome to the “edge of the world”; the city of Норильск “Norilsk” is located above the Arctic Circle between the Taymyr Peninsula and the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk Krai in the depths of Northern Siberia in Russia. Norilsk closed in November 2001 to all non-Russian citizens except those of Belaruisan background, the population of the city in 2015 approximately 176,251. Норильск was founded at the end of the 1920’s with the area growing into a small village in about 1935 when the mining-metallurgic complex and the Norillag system of GULAG labour camps opened. It became an urban-type settlement in 1939 and gained town status as late as 1953. Over the 20 years from 1935 over 500,000 slaves from GULAG’s took part in the cities construction and due to the harsh climate many of these lost their lives.

Норильск is located 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle so has an incredibly harsh subarctic climate and is covered with snow for about 250-270 days each year with about 110-130 days of those being heavy snow-storms. During the depths of winter the temperatures regularly plummet to -40’C and the city has complete darkness for over 2 months whereas during the summer period has 2 months of constant daytime with temperatures exceeding 20’C at times. The Норильск citizens suffer ‘the polar night syndrome’, resulting in anxiety, nervousness, drowsiness or insomnia, depending of the seasons, whiles the psychological discomfort and poor emotional stimuli also generate many cases of depression. Throughout the entire year the average temperature is -10’C. Due to its geographical location and heavy industrialisation most of Норильск is in naturally treeless tundra and very few foliage and trees exist in the city. In the winter, children are allowed for a walk outside only under certain conditions. Sometimes children have to spend several months indoors so most of the city is indoors. Such as sports facilities and shopping centres and social gatherings in apartments. Children are often forced to spend several months indoors so the city has large buildings where they can enjoy outdoor activities like cycling and running, even during the winter.

Норильск is one of the most polluted cities in the world due its huge deposits of nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium and coal therefore the city is full of mining and metallurgical complexes. The largest of these factories is a smelting plant for Nickel which regularly produces thick smog and acid rain across the city, the plant contributes to 1% of the worlds sulphur dioxide emissions. 4,000,000 tons of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, selenium and zinc are released into the air every year. As well as this, nearly 2,000,000 tons of carbon pollutants are released into the atmosphere each year, this is almost 6 times the amount of the 333,000 tons let into the atmosphere from Cherepovets, Russia’s second polluted city. With heavy metal pollution being so severe, it has now become economically viable to mine surface soil due to it containing such high concentrations of platinum and palladium. The citizens working in these facilities are incredibly tough with high risks involved in the mining and metallurgy industry. The shift pattern in such industries follows a pattern of 3 straight working days with 1 day off. The compensation for the risks is represented by long duration of official holidays with 90 days a year and a retirement age of 45.

Due to the high industry, the life expectancy is 10 years less than in other regions of Russia; the risk of cancer is two time higher and respiratory diseases are widespread. Studies show that the air quality is responsible for 37 per cent of deaths of child deaths and 21.6 per cent of adult deaths. The polar days and nights cycle also has a strong influence on the human body, which struggles to adapt to such extreme conditions. The darkness causes a reduction in the release of the hormone melatonin, which regulates many functions of the body which leads to sleep and nervous system problems, constant fatigue, psychological discomfort and depression. A lack of melatonin also aids premature aging of the body and promotes the development of cancer.

With the area being so inhospitable, it is literally cut-off from the rest of the world, the city only has one railway (one of the northernmost railway in the world) which operates freight-only services from the city to Port Dudinka where they are then transported by boat on the Arctic Ocean on the Yenisei River. To assist the cargo ships traveling through the thick ice, 23 nuclear-powered ice-breakers ships; each the size of a cruise-liner; operates around the harbour and the surrounding area. The city does have a road network and the usual straight and wide streets of a USSR settlement but has no connection to the national road network. You can only arrive at the city by air transport at either Norilsk Alykel Airport or Norilsk Valek Airfield.

The city is also home to a number of cultural highlights in its relatively short history, these including a history museum, art gallery, a Drama Theatre, a zoo, a cultural enter, a sports and entertainment complex and arena. There are also many monuments and historical buildings, these including the Lenin Monument of Norilsk, the Nurd Kamal, the world’s most northernmost mosque and the Monument to the city builders.

As you can imagine in such an extreme place, an incredibly important transport system needs to connect the people of Norilsk for work, shopping and the entertainment facilities. Norilsk has various taxi operators covering the city but a large scale publically-owned motorbus operator exist in Norilsk called МУП “Норильский производственное объединение пассажирского транспорта” or “НПОПАТ” for short. (MUP “Norilsk industrial association of passenger vehicles” or “NPOPAT” for short).

From the start of the city, Norilsk operated their own bus services from the copper plant (with depot on site) to the city to get the citizens to work, but as the city grew the services were often overcrowded. Therefore in 1953 a new transport decree from the USSR Council of Ministers on 17 May 1954 to create defined by separation from the TSATK independent passenger motor transportation office Krayavtoshosdora. On the 14th of July 1954, the decree was issued by the Norilsk passenger road transport office and thus began the duties of chief Norilsk Patka Safrontsom Joseph Feofanovich, the head of “НПОПАТ”.

In 2013, МУП “НПОПАТ” the volume of traffic on the city’s municipal transport amounted to 20 million passengers across 18 city routes, as well as 55 contracts, performed by order Zlatoust Branch offices of JSC “MMC” Norilsk Nickel and other organisations. МУП “НПОПАТ” have a fleet size of 264 motorbuses across 3 depots, one in Norilsk, one in nearby Talnakh and one in Kayerkan.

Due to the extreme conditions safety is paramount, so the МУП “НПОПАТ” have a satellite navigation system to track vehicles to maintain regularity on their bus routes for further efficiency. Also, with many of the factories operating 24 hours МУП “НПОПАТ” also operate around the clock 24/7. However the most impressive feature of the company is the operation of services during harsh wintry snowstorms. With it being so unsafe to be outside during these conditions but citizens needing to work and get around the city, МУП “НПОПАТ” operate 40 buses in one convoy 3 times a day which operate from the city to take workers to the factories to ensure maximum safety in case of a vehicle breakdown then passengers can easily be evacuated onto another vehicle to deter standing outside for long periods of time during these harsh conditions.

The Norilsk depot operates:

– 68 МАЗ-103.075
– 24 МАЗ-103.476
– 13 ПАЗ-32054-67 (3205*M)
– 12 МАЗ-206.086
– 10 МАЗ-206.085
– 9 ПАЗ-320401-01 (32041A)
– 1 ЛиАЗ-5293.00
– 1 МАЗ-103.С70
– 1 МАЗ-152.060

The Talnakh depot operates:

– 43 МАЗ-103.075
– 17 МАЗ-103.476
– 3 ПАЗ-32054-67 (3205*M)
– 8 МАЗ-103.486
– 5 МАЗ-206.085
– 1 ПАЗ-320401-01 (32041A)
– 1 МАЗ-206.086
– 1 ЛиАЗ-5293.00

The Kayerkan depot operates:

– 49 МАЗ-103.075
– 9 МАЗ-103.476
– 7 МАЗ-103.486
– 5 ПАЗ-32054-67 (3205*M)
– 1 МАЗ-103.070

* Correct as of 19/03/2016 *

Норильск
Bus Route maps:

Норильск
Bus Timetables

The МАЗ-103 (MAZ-103) is a Belarusian built vehicle dating from 1996 built in Minsk, Belarus as the Минским автомобильным заводом (Minsk Automobile Plant).

In 1992, МАЗ signed a license agreement with the German manufacturer Neoplan to reproduce under contract the Neoplan N4016 model in Eastern Europe. This came in the form of the МАЗ-101 but its low price and reliability in operation on the poor quality roads of poor quality made it uncompetitive in the Commonwealth of Independent States “CIS” market. As a result, only five licensed buses were built in a “pure form”. At the plant, it was decided to introduce more Eastern components, at the same time adapting the design to the local conditions. Following these changes the new vehicle was named the МАЗ-103; the power was now acting on the rear axle instead of the portal axle like on the МАЗ-101. This led to the stairs at the back doors with the middle and front having a low floor. This made a positive impact on price, reliability and maintainability of the vehicle.

The Russian assembly of МАЗ-103 buses was carried out in Nizhny Novgorod at the facilities of the company “Samotlor-NN”. These buses have a different front mask with round headlights smaller. Since 2008, it produced restyled version of the bus with a more modern design, exterior and interior.

The example in the photo is a МАЗ-103.075 which comes along with various modifications compared to the standard version to enable reliable operation in extreme temperatures. It seats 29 passengers with a total capacity of 100 passengers. It’s powered by a 231hp Euro 3 Diesel Deutz BF6M1013EC engine coupled with a 3 speed Voith DIWA D851.3E automatic gearbox. They also use special additives in their diesel fuel to stop it solidifying into a partially crystalline state where it can thicken the oil and clog fuel filters and injectors in engines, which of course would fill up in the fuel line until the engine was starved of diesel and would cut out. Not something you need at -40’C in a heavy snowstorm! Therefore all of the МУП “НПОПАТ” vehicles use Artic Diesel Fuel which has a density of 830 kg/m³, a flash point of 35’C, a maximum pour point of 35’C, a minimum pour point of -50’C and a viscosity of 1.4-4.0 mm²/s.

The Cold Filter Plugging Point (CFPP) is based on a standardised test that indicates the rate at which diesel fuel will flow through a standardised filtration device in a specified length of time when cooled under certain conditions. Similarly the “Low Temperature Flow Test” indicates the winter performance of diesel with improver additives. Note that both the CFPP and LTFT temperature is some degrees above the Pour Point temperature at which diesel fuel loses its fluid character and that pumps would stop operating.

As well as these features, the МАЗ-103.075 has technology fitted to the engine to enable running in cold weather conditions, one of these being a spill return system. Once the vehicle is started, usually at temperatures below the CFPP any excess fuel from the injector pump and injectors is returned back into the fuel tank. So once the engine has begun warming up the returning fuel increases the temperature of the fuel already in the fuel tank preventing gelling. As well as this low-output electric heaters are found in the fuel tanks and around fuel lines which extend the fluid characteristics of diesel fuel. As well as this they all have a higher window line and no opening windows or vents for passengers to discourage draughts inside the vehicle.

Featured this time around is МУП “НПОПАТ” Норильск based МАЗ-103.075 No. 638 АН 638 24 built in 2004. It’s wearing the standard livery of all-over yellow livery (designed to stand out in the regular whiteouts). As per most Russian operators, the driver is only responsible for the driving of the vehicle leaving the conductor to take charge of fares leaving the driver in the whole front of the bus. It is seen operating a 5A service towards ОВЦ – ул. Комсомольская (Regional Exbn – Komsomolskaya Street) on Заводская улица (Zavodskaya Ulitsa) on Sunday the 16th of March 2014. This shot gives a clear view of the environment in Norilsk, with it being March the winter is beginning to end with the average temperatures up to -22 (WOW). Note the amount of drift snow up on the building on the right also!

Photo by Aztec from http://fotobus.msk.ru/photo/1085766/
http://fotobus.msk.ru/list.php?grid=112
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norilsk
http://www.nornik.ru/en/main
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3416963/Think-s-cold-Spare-thought-residents-Norilsk-northernmost-city-world-endure-temperatures-55-C-two-months-24-7-darkness-year.html
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/what-real-russian-winter-looks-n21
http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/06/russians-adapt-to-a-freezing-dark-and-polluted-place/251

This entry was posted in Buses from around the World and tagged Bus, Bus Enthusiast, Buses, CCCP, Industry, MAZ, MAZ-103, MAZ-103.075, Norilsk, Russia, Siberia, USSR.

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Norilsk

Buses from around the World – Part 5