The ceremony was also attended by the Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin who witnessed the first route of the vessel which Moscow inhabitants already call “water streetcar”.

Sobyanin presented the innovative product to Putin. In the first stage of this ecological vehicle with a capacity of 50 passengers, 32 units will be put into operation.

The “Sjodnya” water streetcars can charge their batteries during passenger embarkation and disembarkation, and the batteries are the only imported component of the equipment; everything else is produced domestically, the Moscow mayor said.

The first regular electric river tramway route connects the Kievskaya railway station with the “Heart of the Capital” mooring at the Shelepikhinskaya Ring Road.

The first route, which is over 6.5 km long, connects Kievsky Railway Station and the pier on Shelepikhinskaya embankment, a district in Moscow where active construction and development projects are underway. The riverboat service will have a capacity of 15,000–16,000 passengers per day.

This is five times faster than land transport, said Sobyanin, who also noted that the most beautiful view of the city and avenues are opened from the river.

The second regular route is scheduled to open by the end of the year. The transport will run from Avtozavodsky Bridge to Pechatniki.

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