Electric river transport, Moscow

June 20, 2023 – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin opened the world's first year-round electric river transport route along the Moskva river.The decision to revive river urban transport has been implemented as one of the most high-tech and sustainable transport projects of the Moscow Government. It is designed to further improve the quality of life of Moscow's residents and guests. The innovative project includes 21 electric river vessels, 23 floating berths, 6 coastal charging stations, 2 permanent river fleet terminals.

The project's uniqueness lies in the facility's maximum ease of control and use.All systems are automated, thus leaving no room for human error. At the first stage, 6 berths of the first route will be launched – Kievsky, Trekhgorny, Kutuzovsky, City-Bagration, City-Tsentralny, and Serdtse Stolitsy ("Heart of the Capital"). In some cases, river transport will save passengers 30-40 minutes and the breathtaking sights of Moscow will not go unappreciated. 21 electric ice-rated vessel will be gradually put into operation for river routes. This will allow passengers to travel all year round.

As part of this project, Infomatika was contracted to equip the Moskva River berths with a high-capacity high-tech automated fare payment system. The equipment will be arranged ergonomically on limited areas of the berth's entrances and exits. Another task is the integration of the river transport management system into Moscow's general transport system.

At the first project stage, Infomatika equipped the first route berths with specially designed Pilot smart turnstiles.The turnstiles have a built-in pass area controller and are integrated with the Moscow City Transport passenger counting and ticketing systems.The access control system automatically adjusts the passenger traffic: the number of people at berth and the number of passengers boarding the boat.

Like other Infomatika's smart turnstiles, Pilot is multifunctional and compatible with many other third-party software systems.It features an elegant design and is made of smart-looking black tempered glass. However, its main advantage is its small size.The company's professionals have introduced a number of more complex solutions to design the model specifically for limited areas.The turnstile is only 70 cm long and is conveniently located at the entrances and exits of river berths. The Pilots are equipped with an additional system of sensor of various types. Besides, the turnstile passageway is 90 cm wide providing convenient access for handicapped people. 

For greater passenger safety, the company's engineers proposed a solution that involves transferring the turnstile power supplies to a dedicated free-standing mounting cabinet. In this case, high voltage is not applied directly to the turnstiles, ensuring maximum safety when contacting the device.

Boarding turnstiles offer the payment function.One can pay for travel with both a Troika transport card and a bank card.The turnstiles are equipped with built-in Face Pay IP cameras, allowing for access by face recognition, like in Moscow metro.

Manual control is also provided for. If for some reason the external system does not work, there is no connection, there are some faults, the access control system will switch to the offline manual control mode. In case of fire, the turnstiles automatically switch to emergency mode.

The first stage of the project included:

• Design, manufacture and installation of 36 passageways of semi-height Pilot speedstiles with built-in pass area controllers and IP cameras;
  

• Manufacture and installation of 6 mounting cabinets with 6 uninterruptible power supply units (UPS), power supplies - 36 pcs. and a turnstile monitoring server;
  

• Design and introduction of software for the turnstile monitoring system and the berth control system;
  

• Laying utility lines, installation and commissioning of equipment.