The Metrovagonmash 81-717/81-714 Nomernoy is a Soviet/Russian electric multiple unit for rapid transit applications, designed in the Soviet Union in the mid-1970s. The cars were made from 1976 to 2021 by Metrovagonmash and the I. E. Yegorov Vagonmash factories of Mytishchi and Saint Petersburg, respectively, though production is still ongoing for specific modifications. The 81-series trains are the most widespread metro train ever, being produced in 24 different variations currently being used in 19 rapid transit systems across 11 countries, as well as being the metro train with the longest production span and largest total production number, with over 7000 cars having been manufactured in total so far.
The names 81-717 and 81-714, also known as Nomernoy in some countries, and as Vagonmash in other ones, come from the Soviet electric rail vehicle numbering system, where the 81-717 cars are the control cars and the 81-714 are the trailer cars. Unlike the previous metro trains made in the Soviet Union, they never received a lettered classification, thus, they have been known as the 81-series or the Numbered Trains (Номерной Поезд). The numbered trains, as they are known colloquially among railfans and some commuters, feature restyled front ends, stronger electric traction motors, complex and wider usage of various electronic devices, and are more advanced than their predecessor, the E-series.
They were first deployed in Moscow in 1978, and have since then seen widespread usage in the former USSR and its satellite states in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, and Sofia.
History Background By the 1970s, most metro lines in the Soviet Union were using the E-series trainsets, which started mass production in 1963 (although the prototype was built in 1959). They were a further development of the G and D-series rolling stock from the late 1940s and 1950s, but with upgraded electric equipment (contactor-based, built by the Dinamo Electric Machines Factory of Moscow). Although there was improvement in the construction of the carbodies (based on the Riga-built ER1 EMUs of the Soviet Railways), the traction motors were quite weak, and the contactor system had limits. This, in relation to the weight of the cars and the oversimplified electric system, which was built in order to emphasize on energy conservation, led to a poor acceleration performance, which reduced the headway on metro lines on various networks at the time. To counter this, engineers came up with three key different solutions: Increase the power of the traction motors; Apply pulse voltage regulation, with excitation of traction motors; Reduce the weight of the carbodies;
The pulse voltage regulation system was already attempted. The Ečs subseries of the E-series, which was delivered to Prague from 1972 to 1976, was very different from the Ev subseries delivered to Budapest from 1969 to 1979: it featured thyristor pulse converters to regulate the excitation of traction motors during acceleration and deceleration, increasing their performance, whilst retaining the same carbody. Another upgrade was the Ež3/Em508T subseries, delivered to multiple Soviet cities from 1973 to 1979. Using experiences learnt from the Ei subseries (delivered from 1968 to 1973), it applied pulse voltage regulation on traction motors too, and eliminated the ripple-effects within the ALS-ARS safety systems, greatly improving the general performance of these sets and at the same time, keeping electric consumption to the strictly necessary. In regards to weight reduction, it was still decided to reduce some weight, so the car bodies would be built from aluminium. A more powerful traction engine was developed, too.
Thus, in 1973, at the Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant, a team of engineers under the leadership of the plant's chief designer A. G. Akimov, designed three different prototypes of the new trains, which later became known as the I-series (in the numbered classification, 81-715 was the control car, and 81-716 was the trailer car). The first prototype of the I-series was manufactured in 1974, and it was a drastic change from the other Moscow Metro sets that were using the network at the time despite being : compared to the original E-series, which produced 72 kWh, the new sets produced 90 (later 100) kWh. The aluminium alloy carbodies reduced the tare mass of the cars by 2 tonnes, and featured thyristorized voltage regulation and excitation, which greatly increased the speed and acceleration of the trains, allowing them to reach a top speed of . In addition to this, the new train implemented forced ventilation (removing the humps of the roof that were for ventilation of the passenger area), new lighting in the passenger area, and removal of cabs on the trailer cars, leaving only 1 cab at the each end of the train.
This greatly increased the passenger capacity and performance. But despite its advantages, it posed disadvantages to its manufacturers: it was too complex to be mass-produced, in such a short time. The factories that were to produce the cars could not set up aluminium manufacturing facilities in such a short time, and additionally, the voltage regulation system and thyristors required refinement. The type 1 prototype of the I-series was eventually made, but the production of the Ež3/Em508T subseries continued, also due to lower costs of manufacture.
The base model
By the early 1970s, the Metrovagonmash factory already designed a trailer car type, based on the never-built Ež2 subseries. The control cars were also based on the Ež2, but the front end was modified, along with the drivers controls. These two types of cars later became 81-714 and 81-717, respectively. With more lessons learnt from the electrical propulsion system of the I-series, in the first half of 1976, the Mytishchi factory produced the first six cars of the 81-series. These carriages were 5846, 5854, 5855 (control cars) and 5837, 5867, 5868 (trailer cars).
The design of the new cars was both similar and different from the newest E-series cars. The carbodies were roughly similar to them, having same dimensions. Certain equipment (doors, motor-compressors, batteries and other pneumatic equipment) were also carried over from the Ež3 subseries. However the most noticeable external change was in the front ends of the train: the driver car was placed in the middle of the front end of the head car as opposed to its right front end side as before. Additionally, the emergency exit doors were removed, because of this. Traction motors from the I-series, the DK-117B, now producing 110 kWh, were installed. Compared to the older trains, an Auxiliary Power Supply Unit (Блок Питания Собственных Нужд) was installed to power the batteries. Lighting in the passenger area was now made with fluorescent lamps. This led to an increase in the tare weight of the cars, so it was decided to use a springs-based suspension.
The 81-series cars never got a lettered classification, because these were an experimental alternative to the complex I-series cars. But the complexity of the I-series cars, which meant endless adjustments regarding aluminium production, pulse regulation, at the time when newly opened Soviet metro networks (such as in Tashkent, Kharkiv, etc.) were in dire need of new cars, led to the selection of the 81-series to become the new standard metro trainset of the Soviet Union. The production of prototypes of the I-series continued in the 1980s, but they were the last to receive a lettered classification, which meant that metro sets produced from the 81-717/714 onwards never received a lettered classification. With the appearance of newer sets (such as the Yauza, Rusich, Oka, Neva, Moskva), the 81-series then became known as the "Numbered Train" (Номерной Поезд; Nomernoy Poezd). It should also be noted that "nomernoy" also stands for vehicle registration plates, so this can be a widely interpreted name in the English language.
The demand for the cars was very high at the beginning, so high, that production at the I. E. Yegorov factory in Leningrad (now known as Vagonmash Saint Petersburg) began in January 1980 and in the Tver (then known as Kalinin) Railcar Factory later on as well.
The base model of 81-717/714 rolling stock was produced between 1977 and 1988.
Operation Since its start of production, the 81-series has been delivered to all metro networks of the former Soviet Union, and also to most of the Warsaw Pact countries.
Within the USSR In the former USSR, all trains use the .
Moscow
Moscow was the first customer of 81-717/714 trains in the Soviet Union, where it initially tested the prototypes in 1976-77. By late 1977, the capital city had placed its order for the new train model, and the first trains arrived in 1978 on the Koltsevaya line, replacing the G-series rolling stock that had been operating on the line ever since its opening in 1950. This was followed with the newly opened Kalininskaya Line and the Zamoskvoretskaya Line in 1979. Since then they have become representative of the network, being used on almost all lines (except the ones that kept using E-series rolling stock and those that were replaced with Rusich, Oka and Moskva trains).
Production of the base model 81-717/714 trains for Moscow ended in 1988, when the manufacturing of the 81-717.5/714.5 trainsets for the city's metro system began (this modification was a big step forward as the new cars had fireproof electrical equipment, a fire alarm, and fire extinguishing system, as well as a microphone in the driver's cabin; the 81-series trains for Warsaw and Sofia were based on the 81-717.5/714.5 type). Production of the 81-717.5/714.5 trains for Moscow ended in 1993, as the capital began purchasing 81-717.5M/714.5M trainsets the same year. The last delivery of 81-717.5M/714.5M trains for Moscow was carried out in 2010.
Over the years, the 81-717/714 sets received improvements, especially from the late 1990s onwards, replacing the traditional leather bench-type seats with vandal-proof plastic ones. Externally, the difference between the base model and newer sets is the presence of four headlights in the centre instead of two headlights above the drivers' cab. More recently, refurbished sets feature the new Moscow Metro livery, with blue corrugated sides and grey window bands.
Some of the 81-717/714 sets have special liveries, most notably the Red Arrow trainset, which is painted in a red/gold livery instead of the traditional blue/white scheme. Another example is the 81-717.5A/714.5A Sokolniki retro train, used exclusively on the Sokolnicheskaya Line since 2010. It was based on the A-series rolling stock of the Moscow Metro, following a particular theme: the exterior is similar to the A-series trains in a cream/chocolate livery, whilst the interior is based on the one of 1950s Soviet metro cars.
Their current allocation is: TMD-1 Severnoye (Sokolnicheskaya line) TMD-2 Sokol (Zamoskvoretskaya line) TMD-15 Pechatniki (Lyublinsko-Dimitrovskaya line) TMD-17 Brateyevo (Zamoskvoretskaya line) TMD-19 Likhobory (Lyublinsko-Dimitrovskaya line)
It is expected that at some point, all 81-717/714 rolling stock will be withdrawn due to the incoming Moskva trains, which have been introduced gradually since 2017 on multiple lines where the 81-717/714s are operating. It is scheduled that all 81-717/714 cars in Moscow will cease operation by 2040.
Kyiv
81-717/714 trains were delivered to Kyiv in 1980 in order to modernize the metropolitan's rolling stock, followed by 81-717.5/714.5 trainsets in 1989, 81-717.5M/714.5M trains in 1995, and 81-717.5K/714.5K trains in 2013, while in 2023, 60 81-717.3/714.3 carriages were donated to Kyiv from Warsaw. All the 81-717/714 trainsets from the 1980s underwent a major overhaul in 2019-20.
Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad)