Monorails in Russia

Russia was a pioneer in the design and construction of monorails, from early horse-drawn models to later electrical and magnetic levitation systems.

In 1836, Prince Beloselsky-Belozersky proposed another monorail design which contained two rows of wheels on mounted on a pillar structure.

In March 1895, Russian engineer Ippolit Romanov built a prototype of an electric monorail in Odessa, modern-day Ukraine.

In 1900, Empress Maria Fedorovna approved the building of an 0.2 kilometres (0.12 mi) long electric monorail in Gatchina.

In 1904 Russian engineer Koshkin in collaboration with Romanov designed a monorail that would connect St Petersburg and Moscow.

A 12 km monorail track was constructed in 4 months, and a Saint Petersburg factory was contracted to build a train.

In the 1950s a railway that combined features of a monorail and a cable car was proposed for Volzhskaya hydro-electric power station.

In 1967 scientists of Kiev Polytechnic Institute jointly with engineers of Dzerzhinsky plant pioneered the monorail with linear asynchronous motor.

The construction of a 525 metres (1,722 ft) circular line at the exhibition of modern technologies in Kiev was funded by Ukrainian government.