In 1897 the Hartmann & Co system was renamed "Russian Company for electric trams and lighting" ("Русскому обществу электрических дорог и электрического освещения", known today as Nizhegorodelektrotrans / Нижегородэлектротранс).

[2] The original contracts concluded in 1895 had always identified the city as the owner of any tramlines, but they had included the right for Hartmann to lease the concession to operate the trams for 35 years.

On 8 October 1914 the municipality purchased the "Russian Company for electric trams and lighting" ("Русскому обществу электрических дорог и электрического освещения" for 1.2 Million rubles.

In 1930 the city purchased 30 new tramcars from the Mytishchi factory (today the Metrowagonmash company) on the north-eastern edge of Moscow.

1930 was also the year in which the city, in collaboration with the Michigan based Ford Motor Company, started work on what would become the giant GAZ Car plant, then known as the Nizhegorodsky Avtomobilny Zavod and later known for producing Volga cars as well as a huge number of commercial and military vehicles.

In 1932 the plant produced its first passenger car, a Ford Model A according to western sources, and on 1 April 1933 the factory received its own 7 km (4.3 mi) (approx) tram connection with the rest of the city network.

War returned, between the Soviet Union and Germany in June 1941, and most of the tram workers were conscripted into the army: their places were taken by women.

Investment in new tramlines stopped, and a project already underway to build a new tram bridge across the Oka River was not completed.

From the mid-1980s there was nevertheless a return to tram investment, but following the economic challenges posed by the Perestroika revolution, there was also an increased emphasis on efficiency.

Internet rumours that the city tram network was to be progressively run down surfaced a few years ago: they were emphatically and officially denied.