Elektrichka

Elektrichka (Russian: электри́чка; Ukrainian: електри́чка, elektrychka) is a Soviet and Eastern bloc commuter (regional) mostly suburban electrical multiple unit passenger train. Elektrichkas are widespread in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former Warsaw Pact presenting a socially vital mode of transportation. In 2007, 4085 commuter trains a day (in each direction) were running on the Russian Railways network alone, most of them electric. The first elektrichka ran on July 6, 1926 along the Baku–Sabunchi line in Soviet Azerbaijan. Also urban (intra-city) gorodskaya elektrichkas and airport's aeroexpresses exist in a few cities of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

"Elektrichka" was initially a colloquial abbreviation for elektropoyezd (Russian: электропо́езд, electric train), the official term for electrical multiple unit passenger train in respective languages. However, it is gradually becoming a part of the official trademark names. For instance, the new intra-city train service in Kyiv is officially called "elektrychka" in Ukrainian. The popular Internet search engine Yandex officially uses Russian "elektrichka" in its branded online schedule services.

All elektrichkas are overhead line-fed electrical multiple unit (EMU) trains, usually consisting of 4 to 14 cars with a driver's cab at both ends. A 10-car train has a capacity of 1,200 passengers. The Soviet trains were manufactured at the Riga Wagon Plant in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, and bore the "ER" (elektropoezd rizhskiy; Cyrillic: ЭР, электропоезд рижский) model designation. The plant was the only manufacturer from the 1950s until the break-up of the Soviet Union. The most widespread elektrichka models are the ER-2 (Russian: ЭР-2) and ER-9 (Russian: ЭР-9) (using DC and AC traction respectively); later models in use are mostly their variants and successors.

...
Wikipedia