Saint Petersburg Metro

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Saint Petersburg Metro
Avtovo Station Platform
Bukharestskaya Station Central Hall
Narvskaya Station Central Hall
Narvskaya Station Surface Vestibule
Pushkinskaya Station Surface Vestibule
Petrogradskaya Station Central Hall
Mayakovskaya Station Central Hall
Vasileostrovskaya Station Central Hall
Politechnicheskaya Station Surface Vestibule
Krestovskiy Ostrov Station Surface Vestibule
Upper Hall of the Sportivnaya Station
Obvodny Kanal Station Central Hall
Ligovksky Prospekt Station Platform
Stations of Saint Petersburg Metro
Overview
Native nameПетербургский метрополитен
Peterburgskiy metropoliten
LocaleSaint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia
Transit typeRapid transit
Number of lines5 (9 planned)
Number of stations72 (126 planned)
Daily ridership2.09 million
Annual ridership763.1 million (2014)
Websitewww.metro.spb.ru
Operation
Began operation15 November 1955
Operator(s)Peterburgsky Metropoliten
Technical
System length124.8 km (77.5 mi)
Track gauge1,520 mm (4 ft 11+2732 in)
Electrification850 V DC third rail[1]
Average speed40 km/h (25 mph)
System map

Saint Petersburg Metro
Parnas
Prospekt Prosvescheniya
Ozerki
Udelnaya
Pionerskaya
Chyornaya Rechka
Petrogradskaya
Begovaya
Gorkovskaya
Zenit
Devyatkino
Primorskaya
Vasileostrovskaya
Grazhdansky Prospekt
Komendantsky Prospekt
Akademicheskaya
Staraya Derevnya
Politekhnicheskaya
Krestovsky Ostrov
Ploschad Muzhestva
Chkalovskaya
Lesnaya
Sportivnaya
Vyborgskaya
Admiralteyskaya
Ploshchad Lenina Finland Station
Nevsky Prospekt / Gostiny Dvor
Chernyshevskaya
Spasskaya / Sennaya
Ploshchad / Sadovaya
Ploshchad Vosstaniya
/ Mayakovskaya
Moskovsky railway station (Saint Petersburg)
Vladimirskaya / Dostoyevskaya
Vitebsky railway station
Pushkinskaya /
Zvenigorodskaya
Ligovsky Prospekt
Tekhnologichesky Institut
Ploshchad Alexandra
Nevskogo I & II
Baltiysky railway station Baltiyskaya
Novocherkasskaya
Narvskaya
Ladozhskaya Ladozhsky railway station
Kirovsky Zavod
Prospekt Bolshevikov
Avtovo
Ulitsa Dybenko
Leninsky Prospekt
Yelizarovskaya
Prospekt Veteranov
Lomonosovskaya
Frunzenskaya
Proletarskaya
Moskovskiye Vorota
Obukhovo
Elektrosila
Rybatskoye
Park Pobedy
Obvodny Kanal
Moskovskaya
Volkovskaya
Zvyozdnaya
Bukharestskaya
Kupchino
Mezhdunarodnaya
Prospekt Slavy
Dunayskaya
Shushary

The Saint Petersburg Metro (Russian: Петербургский метрополитен, romanized: Peterburgskiy metropoliten) is a rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction began in early 1941, but was put on hold due to World War II and the subsequent Siege of Leningrad, during which the constructed stations were used as bomb shelters. It was finally opened on 15 November 1955.

Formerly known as the Order of Lenin Leningrad Metro named after V. I. Lenin (Ленинградский Ордена Ленина Метрополитен имени В. И. Ленина), the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is also one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is 86 metres (282 ft) below ground.

The network consists of 5 lines with a total length of 124 kilometres (77 mi). It has

the 26th busiest
metro system in the world.

History

Metro projects for the imperial capital

Balinsky's project for an elevated metro in Saint Petersburg (early 1900s).

The question of building an underground road in Saint Petersburg arose in 1820. A resident of the city, a self-taught man by the name of Torgovanov, submitted a bold project to Tsar Alexander I — involving the digging of a tunnel from the center of the city to Vasilyevsky Island. The Russian ruler rejected the project and ordered the inventor to sign a pledge "not to engage in hare-brained schemes in the future, but to exercise his efforts in matters appropriate to his estate."[2] Other, more developed projects subsequently emerged, but they, too, received no recognition.

Many arguments were advanced against the construction of an underground road. The "city fathers" stated that the excavation works would "violate the amenities and respectability of the city"; the landlords affirmed that underground traffic would undermine the foundations of the buildings; the merchants feared that "the open excavations would interfere with normal trade"; but the most violent adversaries of the novelty, the clergy, insisted that "the underground passages running near church buildings would detract from their dignity". Thus all the projects for the construction of an underground passage in Saint Petersburg, and later in Petrograd, remained on paper.

By the end of the 19th century, certain interested parties began discussing the possibility of opening the Russian Empire's first metropolitan railway system. The press of the time praised the initial plans, while engineers privately worried about the serious lack of experience in the sort of projects required to build a metro; at the time, Saint Petersburg did not even have electrified tramways. However, due to the wish of the municipal authorities of the time to take ownership of the metro after its eventual entry into service, none of the aforementioned projects ever came to fruition.

In 1901 the engineer Vladimir Pechkovsky presented his project to build an elevated station in the middle of

Varshavsky Rail Terminals.[3] In the same year, Reshevsky, also an engineer, working at the behest of the Emperor's minister for transport, came up with two possible projects, which aimed primarily to unite all of Saint Petersburg's main railway stations with one urban interchange. An interesting development, the work upon which had been carried out for many years by railway engineer P.I. Balinsky (one of the first Russian metro engineers) involved plans to build a dedicated network of six urban lines, two of which would be radial lines with a total length of 172 kilometres (107 mi). The construction work (including the filling of low-lying areas of the city in order to avoid flooding, construction of 11 major bridges, embankments and viaducts at a height of 5–10 metres (16–33 ft), and the actual laying of track etc.) was projected to cost around 190 million rubles. However, in 1903 Emperor Nicholas II
rejected the scheme before any work ever started.

Almost all pre-revolutionary designs featured the concept of an elevated metro system, similar to the

Paris or Vienna metros. However, as it was later discovered through the experience of operating uncovered ground-level metro sections in St. Petersburg (which were later closed due to the same reason), such projects would lead to many difficulties in its maintaining. Unfortunately, Russian engineers had neither sufficient equipment nor technical skills at the time to build deep-lying tunnels through the challenging ground beneath St. Petersburg.[4][5]
In 1918 Moscow became the country's capital after the October Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War (1917–1922) followed; for more than a decade plans to build a metro in Petrograd languished.

First phase construction, abandonment, and opening

In 1938 the question of building a metro for St Petersburg (by then renamed to Leningrad), resurfaced at the initiative of

Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Soviets of Working People's Deputies.[6] Ivan Zubkov, an engineer who for his work was later to become a Hero of Socialist Labour was appointed the first director for the metro construction. The initial project was designed by the Moscow
institute 'Metrogiprotrans', but on 21 January 1941 'Construction Directorate № 5 of the People's Commissariat' was founded as a body to specifically oversee the design and construction of the Leningrad Metro. By April 1941, 34 shafts for the initial phase of construction had been finished.

During the

Second World War construction work was frozen due to severe lack of funding, manpower and equipment. At this time, many of the metro construction workers were employed in the construction and repair of railheads and other objects vital to the besieged
city. Zubkov died in 1944, having never seen the opening of the metro.

The initial post-war era

In 1946 Lenmetroproyekt was created, under the leadership of M A Samodurov, to finish the construction of the metro first phase. A new version of the metro project, devised by specialists, identified two new solutions to the problems to be encountered during the metro construction. Firstly, stations were to be built at a level slightly raised above that of normal track so as to prevent drainage directly into them, whilst the average tunnel width was to be reduced from the 6 metres (19 ft 8 in) standard of the Moscow Metro to 5.5 metres (18 ft 1 in).

On 3 September 1947 construction began again in the Leningrad subway, and in December 1954, the Council of Ministers of the USSR ordered the establishment of the state transport organization Leningradsky Metropoliten, to be headed by Ivan Novikov. The organisation set up its offices in the building directly above

Neva River in 1958, and the construction of the Vyborgsky Radius in the mid-1970s to reach the new housing developments in the north. In 1978, the line was extended past the city limits into the Leningrad Oblast
. 1,023 governmental awards were made to participants of the construction of the metro first stage.

Further development

The metro's main administrative office.

The first expansion of the metro took place in 1958, when the first line (later to become the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line) was extended beneath the

Neva river to the Finlyandsky Rail Terminal. Later this same line was extended when the Vyborgsky radius, constructed in the 1970s, brought the metro to new residential areas constructed in the north-east of the city, and by 1978, those further out, in the nearby Leningrad Oblast
. The metro was expanded to the south-west, with the construction of the Kirovsky radius, in 1977.

Construction of the second, Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya line began almost immediately after the initial opening of the metro. Just six years later, in 1961, the section from Tekhnologichesky Institut to Park Pobedy, along Moskovsky Prospect to the southern areas of the city, was opened. In 1963 the line was extended north to the station Petrogradskaya station; in the process making Tekhnologichesky Institut the USSR's first cross-platform interchange station. Further extension of the line was undertaken to the south in the early 1970s, and in the 1980s to the north, with the final station Parnas being opened, following numerous delays, in 2006.

Avtovo station is widely considered to be one of the most exquisitely decorated metro stations in the world.[citation needed]

The third

Zvenigorodskaya stations, that this took place. On 7 March 2009, when the fourth line was expanded with the addition of Spasskaya station, the fifth line finally (as dictated in earlier projects) began to directly serve both the Primorsky and Frunzensky
districts of Saint Petersburg.

By the time of the USSR's collapse, the Leningrad Metro comprised 54 stations and 94.2 kilometres (58.5 mi) of track. Up until this period, it was officially known as the 'V.I. Lenin Leningrad Metro of the Order of Lenin' (Леининградский Метрополитен Ордена Ленина имени В.И.Ленина).

Modern period

Mayakovskaya station is of the horizontal lift design, a type of platform screen doors unique to the Saint Petersburg Metro.

At the beginning of 1992 construction work was being carried out at 14 stations, or objects relating to them. These were six stations of the Primorsky radius (

). Thus, it was believed, considering the average time of construction of a metro station in Saint Petersburg being equal to 5.6 years, that, with sufficient funding, all the works mentioned above would be completed by no later than 1997; a record in the history of the construction of the St. Petersburg metro. This however, was not achieved, and the plans were only completed in late 2012.

In 1994 it was planned, over 10 years, to massively extend the metro and almost "double" its size, building three new lines and 61 new stations. However, in reality, over this period until 2004, just 6 stations were opened. At this point the metro considered funding construction through a system of individual stage and station sponsorship. Saint Petersburg's unforgiving geology has frequently hampered attempts by Metro builders.

Neva River. They managed to complete the tunnel, but in 1995 the tunnel had to be closed and a section of it between Lesnaya and Ploschad Muzhestva flooded. For more than nine years, the northern segment of the line was physically cut off from the rest of the system. A new set of tunnels was built and in June 2004 normal service was restored.[8]

Lines

# Full name Opened Most recent
station opened
Length
(km)
Number of
stations
Cars
per train
Avg. distance
between stations
(km)
Average speed
with stops
(km/h)
Ride time
(min)

[9][10]
Avg. station
depth
(m)
Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya 15 Nov 1955 29 Dec 1978 29.7 19 8 1.6 39 46 50
Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya 29 Apr 1961 22 Dec 2006 30.1 18 6 1.8 39 46 45
Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya 3 Nov 1967 26 May 2018 27.6 12 6 2.6 42 40 50
Lakhtinsko-Pravoberezhnaya 30 Dec 1985 7 Mar 2009 11.2 8 7 1.6 42 16 62
Frunzensko-Primorskaya 20 Dec 2008 3 Oct 2019 26.2 15 8 1.9 43 42 57
Total: 124.8 72
Average: 25.0 1.9 41 38 53

Line 1 (Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya)

Line 1 train interior

Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya ("Kirovsky [district]–Vyborgsky [district]") Line is the oldest line of the metro, opened in 1955. The original stations are very beautiful and elaborately decorated, especially

railway stations. In 1995, a flooding occurred in a tunnel between Lesnaya and Ploschad Muzhestva stations and, for nine years, the line was separated into two independent segments (the gap was connected by a shuttle bus
route). The line contains three of the six shallow stations that are present in the metro.

The line cuts

Leningrad oblast (it is the only line to stretch beyond the city boundary). The Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line generally coloured red
on Metro maps.

Line 2 (Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya)

Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya ("Moskovsky [district]–Petrogradsky [district]") Line is the second oldest line of the metro, opened in 1961. It featured the first cross-platform transfer in the

USSR. It was also the first metro line in Saint Petersburg to feature a unique platform
type that soon became dubbed as "Horizontal Lift". The line cuts Saint Petersburg on a north-south axis and is generally coloured blue on Metro maps. In 2006, as an extension was opened, it became the longest line on the system.

Line 3 (Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya)

Mayakovskaya station

Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya ("Nevsky [district]–Vasileostrovsky [district]") Line is a line of the metro, opened in 1967. Since 1994, it has been officially designated as Line 3. It stands out among St. Petersburg metro lines for two reasons : its stations are almost exclusively of "Horizontal Lift" type and it has the longest inter-station tunnels in the entire system. Metro officials originally intended to add stations in-between the existing ones, but those plans were later abandoned.

The line cuts Saint Petersburg centre on an east-west axis and then turns southeast following the left bank of the Neva River. It is generally coloured green on Metro maps.

Line 4 (Lakhtinsko-Pravoberezhnaya)

Lakhtinsko-Pravoberezhnaya ("Lakhta–Right Bank") Line, initially known just as Pravoberezhnaya ("Right Bank") line, was opened in 1985. It is the shortest line in the system with the stations featuring a modern design.

The line originally opened to provide access from the centre for the new residential areas in the eastern part of city, along the right bank of the

Neva River. However, delays in the construction of the future Line 5, compelled to temporarily link the already completed northern part of the Line 5 (starting from Sadovaya
) to Pravoberezhnaya Line, as they felt that it was better to have a single connected line rather than two unconnected ones. From that point on, the line expanded northward, as per original plans of Line 5 expansion.

On 7 March 2009 Spasskaya station was completed, creating the city's first three-way transfer and it officially became the new terminal for Line 4. As per the original plan, all Line 4 stations north of Dostoyevskaya were absorbed into the recently opened Line 5.

Line 5 (Frunzensko-Primorskaya)

Train on the Sadovaya station

Frunzensko-Primorskaya ("Frunzensky [district]–Primorsky [district]") Line connects the city's historical centre to the northwestern and southern districts. The line is planned to be expanded to the north.

The line originally opened in December 2008. It contained only two stations until 7 March 2009, when the

Line 4 (Pravoberezhnaya Line) segment between Komendantsky Prospekt and Sadovaya
stations became a part of the new line.

Line 6 (Krasnosel'sko-Kalininskaya)

Krasnosel'sko-Kalininskaya ("Krasnosel'sky [district]–Kalininsky [district]") Line will go from the southwest of Saint Petersburg, through the city centre, to the northeast of the city. The first stage which consists of two stations is under construction and should be opened about 2024. These stations are Yugo-Zapadnaya (Kazakovskaya) and Putilovskaya.

Stations

Kirovsky Zavod station.

Some of the features of the Saint Petersburg Metro make it stand out amongst others, even those in the former USSR. It is customary to have stations in the centre of a city built very deep, not only to minimise disruption, but also, because of the

column
layout, and there are 16 such stations in the system.

Most stations have large surface vestibules, such as Ploshchad Vosstaniya ("Uprising Square")
Time evolution of the number of stations.

The first stage is exquisitely decorated in the

Leningradky Odnosvod
, it remains the most popular of all and there are 16 such stations in the city.

The remaining stations are located virtually on the edge of the city, and one,

Frunzensko-Primorskaya Line
's southern extension. In addition, there are four termini stations that are on the surface and are located near the lines' connection with the train depots. The city's northern climate means that even here all of the station space is inside an enclosed structure.

Network map

Map


Expansion Plans

The Metro has a very large expansion plan for the next half century. The

Frunzensko-Primorskaya
) took the northern (Primorsky) radius away from Pravoberezhnaya and opened with a new section (Frunzensky) to the south. The Pravoberezhnaya line will extend to the west, and then north to Lakhta, and then to Yuntolovo. The two stations, Bukharestskaya and Mezhdunarodnaya of the Frunzensko-Primorskaya line, opened in December 2012. In 2018 the expansion of Line 3 from Primorskaya to Begovaya opened adding 2 new stations (Zenit (Novokrestovskaya when opened) and Begovaya) and the newest extension of the system adding 3 new stations on Line 5 (Prospekt Slavy,Dunayskaya and Shushary) opened in 2019. Three new lines, Krasnoselsko-Kalininskaya, Admiralteysko-Okhtinskaya and Koltsevaya, are to be constructed in the future. The first six stations of the Krasnoselsko-Kalininskaya line are already under construction, and should be open in 2 stages by 2024. The Admiralteysko-Okhtinskaya and Koltsevaya line should appear after the 2030s. A 2 station expansion of Line 4 from Spasskaya to Gorny Institut is under construction and is set to open by 2024 and a 2 station expansion of Line 3 from Begovaya to Kamenka is under construction with the opening set around 2028-2030.

Back in 2012, the official website of the Saint Petersburg metro claimed the opening of 54 new stations, 5 new depots and 71 kilometres (44 mi) of new lines.[11] Delays due to the difficult geology of the city's underground and to the insufficient funding have cut down these plans, as of 2014 (2 new stations later), to 17 new stations and one new depot until 2025.[12]

At the same time, there are several short and mid-term projects on station upgrades, including escalator replacements and lighting upgrades.

Operation

The Metro is managed by the state municipal company Sankt-Peterburgsky Metropoliten (Saint Petersburg Metropolitan, Russian: Санкт-Петербургский Метрополитен) that was privatised from the Ministry of Rail Services. The Metro was renamed to coincide with the city's name change in the early 1990s. The company employs several thousand men and women in station and track management as well as rolling stock operation and maintenance.

The Metro is financed by the city of

Ministry of Transportation
.

Rolling stock

New 'Neva' class rolling stock (built by Vagonmash) for the Saint Petersburg metro.

The rolling stock of the metro is provided by five depots with a total of 1403 cars forming 188 trains. Most of the models are the Metrowagonmash 81-717/714 that are very common in all ex-Soviet cities. In addition there are older E and Em type trains on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line and newer 81-540/541 (built by Škoda Transportation unit Vagonmash) on the Pravoberezhnaya and Fruzenskaya-Primorskaya Line. In addition, the Metro has also received 81-722 and 81-724 cars from Metrowagonmash, which are custom models specifically for Saint Petersburg. Both these and the Skoda cars are equipped with sliding doors that go in to pockets rather than the plug doors now being used elsewhere. This is due to the fact that several stations on the system have platform doors that do not permit sufficient clearance for the plug ones. Transmashholding unveiled a new prototype train for the St Petersburg Metro in June 2019, no orders have been placed as of November 23, 2019.[13]

Security

The Metro was originally built as a system that could offer shelter in case of a nuclear attack. Every station is equipped with CCTV surveillance following recent terrorist threats. Until the summer of 2009, all photography and video filming in the Metro required a written permit. However, because of a legal challenge by an amateur photographer,[14] after 24 August 2009, photography without a flash can be done without a permit.[15][16]

Incidents

Location of the two stations and the tunnel in the Saint Petersburg Metro where the explosion occurred

Terrorist bombings

Approximately fourteen [17] people died and over 50 sustained injuries from an explosion 3 April 2017 on a train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologicheski Institut stations, on the Line 2.[18][19] The explosion occurred at 2:20 pm, local time.[19] Seven individuals were confirmed DOA, while others were rushed to hospital.[19] Russian President Vladimir Putin's hometown is Saint Petersburg, and he was in the city visiting when the attack occurred.[19] He issued condolence statements to the victims' families immediately after the blast.[19]

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee also on 3 April defused an improvised explosive device at Ploshchad Vosstaniya station, on the Line 1.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ Andrew Zalmanov as a private person. "Петербургский метрополитен". Spb.metro.ru. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  2. ^ Compare: "Первые проекты Петербургского метро (1820-1917)". Metroworld. 18 September 2013. Retrieved 2016-04-20. История Петербургской подземной железной дороги берет свое начало в 1820 году. Первый проект сооружения тоннеля соединяющего Васильевский остров с Адмиралтейской стороной сделал мещанин Торгованов, но император Александр I только приказал выдать Торгованову двести рублей наградных и взял расписку, чтобы мещанин больше не занимался подобными "прожектами".
  3. ^ "Official site of St. Petersburg Metro". www.metro.spb.ru.
  4. ^ "History of Metro". Official site of St. Petersburg Metro. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  5. ^ A.Z. Zalmanov (2008). "History of Metro". metro.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  6. ^ Метрополитен Северной Столицы (1955—1995). Стр. 40—42.
  7. PMID 20737925
    . Retrieved 2013-03-20.
  8. ^ "NevaNews - einfach gut informiert". www.nevanews.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007.
  9. ^ Approximately and depends on time of day
  10. ^ "Saint Petersburg Metro map" (in Russian). Yandex. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  11. ^ "Официальный сайт Петербургского метрополитена". Metro.spb.ru. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  12. ^ "Официальный сайт Петербургского метрополитена". Metro.spb.ru. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  13. ^ "Transmashholding unveils new train for Saint Petersburg Metro". RailTech.com. 20 June 2019.
  14. ^ Добро пожаловать, или фотографировать разрешено? [Welcome, or photography is permitted?] (in Russian). NTV. 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  15. ^ Фотографировать в метро разрешат, но без вспышки [Photography in the metro will be permitted, but only without a flash] (in Russian). fontanka.ru. 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  16. ^ "РАСПОРЯЖЕНИЕ Комитета по транспорту Правительства Санкт-Петербурга от 24.07.2009 N 139-р" [DIRECTIVE # 139-r of the Saint Petersburg Transportation Committee, 2009-07-24] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  17. ^ "St Petersburg metro bombing a possible suicide attack". BBC News. April 4, 2017.
  18. ^ "St Petersburg metro explosion kills 11 in Russia". BBC News. April 3, 2017.
  19. ^ a b c d e f "Deadly blast rocks St. Petersburg subway". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-04-03.

External links