Samara Metro (), formerly known as the Kuybyshev Metro (), is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

system which serves the city of

Samara, Russia Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 million resident ...

. Opened in 1987, it consists of one line with ten stations and approximately of bi-directional track.

History

The city of Samara (known during Soviet times as Kuybyshev) is situated at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

and

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

Rivers. Being an important junction of several waterways and railways, the city grew rapidly during the 20th century simultaneously becoming an important industrial centre. In the late 1970s its population exceeded one million, passing the legal Soviet requirement to begin developing a rapid-transit system. The design plan for Kuybyshev was based on the standard Soviet triangle arrangement, but with provisions to suit the dynamics of Kuybyshev, whose business, commercial and historical centre is situated on the edge, on the bank of the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

. Whilst the edges of the city were located with industrial zones and Soviet bedroom regions, most of the central regions (the geographical centre) between the areas were flats built primarily for the workers. It was also the central area which experienced the most concentrated congestion. In the finalised plan, the first stage was to pass under this central artery and then expand westwards towards following the bank of the Volga around the commercial zone and eventually terminating at the city's central railway terminal. Construction began in 1980, on the first four station stretch totaling . On 25 December 1987 the system was triumphantly opened to the public, becoming the fifth such in Russia and the twelfth of the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Immediately after the opening of the first stage, which despite its modest size (compared to other Soviet systems) the Metro was overburdened with passengers. Construction of the second stage began shortly; however, this was slowed with the disintegration of the

and the chaotic economic hardships that followed. Originally scheduled to open in 1991, the next three-station segment opened slowly, one station at a time, between December 1992 and December 1993. Despite the

economic stagnation Economic stagnation is a prolonged period of slow economic growth (traditionally measured in terms of the GDP growth), usually accompanied by high unemployment. Under some definitions, ''slow'' means significantly slower than potential growth as ...

, the system managed to grow to length that allowed it to carry out its major transport role, unlike the ill-fated

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

Metros throughout the 1990s. Construction on the third planned stage, originally destined for the second half of the 1990s began in 1991, was extremely slow because of constant offsets. The first station opened in December 2002, the second following five years later in 2007. The next station, Alabinskaya, was due to follow in 2010, however it has been delayed to 2015. Because Samara Metro builders helped to finish off Kazan Metro in 2005, the latter system donated its newer

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

to bore the tunnels from Rossiyskaya to Alabinskaya.

Timeline

The Samara Metro has opened in stages, with the dates and lengths of each stage listed below:

Operation

The system is operated by a municipal company ''Samarsky Metropoliten'' that was privatised from the Russian Ministry of Rail services back in the early 1990s. The company is responsible for all management of the system, including management and repairs of tunnel and track,

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

, stations and even planning coordination of construction works.

Stations

The Samara Metro serves ten stations along its single line, .

Rolling stock

The rolling stock is provided by a sole Depot "Kirovskoye" which is responsible for management of all cars. Presentely there are 11 four-carriage trains assigned to the system. All of them are model

81-717/714 The 81-717/714 is a Soviet/Russian metro car model, designed in the Soviet Union in the mid-1970s. The cars were made from 1976 to 2014 by Metrovagonmash and the I. E. Yegorov Vagonmash factories of Mytishchi and Saint Petersburg, respectively. ...

although some are .5 standard.

Future

The completion of the first line was originally planned for 2015. However, most of the development was stalled, due to political, financial, or bureaucratic reasons. The work on two of the stations that were initially meant to lengthen the first line has been stopped because it posed danger to buildings of historical and cultural value. The second line is expected to be in length and have six stations. Its construction will take place as part of the program for development of the transportation system of Samara, planned for the time period between 2014 and 2025.

History

Timeline

Operation

Stations

Rolling stock

Future

Network Map

See also

References

External links