The Sormovsko-Meshcherskaya line () is the second line of the

Nizhny Novgorod Metro The Nizhny Novgorod Metro (), formerly known as the Gorky Metro (), is a rapid-transit system which serves the city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Opened in 1985, it consists of 15 stations and is long. The metro connects with the Nizhny Novgorod ...

. The line opened in 1993 and crosses the city on a northwest–southeast axis and is generally coloured

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

on Metro maps. It comprises 4 stations and of track and bears the abbreviation "M2". The construction of the line continues. On June 12, 2018, the Strelka station was opened, in conjunction with the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

History

The project of the second line began before the construction of the metro in the

Soviet era The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War, ...

. At that time, it carried the project name "Sormovsko-Nizhegorodskaya" and was supposed to connect the Lower City and the Upper City. This option planned the construction of 11 stations: Sormovskaya, Sportivnaya, Kalininskaya, Kuibyshevskaya, Kanavinskaya, Gorkovskaya, Sverdlovskaya, Ploshchad Svobody, Republikanskaya and Sovetskaya. In January 1981, the second line (Sormovsko-Nagornaya) was developed, but in March of the same year it was decided to extend the Avtozavodsko-Meshcherskaya line (project name of Line 1) to the Palace of Culture of the Avtozavodsky city district. In December 1990, the development of the Sormovo-Meshcherskaya line to the stations Yarmarka, Strelka, Meshcherskoe ozero and Volga was approved. In January 1992, it was decided to rename the stations under construction: Kuibyshevskaya to Burnakovskaya, Kalininskaya to Burevestnik, Sportivnaya to Varya. 20 December 1993, the opening of two new stations of Nizhny Novgorod Metro - Kanavinskaya and Burnakovskaya which marked the beginning of the Sormovsko-Meshcherskaya line. 9 September 2002, the third station, Burevestnik, was opened on the line.

Driving directionality

Traffic in Russian metros move on the right, but Sormovsko-Meshcherskaya line is an exception. This line was a branch of the Avtozavodskaya line until May 2018, and at Moskovskaya station the part of trains from Avtozavodskaya line used to go at the side tracks (instead of central), then go to Sormovsko-Meshcherskaya line in the opposite direction without any crossing. Therefore, this line moves on the

left-hand traffic Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes called the ' ...

. This rule remains even after those lines became independent, due to need to speed up passenger interchange during the morning commute.

Timeline

Stations and connections

References

{{Reflist Nizhny Novgorod Metro lines Railway lines opened in 1993