Samara Metro
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Samara Metro (Russian: Самарский Метрополитен) is a rapid transit system which serves the city of Samara, Russia. Opened in 1987, it became the fifth metro in Russia and the twelfth in the USSR.
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[edit] History
The city of Samara is situated at the confluence of the Samara and Volga rivers. Being an important junction of several waterways and railways, the city grew rapidly during the 20th century and became an important industrial center. The first designs for a rapid-transit system were drawn in the 1970s and construction began in 1980.
On December 25, 1987 the system was triumphantly opened to the public. The first section consisted of four stations and a depot. Samara is an industrial town, its plants and factories are primarily situated in Bezymyanka district, while most of workers live in the central districts. The subway was built to reduce travel time between the residential and industrial areas and, secondary, to relieve the congested highways. Samara was at that time called "Kuybyshev" and consequently the metro was named "Kuybyshevskiy metropoliten".
The length of the first stage was only 4.5 km. Shortly after the opening, construction of the second stage began (from Pobeda st. till Gagarinskaja st., 5,7 km), but was slowed down by the disintegration of the USSR and the economic crisis that followed. The first extension of the line, adding one station (Sovetskaya) and 1623 m of tracks, was therefore only put into service in 1992, although construction of this and other stations had been started years before. From then on, things speeded up a little, with two stations opening in 1993: Sportivnaya station in March (+ 1444 m) and Gagarinskaya station in December (+1484 m). The system reached its current state in December 2002, when the western terminus Moskovskaya was opened and the line was extended by 1300 m.
[edit] Stations
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- Yungorodok
The only surface station of the Samara metro. This station was absent in the original plans - instead, the line was to run to Krylya Sovetov. The decision to build a station at Yungorodok was taken for economic reasons and in order to speed up metro construction, the distance to Yungorodok station being shorter than to Krylya Sovetov. The station is situated on the territory of the Kirovskoe electrodepot. A literal translation of the station name is impossible, but an accurate equivalent could be "City of youth"
- Kirovskaya
This vaulted station was the first of the Samara metro to be equipped with escalators. It is the only station of the system with a surface ticket hall. The station is decorated with a red tuff high relief. The station is named in honour of the revolutionary S.M. Kirov.
- Bezymyanka
Pillar-trispan station. The platform can be reached by a broad staircase. Wall mosaics depict scenes from WWII. The literal translation of "Bezymyanka" is "Unnamed district". This name sounds strange in Russian too, but is connected with the history of one of newest district of Samara.
- Pobeda
Vaulted station. A staircase at the end of the platform leads to the exit. The interior of the stations recalls the victory of the USSR in the Second world war. The station features stained-glass windows named "Victory salute". The name of the station means "Victory".
- Sovetskaya
Pillar-trispan station with staircase. The design was kept simple for financial reasons. One of the exits has not been completed and is thus not used. The station name obviously means "Soviet"
- Sportivnaya
Pillar-trispan station with staircase. The station is decorated with pictures representing different kinds of sports, referring to the name of the station - Sportivnaya means "Sporty"
- Gagarinskaya
Pillar-trispan station equipped with escalators. The design is reminiscent of space travel, the station being named in honour of the first-ever person to travel into space, Yuri Gagarin.
- Moskovskaya
The newest station of the system, equipped with escalators. The walls are made of red marble with yellowish accents. A pedestrian tunnel leading to a connecting station on a future branch line is planned.
[edit] Picture gallery
 Yungorodok station |
 Kirovskaya station |
 Bezymyanka station |
 Pobeda station |
 Sovetskaya station |
 Sportivnaya station |
 Gagarinskaya station |
 Moskovskaya station |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (Russian)/(English) Samara metro page)
- (English) Metro of Samara on Urbanrail.net
| Rapid transit in the former USSR |
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| Metro systems: Moscow • Saint Petersburg • Kiev • Tbilisi • Baku • Kharkiv • Tashkent • Yerevan • Minsk • Nizhny Novgorod • Novosibirsk • Samara • Yekaterinburg • Dnipropetrovsk • Kazan Metrotrams: Volgograd • Kryvyi Rih Under construction: Almaty • Omsk • Chelyabinsk • Krasnoyarsk • Donetsk |
