Kharkiv Metro
Encyclopedia
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
that serves the city of Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
(Kharkov), the second largest city in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The metro was the second in Ukraine (after Kiev
Kiev Metro
The Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...
) and the sixth in the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
when it opened in 1975.
Lines and Stations
| # | Name | Opened | Length | Stations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kholodnohirsko-Zavodska Line | 1975 | 17.3 km | 13 |
| 2 | Saltivska Line | 1984 | 10.4 km | 8 |
| 3 | Oleksiivska Line | 1995 | 11.9 km | 8 |
| Total: | 39.6km | 29 |
(The colours in the table correspond to the colours of the lines in the Kharkiv metro map.)
History
Initial plans for a rapid transit system in Kharkiv were made when the city was a capital of the Ukrainian SSRUkrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
. However, after the capital moved to Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
in 1934 and Kharkiv suffered heavy destruction during World War II
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
, a rapid transit system was dropped from the agenda. In the mid-1960s, the existing mass transit system became too strained, and construction of the metro began in 1968.
Seven years later on August 23, 1975, the first eight-station segment of 10.4 kilometres was put into use. It is claimed that the metro does not have the beautiful and excessive decorations that stations in Moscow
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg Metro
The Saint Petersburg Metro is the underground railway system in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It has been open since November 15, 1955.Formerly known as the V.I...
Metros show, yet they do make the best of mid-1970s and later styles.
Facts and Numbers
Currently, the Kharkiv Metro consists of 3 lines, 29 stations, and 39.6 kilometres of tracks. The stations arranged in a typical Soviet design of a triangle, that is, three radial lines crossing in the city centre. Open from 5:30 in the morning till midnight, it has a daily passenger traffic of over one million passengers.Because of the city's uneven landscape, the metro stations are located on varying depths. Six of the system's 29 stations are deep level stations and the remaining rest are shallow. Of the former, all but one are pylon type, and the latter are of column type. The shallow stations comprise fourteen pillar-trispans and eight single vaults. Kharkiv was the first metro to exhibit the single vault design of the shallow type (see more at the Skhodnenskaya
Skhodnenskaya
Skhodnenskaya is a station on the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. The station is a single vault, which was a significant engineering achievement and a change from the typical functionality design of the 1960s...
article).
The metro is served by two depots which have a total of 320 carriages forming 59 five-carriage trains (all of the platforms are exactly 100 metres long).
The metro is subordinate to the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine and unlike the Kiev Metro
Kiev Metro
The Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...
, is not privatised and owned by a municipal company. In 2009, the Ministry transferred the metro to the city administration.
See also
- List of rapid transit systems
- Transport in UkraineTransport in UkraineAll transportation in Ukraine except for automobile transportation is regulated by the Ministry of Infrastructure, formerly the united Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The automobile transportation is regulated by the State Automobile Inspection of the Ministry of Interior...