It was the stormy sixties. The country quickly rebuilt and looked to the future with optimism. In Kuibyshev (the real name is Samara), a transport problem was brewing - the city grew, and with it the population, the amount of transport. The idea to carry out the construction of the subway has been brewing for a very long time. The facility was renamed the Samara Metro on April 1, 1991.
Development
The mayor of the city from 1964 to 1982 Alexei Rosovsky was a very far-sighted person and understood that without cardinal changes in three decades the city could get stuck in one big traffic jam. It was necessary to urgently unload the highways and send some of the passengers underground. An initiative group of the city's executive committee, headed by the mayor, submitted a justification for the need to build a subway in 1968.
Unfortunately, the process was slow, and the real implementation of the technical project did not start until ten years later.
Specially for the construction of such a grandiose facility as the Samara Metro, a plant of reinforced concrete structures, auxiliary enterprises necessary for the completion of the project were built in the city, engineering structures - pipes, communications, etc. were transferred.
Construction
The grandiose construction work of the Samara metro was started from the Kirovskaya station back in 1980
In 1981, a three-hundred-ton tunneling shield began its work. The encountered dolomite rocks did not make it possible to reach the initially set speed indicators. Ground water and a serious level difference only complicated the work. But the stations of the Samara metro eventually managed to be connected by the heroic efforts of drifters and mine surveyors in March 1982
1983 - the beginning of the construction of the Pobeda station. The Samara metro, the scheme of which is presented in the article, was supplemented in 1984 with new stations under construction - Gagarinskaya and Sportivnaya, a new unique tunneling shield was already working in the direction of the Sovetskaya station.
1986 - construction of the Yungorodok station began.
In total, four stations were ready for the opening. Before 1993, three more were commissioned.
Only in 2002 the Moskovskaya station was opened. And in 2007 - "Russian". And in 2015 - "Alabinskaya".
Start of movement
In May 1987, a group of suburban electric locomotive drivers was sent to Kharkov, Kyiv and Minsk for training.
On the first of November, a trial electrical load on the network was given.
On the sixth, the first train passed through the still empty stations.
Despite the fact that the project was not completed to the end, the day before the official opening, the state commission accepts the object. It was necessary to be in time for the anniversary of the Octobercoup.
The first passenger trains departed from the Kirovskoye electric depot on December 26, 1987. Samara metro became the twelfth in the USSR.
The following year, 1988, almost thirteen million people used the new mode of transport.
The subway has become so popular that a local travel agency has listed it as a must-see.
Mobile park
The first cars were manufactured at the Metrovagonmash plant (series 81-717, which has been developed since 1976).
In 1990, the mobile fleet consisted of 32 units. Currently - almost out of 50.
Stations
Each station of the Soviet metro has its own distinctive feature. The Samara Metro was no exception.
- Arched Kirovskaya station.
- "Nameless" - a tribute to the enterprises of the city that produced aviation and other parts for the front, as shown in the ornament.
- "Victory" - the image of the fireworks.
- "Sports" - elements of sports.
- "Gagarinskaya" - the theme of space.
Interesting facts
- During the construction of the tunnels at the facility, the passage of railway trains did not stop above them.
- Samara metro is famous for shortened trains - four cars. There are usually six in the metropolitan subway.
- Movement speed - up to seventy kilometers per hour.
- Interval is four to seven minutes.
- The diameter of the tunnels is five and a half meters. Almost one and a half times more than similar facilities in the London Underground. These dimensions make it possible to use more spacious cars.
- All stations have cellular signal reception.
- The original tokens were made of metal. But in 1992 they were replaced by plastic ones.
Prospects
Today, the Samara metro has ten stations located on one branch almost thirteen kilometers long.
Tentatively in 2018 it is planned to open the second line. It will consist of six stations. In the future, the construction of the third branch is planned.
These facts give confidence in the development in the coming decades. In the near future, most of the passengers will be able to move around the city underground, which will significantly relieve the ground part of Samara. It will also reduce emissions and pollution.
