Kyiv Metro

Vokzalna station.

Heroiv Dnipra station, built as part of the second line.

Zoloti Vorota station incorporates a very distinctive Ukrainian theme in its design.

Livery and #	Name	Name in Ukrainian Cyrillic	Date of first station opening	Most recent station opening	Length (km)	Number of stations	Ride time (end stn. to end stn.)
	Line 1 (Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska)	Лінія 1 (Святошинсько-Броварська)	6 November 1960	24 May 2003	22.6		40 minutes
	Line 2 (Kurenivsko-Chervonoarmiyska)	Лінія 2 (Куренівсько-Червоноармійська)	17 December 1976	25 October 2012	19.4		31 minutes
	Line 3 (Syretsko-Pecherska)	Лінія 3 (Сирецько-Печерська)	31 December 1989	23 May 2008	23.9		44 minutes
	Line 4 (Podilsko-Vyhurivska)	Лінія 4 (Подільсько-Вигурівська)	Under construction(Planned opening: after 2017)	ca. 20 (full line)	15 (planned)	n/a
	Line 5 (Livoberezhna)	Лінія 5 (Лівобережна)	Planned	ca. 5 (first phase)	17 (planned)	n/a
Total:	66.1

Universytet, an earlier, more ornate station from the 1960s.

Hidropark, opened in 1965, is one of a small number of above-ground stations.

Nyvky, a typical 1970s 'centipide' style station.

Klovska is a good example of a typical late 1980s Kiev metro station.

Read and memorize the following words, words combinations and word-groups:

to exceed - перевищувати

terrible destruction - жахливі руйнування

pylon type - пілон, опорного типу

column type - колонного типу

pillar-trispan type - стовп типу трьох прольотів

pillar bi-spans - двупрольотний стовп

to remove - видаляти
advertisement - реклама

regardless - незважаючи на

1. The Kyiv Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kyiv's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR (after Moscow and St Petersburg Metros). It now has three lines with a total length of 66.1 kilometres (41.1 miles) and 51 stations. The system carries 1.422 million passengers daily, accounting for 38% of the Kyiv's public transport load. In 2011, the total number of trips exceeded 519 million. The metro is opened from 6:00 till 0:00. One of the deepest stations in the world, Arsenalna (at 105.5 m or 346 ft) is found on the system.

2. On July 9, 1936, the Presidium of the Kyiv City Council looked at a project by Papazov (Papazian), an Armenian graduate of the Moscow University of Transport Engineering, called "The Project of the Kyiv Metro”. The engineer Papazov (Papazian) received a bonus of 1000 rubles for this project from the City of Kyiv. Following the terrible destruction suffered by the city in the war, a massive reconstruction was opened for the capital of the third largest city in the USSR. This time the Metro was in the plan and construction began in August 1949.

3. The metro follows a standard Soviet triangle three line, six radii layout that intersects in the centre where the stations are built very deep underground and could potentially double as bomb shelters.

4. Presently, there are 51 stations. The former comprise 21 stations, of which 17 are of pylon type, 3 are of column type. Of the 23 sub-surface stations, 14 stations are of pillar-trispan type, two are side-platform pillar bi-spans, 7 more are single-vaults, and a further one is an asymmetrical double deck bispan. In addition, 6 stations are located above ground, of which four are surface level, and two are flyover. Most of the stations have large vestibules, some on surface level whilе others are underground interlinked with subways.

5. Like all Metro systems in the former Soviet Union which are known for their vivid and colorful decorations, Kyiv's is no exception. Many first projects for stations offered at the beginning of 1950s were full of rich decorative elements such as mosaics, ornaments, bas-reliefs, sculptures and a lot of marble. The stations built from the 1980s onwards show more innovative design when compared with stations of the same era in other cities of the former USSR.

6. After the declaration of Ukrainian independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, some of the Soviet symbols originally incorporated into decor were adapted to modern times or removed altogether by altering the architectural composition of those stations.

7. The Kyiv Metro is managed by the city-owned municipal company Kyivsky Metropoliten which was transferred in the early 1990s from the Ministry of Transportation. The Metro employs several thousand workers in tunnel and track, station and rolling stock management. In addition to being state sponsored for operation, income comes from ticket sales and from advertisements (controlled by a daughter company Metroreklama) that are displayed in most stations.

8. A single ride costs 2.00 hryvnia ($0.25) regardless of destination and number of transits within the metro. The ride is paid by plastic tokens and contactless cards when entering the metro.

A Kyiv metro RFID multi-ride card.

Kyiv metro (single ride) tokens.