The Chelyabinsk Metro is a system of metro lines under construction that could be the second in the Urals after the Yekaterinburg metro. The construction process has been slow since 1992, and the beginning of the Chelyabinsk metro was postponed as much as 2025. The first section, having a length of 5.7 km, will include 4 stations. During the year he will miss 65 million people. The remaining sections are only being designed. Together with them, the annual passenger flow will amount to 137.8 million people. There are no reviews for Chelyabinsk metro because the facility has not yet been completed. What else is known about him?
Metro Chelyabinsk - transport problems
Construction work on the site is poor. Even on the metro line under construction in the city of Chelyabinsk, much work remains to be done. Of the four stations, only 1 was built - "Komsomolskaya Square", and even then not completely. The construction of the Shopping Center station continues. The remaining 2 stations, like the depot, are not yet being built. In general, the volume of construction work is only 18% complete. The probability of completion of the Chelyabinsk metro is quite small.
A walk along the unfinished metro resembles shots from the film The Matrix.
What were the projects
The earliest project of the Chelyabinsk Metro was proposed in the city plan in 1967. Then it was supposed to build 2 lines:
1. Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant - North-West - CHPI - pl. Revolution - ChTZ.
2. North-West - Thermotechnical Institute - Pl. Revolution - Station - ChTPZ.
The second project involved 3 lines, each with 4 stations. It was proposed in 1973. The third appeared in 1982 and envisaged the creation of three lines, one of which was supposed to include 6 stations, the other - 5, and the third - 4. The modern version appeared in the mid-1980s and began to be implemented in the early 90s.
Initial stage of construction
The first phase is the construction of the first section. The work was carried out by order of the MUP “Directorate of the Underground Under Construction”. Until 2008, the organization MUP Chelyabmetrotransstroy acted as a customer. The customer also carried out technical supervision of the facility under construction. The contractor was OJSC Chelyabmetrostroy. Since 2007, it was decided to attract another contractor, but it has still not been identified.
Tunneling methods vary greatly. When moving from the “Shopping Center” to the “Revolution Square”, the drilling and blasting method is used, and from the depot to the “Komsomolskaya Square” - using the tunnel digging complex made in Canada. In 2007, the issue of acquiring another tunneling complex was decided. Was it acquired or not, is not yet known.
Within 3 years, the complex has advanced from Portal Elektrodepo to Komsomolskaya Square, which is 1189 meters. After modernization, he continued to work, moving towards the “Revolution Square”. He had to achieve it in 2 years.
However, after only 200 meters of the road, it was stopped in accordance with the verdict of the court. This happened on November 20, 2008. This decision was due to the lack of documents necessary for work in this section.
In 2009, the amount of work done was negligible.
2010 year
In 2010, the situation worsened. Due to lack of funds, construction work was stopped for an indefinite period. The then president Dmitry Medvedev instructed to consider the issue of further financing of the construction site. In turn, the governor of the Chelyabinsk region asked him to consider the possibility of allocating funds in the amount of 2 billion rubles in 2010 in order to continue work. But the Ministry of Transport refused financing, and the work was frozen.
This unpleasant circumstance forced to reconsider the construction project of the Chelyabinsk Metro, as a result of which another project was adopted, the costs of which should have been reduced by 1/3. The launch line was supposed to be 7.4 km, and the total - 8.5 km. There were supposed to enter: the electric depot, the engineering building and the route itself. The phased commissioning of structures was supposed. At first it was planned to enter the site from the station. "Komsomolskaya Square" to the station "Victory Avenue". The chosen style of station design is high-tech.
However, this time too, the problems of financing work were very acute. Basically, there was only enough money for work in the Komsomolskaya area. By this time, the announced expenses for the entire construction period (since 1992) amounted to 12 billion rubles, and for further work 25 billion rubles were needed. In September 2010, it was decided to continue construction work at a slow pace.
First station built
The first station where construction work was completed was Komsomolskaya Square. This happened in October 2011. After that, the roadbed was destroyed, destroyed over the station under construction during construction work.
However, work went slowly, and by the beginning of 2014, only 18% of the launch site needed to enter the 1st stage was completed. Then, due to lack of funds, the work stopped again. Next, small amounts were allocated to maintain the unfinished subway in normal technical condition. This mainly concerned the work on pumping water.
2015 year
In 2015, a contract was signed with Chelyabmetrostroy OJSC for construction work on the construction of the Torgovy Tsentr station structures, maintenance, site monitoring, etc.
At the beginning of 2015, work is underway on the planning of the second launch complex. The search for an investor has begun.
2017 year
In 2017, it was assumed that with proper funding, the metro could be opened in 4 years. For 16 and 17 years, 2.6 billion rubles were spent. However, all construction work requires another 75 billion rubles, and at the first stations - 36 billion rubles. This money is not in the local budget. In addition, as Governor Boris Dubrovsky said at the end of 2017, the current traffic flows have different logistics than those that were when the subway project was created. Obviously, this makes the continuation of the construction of the subway inappropriate.
At the moment, there are no photos of the finished stations of the Chelyabinsk metro, and the images are the result of computer modeling of the project or reflect real construction work in the unfinished subway.
The development of personal vehicles and the subway
The boom in the development of road transport is characteristic of most Russian cities. The number of cars per capita has risen sharply, and the number of roads has increased. The percentage of paved roads has risen sharply. People are increasingly changing to cars, and the popularity of the Chelyabinsk electric transport is declining. In this city, this problem is very acute. Traffic congestion is an increasingly common occurrence. As a result of the car boom, there is a risk that the metro may not be in demand and people will rarely ride it. All this makes the construction and opening of the metro in Chelyabinsk unlikely.
Lack of funds also remains relevant, so local authorities will think many times before deciding on the further construction of the metro.
However, the situation can be improved by reducing lobbying for private vehicles and creating publicity ads. This would significantly improve the environmental situation. After all, the metro does not pollute the air and is underground, leaving room for green spaces. Personal vehicles create the greatest problems with the state of the environment, and also dramatically increase injuries and premature mortality. It is also obvious that if the metro is not completed, then the allocated and spent funds will be "buried in the ground."