Metro is traditionally considered the most reliable form of public transport. Trains "subway" do not stand in traffic jams, move quickly, able to carry a huge number of passengers. Due to its speed and predictability, the metro is well-deserved among residents of large cities.
Background
Starting in the middle of the 19th century, every metropolis considered it a matter of honor to acquire an extensive network of underground tunnels that would reduce ground traffic. Londoners became the pioneers in this difficult matter: the first metro in the world appeared in the English capital, and this happened back in 1862.
The innovation could not boast of particular comfort: the cars open on top moved in tunnels shrouded in smoke and soot (the English used steam locomotives), making a trip that was ridiculous at the present time, with a length of 3.6 km - but still it was a big breakthrough.
Traffic congestion is not a new problem
Moscow at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries may not have been too much like the present, but the traffic jams in it were also notable. Of course, then not the iron horses, but the most ordinary horses participated in them, but the accumulation of cargo and passenger crews sometimes stopped the movement on the streets completely.
The problem has ripened with all obviousness and, inspired by the example of the British, the authorities of tsarist Russia began to think about building a subway back in the 1890s, long before the metro was opened for the first time in the USSR. In what year this event would take place if the 1901 project were adopted (and what shape the stations would have acquired), we will never know. However, history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood.
The first project of the Moscow metro
At the beginning of the 20th century, three enthusiasts: P. Balinsky, E. Knorre and N. Karazin invested in the draft solution to the Moscow transport problem an abyss of their time, talent and nerves. We had to enter the fight literally at every step. The owners of the Konka were afraid of competitors. The city government was dissatisfied with its financial benefits. Even the clergy got involved, without which it will not be sanctified anywhere: they say the overpass will damage the splendor of some Moscow churches. It was even suggested that the subway is harmful (!) To the village.
If it were not for the inertia and greed of officials, the question of when the metro was first opened in the USSR, in which city and year, would not make sense, since the merit of construction would belong to a completely different country. But it happened differently. Balinsky’s brilliant project was rejected, and the implementation of the new one developed by Knorre in 1912 was hindered by the outbreak of World War I and the well-known revolutionary events. The construction of the subway was postponed indefinitely: at the time of the great upheavals, it was not until the feats of urban development.
The task of the new government
The new authorities had to solve the problem of transport in the capital of the young Soviet Union. At first, the leadership, apparently, still had some illusions that you could do without a subway: the number of trams, buses and trolleybuses was actively increasing. But by the beginning of the 30s, it became clear that land transport is not able to completely solve the problem.
As in many other endeavors, political will became a fundamental factor: the decree of the Central Committee Plenum in July 1931 ordered that the construction of the subway be started immediately - and from this fateful decision until the metro was first opened in the USSR, only four years passed.
Shock construction
In September 31st Metrostroy was organized, a scheme of 10 lines (80 km in total) was approved in March 33rd, and in the middle of autumn 1934 a test, “running-in” train, consisting of two cars, was already running from Komsomolskaya to Sokolnikov .
If it took almost five years to implement the idea as a whole, then for construction, from the moment the project was approved until the day the metro was opened for the first time in the USSR, a year and a half. It is clear that the work was moving at an accelerated pace: in the Soviet Union, almost everything should have the tinge of an unprecedented feat. But the merit of the builders is undeniable, and Muscovites should be forever grateful for this accomplishment.
The first metro stations compare favorably with the latest in beauty and sophistication, which modern architects consider redundant. Our pragmatic age puts functionality and efficiency at the forefront. And then say: when the number of stations exceeds one hundred, they are no longer such an object of aesthetic interest, as if there are only twenty of them. In the 30s, everything was again, and the attitude to what was happening was different.
Beauty and Functionality
The architects of Metrostroy recalled that just a year before the metro was opened for the first time in the USSR, they received a call and said that station designs needed to be completed in 25 days. And the only requirement that was presented to the result was that they should be “beautiful”.
To the honor of architects, it must be said that they coped with the work on time and "excellently", approaching each decision individually, with fiction and love. By the time the metro was first opened in the USSR, 13 stations were ready in the capital. It's funny that Kaganovich demanded to replace the dermatin on the seats with genuine leather, advocating for its durability. Modern economists would simply shudder at such a decision.
The best gift for Muscovites
On February 4, 1934, the metro train ran along the line from the beginning to the end, and on the 6th, eight trains of the Moscow metro received the first passengers - delegates of the VII Congress.
At first, only 11.5 km could be traveled by metro - from Sokolnikov to Park Kultury, with a branch to Smolenskaya (later the Arbat line). There were 13 stations and 14 trains for passengers. Of course, such a “subway” would not have impressed today's metropolitan residents, but at the time the metro was first opened in the USSR, in Moscow it was perceived as a real miracle. On the opening day, May 15, 1935, 370 thousand people wanted to experience a hitherto unknown mode of transport.
Of course, it was not without dear comrade Stalin. In those days, it could not do without him - the day when the metro was first opened in the USSR was no exception. The train was decorated with a portrait of the leader and a banner of the appropriate content: “Thank you to the great Stalin for the paternal care of the working people of Moscow.”
Yesterday and today
I must say that in a sense, the "father of all nations" really saved this wonderful building, having decided not to leave Moscow in 1941, when the Germans approached the city at a critical distance. October 15 of this year is the only day in history when the subway doors did not open for its passengers. All strategic facilities (including the subway) were mined and prepared for destruction. Fortunately, this did not happen: the order was canceled. During the war, the metro served as a bomb shelter, saving and even giving life: in 1941, 217 babies were born here.
The owner of the first ticket was an ordinary worker, master of the factory “Red Proletarian” P. Latyshev. It is unlikely that on that May day, when the metro was first opened in the USSR, anyone could imagine what a grandiose project this initiative would turn into. Today, lines of 327.5 km are connected by 196 stations, and the Moscow Metro is the world champion in daily passenger flow.