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Ulich metro

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Ulich Metro
Ulich Metro logo (2).png
Metro MSK Collage 2016.png
Overview
Native nameУлический метрополитен
OwnerGovernment of Ulich
LocaleUlich

cities of Efimovo, Lyubimovo, Muravyovo, Lefordovo - within Ulich-city
cities of Bogdanovo, Sovetsk, Zhdanovo - within Ulich Oblast

Dulebia
Transit typeRapid transit
Number of lines21 (including Zhdanovo AeroExpress and the Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail, excluding Ulich Outer Diameter)
Number of stations319
329 (including 10 stations of the Zhdanovo AeroExpress)
Daily ridership(average) 3.117 million
Annual ridership2.7 billion (2018)
Chief executiveStepan Radonetsky
Websitehttp://ulmetro.db/
Operation
Began operation31 January 1909; 115 years ago (1909-01-31)
Operator(s)Rapido DB
HeadwayPeak hours: 3-4 minutes
Off-peak: 6-12 minutes
Technical
System length417.9 km (259.7 mi)
445.7 km (276.9 mi) including Zhdanovo AeroExpress and Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail
Track gauge1,520 mm (4 ft 11 2732 in)
Electrification825 V DC third rail,
3 kV DC overhead line
Average speed36.25 km/h (22.52 mph)

The Ulich Metro (Dulebian: Улический Метрополитен, Ulichesky Metropoliten) is a rapid transit system serving the capital of Dulebia, the city of Ulich, as well as the neighbouring cities of Efimovo, Lyubimovo, Muravyovo and Lefordovo within the Ulich-City District, and the cities of Bogdanovo, Sovetsk and Zhdanovo, located in the Ulich Oblast. The system was opened in 1909, with one line running along the river Dnistr (currently part of Zhdanovskaya Line), connecting then eastern Ulich with the suburban town of Sorokino, with 9 stations in total. The system is thus the oldest underground urban railway system created in Dulebia, and one of the oldest in Berea. As of 2020, the Ulich metro system has a total length of 445.7 km (276.9 mi) including Zhdanovo AeroExpress and Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail, and 329 stations in total. The system has the most number of stations in the world, and is the longest underground railway system currently operational. The system has underground, overground, ground-level and semi-underground stations, as well as multi-level stations at line intersections. The deepest section is located at the Hotel Dulebia transfer hub, where 3 stations are located beneath the ground, with the deepest (Hotel Dulebia station on Sovetskaya Line) being 89 metres below ground-level. The Ulich metro is the second-busiest metro system in the world by annual ridership. Due to its rich history, the metro has examples from numerous architectural styles popular in Dulebia throughout the 20th century, with its oldest stations being build in revivalist style, with examples of Art Deco, Avant-Garde, Brutalist, Constructivist, Socialist Classicism and Neomodern and Neofuturist architecture along different lines and stations. This makes the Ulich metro a popular tourist attraction, and many name it as the trademark of the city itself.

History

During the Dulebian Empire

Socialist era

Modern history

Operations

Infrastructure

The Ulich metro operates as a fully state-owned enterprise. The system has a total length of 445.7 km (276.9 mi). It consists of 329 stations, and is organized in a spoke-hub distribution paradigm, which means that most lines spreading radially from the city centre to the outskirts of the city, with several lines serving as short connections between bigger lines. Line M10 forms a 21 km long circle in the center of the city which gave it the name Ulich Central Diameter line, connecting with the majority of the lines in the system and having some of the most overloaded stations in the whole metro. The majority of the stations are underground, however, there also ground level and elevated stations in various parts of the system. The Ulich-Zhdanovo is the only completely-elevated line, and the one with the smallest number of stations (two).

Railways

The Ulich metro uses the standard Dulebian gauge of 1,520 millimetres (60 in), similar to other Dulebian railway systems. Electricity is supplied by an underrunning third rail with a supply of 825 V DC, with the exception of the Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail. The average distance between stations is 1.5-kilometre (0.93 mi); while the shortest section is 673 metres (1,647 ft) long and the longest is 20.7-kilometre (12.9 mi), the Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail. The average speed of the trains in the system is 36.25 km/h (22.52 mph), with the highest speeds being achieved on the Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail - 105-kilometre-per-hour (65 mph).

Depots

Almost every line of the system is equipped with at least one depot, with some of the longest lines having as many as three depots. The depots are located in the following locations, and serve the following lines:

  • UlMet1.png Hadarkovskaya street, Lyubech
  • UlMet1.png UlMet9.png UlMet14.png Gurkovskaya street, Children's Palace of Arts, Kombinat
  • UlMet1.png Milyukovskaya street, Sorokino
  • UlMet2.png Sovetskaya street, Odintsovo
  • UlMet2.png UlMet12A.png UlMet13.png Marshalova street, Birulyovo
  • UlMet3.png UlMet3A.png UlMet10.png Kashtanovskaya street, Lipovo
  • UlMet3.png UlMet4.png Belomorsky park, Savyelevka
  • UlMet5.png UlMet5A.png Ramensky railway station, Kommunarka
  • UlMet6.png UlMet6A.png UlMet7.png Severopolskoye depot
  • UlMet8.png UlMet9.png UlMet12.png Magistrsky railway station, Leonovskoe boulevard, Pobeda
  • UlMet12.png Malyshevskoye depot
  • UlMet5.png UlMet5B.png Efimovo depot
  • UlMet11.png Putilovsky railway station, Kupechesky
  • UlMetUZM.png Mirny monorail depot, Zhdanovo, Ulich City
  • Zhdanovo airport logo.png Ulich Zhdanovo airport train depot

Rolling stock

Imperial period
Early post-civil war period
1940-1960
Late socialist period
Modern era

Lines

As of 2020, the Ulich metro consists of 21 operational lines, including the Zhdanovo AeroExpress and Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail. Each of the lines is assigned its own colour and number, as well as a name. The lines are usually named after the districts their construction started at (e.g. Zhdanovskaya Line is named after the district of Zhdanovo (not to be confused with the city of Zhdanovo in Ulich Oblast) in northeastern Ulich, with its historical name, Sorokinskaya, being dropped in 1992), however, there are several exceptions: some lines are either named after their function (Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail), location and shape (Ulich central diameter), or have historical names (Sovetskaya Line). One line in the system did not receive its unique colour (Buryanovskaya Line), and one did not receive its own bullet (Zhdanovo AeroExpress).

The upcoming station is announced on the train by a female voice before departure, and the last station of the line is announced before arrival of the train by male voice on the station. The metro system offers direct connection to several bus lines to the three passenger airports of Ulich, transfers to some of the commuter rail, and a direct connection to Ulich Zhdanovo International Airport and its inter-terminal railway.

Color Line Bullet Name Original name Connections First opened Stations Length
km
Red UlMet1.png Zhdanovskaya Line Ждановская Линия Zhdanovskoe Shosse to UlMetUZM.png
Molodyozhnaya to UlMet14.png
Hotel Dulebia to UlMet5.pngUlMet10.png
Kryukovo to UlMet4.png
31 January, 1909 38 TBA
Blue UlMet2.png Kravtsovskaya Line Кравцовская Линия Sadovaya Square to UlMet10.png
Spassovsky Sobor to UlMet5.png
Kerchevsky Library to UlMet9.png
Planetary to UlMet10.png
Mytishchi to UlMet4.png
Birulyovo to UlMet13.png
Beryozki to UlMet13.png
Kravtsovo to UlMet13.png
11 March, 1926 26 TBA
Yellow UlMet3.png Belogorodskaya Line Белогородская Линия Belogorodskaya to UlMet3A.png
Severny Prospekt to UlMet3A.png
Proletarsky Dvor to UlMet10.png
Vasilevsky Dvorets to UlMet5.png
Vnukovo to UlMet9.png
Pionerskaya to UlMet4.png
22 May, 1934 28 TBA
Gold UlMet3A.png Sokolnicheskaya Line Сокольническая Линия Belogorodskaya to UlMet3.png
Severny Prospekt to UlMet3.png
1 April, 1986 9 TBA
Orange UlMet4.png Pionerskaya Line Пионерская Линия Faculty of Philosophy to UlMet6.png
Stahanovka to UlMet8.png
Pionerskaya to UlMet3.png
Lesnaya to UlMet12.png
Mytishchi to UlMet2.png
Kryukovo to UlMet1.png
Pionerskaya to UlMet3.png
Petrovsky Prospekt to UlMet5.png
Bolotnaya to UlMet14.png
25 December, 1942 28 TBA
Green UlMet5.png Sovetskaya Line Советская Линия Kommunarka to UlMet5A.png
Vasilevsky Dvorets to UlMet3.png
Pavlovo to UlMet10.png
Lesnaya to UlMet12.png
Mytishchi to UlMet2.png
Kryukovo to UlMet1.png
Pionerskaya to UlMet3.png
Spassovsky Sobor to UlMet2.png
Ivolzhskaya to UlMet9.png
Hotel Dulebia to UlMet1.pngUlMet10.png
Peredelkino to UlMet5B.png
1 September, 1931 38 TBA
Dark green UlMet5A.png Osetovskaya Line Осетовская Линия Kommunarka to UlMet5.png 11 November, 1996 6 TBA
Lime green UlMet5B.png Perlovskaya Line Перловская Линия Peredelkino to UlMet5.png
16 March, 2004 7 TBA
Teal UlMet6.png Lefordskaya Line Лефордская Линия Internatsionalnaya to UlMet6A.png
Dargorod to UlMet6A.png
Faculty of Philosophy to UlMet4.png
Shchyukinskaya to UlMet7.png
3 October, 1947 23 TBA
Teal UlMet6A.png Buryanovskaya Line Буряновская Линия Internatsionalnaya to UlMet6.png
Dargorod to UlMet6.png
2 July, 2017 7 TBA
Turquoise UlMet7.png Shchyukinskaya Line Щукинская Линия Shchyukinskaya to UlMet6.png 26 May, 2009 6 TBA
Brown UlMet8.png Stahanovskaya Line Стахановская Линия Obryadino to UlMet9.png
Stahanovka to UlMet4.png
3 February, 1972 9 TBA
Silver UlMet9.png Dnistrovskaya Line Днистровская Линия Obryadino to UlMet8.png
Mariyno to UlMet12.png
Druzhnaya to UlMet10.png
Kerchevsky Library to UlMet2.png
Ivolzhskaya to UlMet5.png
Lehmanskaya to UlMet10.png
Reznovskaya to UlMet14.png
Juridical Faculty to UlMet14.png
Yuzhny Prospekt to UlMet14.png
11 December, 1953 34 TBA
Dark brown UlMet10.png Central Diameter Центральный Диаметр Sadovaya Square to UlMet2.png
Proletarsky Dvor to UlMet3.png
Pavlovo to UlMet5.png
Druzhnaya to UlMet9.png
Planetary to UlMet2.png
Hotel Dulebia to UlMet1.pngUlMet5.png
Lehmanskaya to UlMet9.png
Tsarskoselskaya to UlMet11.png
3 June, 1964 8 TBA
Purple UlMet11.png Stolichnaya Line Столичная Линия Tsarskoselskaya to UlMet10.png March, 1987 13 TBA
Bordeaux UlMet12.png Malyshevskaya Line Малышевская Линия Maryino to UlMet9.png
Lesnaya to UlMet4.png
Bukovskaya to UlMet12A.png
7 October, 1975 12 TBA
Pink UlMet12A.png Bukovskaya Line Буковская Линия Bukovskaya to UlMet12A.png
Business Centre Ulich-South to UlMet13.png
EXPO Ulich to UlMet13.png
26 November, 1989 6 TBA
Light blue UlMet13.png Birulyovskaya Line Бирулевская Линия EXPO Ulich to UlMet13.png
Business Centre Ulich-South to UlMet13.png
Birulyovo to UlMet2.png
Beryozki to UlMet2.png
Kravtsovo to UlMet2.png
26 November, 1989 9 TBA
Light green UlMet14.png Molodyozhnaya Line Молодежная Линия Bolotnaya to UlMet4.png
Molodyozhnaya to UlMet1.png
Reznovskaya to UlMet9.png
Juridical Faculty to UlMet9.png
Yuzhny Prospekt to UlMet9.png
21 May, 1969 10 TBA
White+pink UlMetUZM.png Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail Монорельс Улич - Жданово Zhdanovskoe Shosse to UlMet1.png
Terminal A to Zhdanovo airport logo.png
31 August, 1999 2 TBA
Dark pink Zhdanovo airport logo.png Zhdanovo AeroExpress Аэроэкспресс Жданово Terminal A to UlMetUZM.png November-December 2006 10 TBA

Expansions

Map of the planned expansions of the Ulich metro system, with currently operational lines shown in grey.

Since the late 1990s the Ulich metro is experiencing rapit expansions throughout the whole system, on par with numerous renovation programmes. Between 1995 and 2000, the system received one brand new line with 6 stations in total, and the city was connected with the city airport in Zhdanovo via a fast monorail service. In the 2000s, another 3 lines were added to the system, including the Zhdanovo airport AeroExpress, the biggest inter-terminal railway in the world at the time of its completion. These three new lines added 23 stations to the whole system. The last major line opening happened in 2017, when a parallel segment was added to the Lefordskaya Line in northwestern Ulich, connecting some of the newly-constructed residential areas, a prestigious residential area and a Ditanist complex to the city's rapid transit system.

In addition to new line construction, the system has experienced rapid expansions of the existing lines since the beginning of the 21-st century, with the last major construction being the expansion of Lefordskaya Line to Nadezhda in 2016 and of Sokolnicheskaya Line from station Pionerskaya to Strogino.

In the past several years the City Municipality of Ulich has announced plans for several big expansions of the existing system, as well as the integration of some of the suburban commuter railways into the city's metro system as an outer diameter. As of 2020, the projects are at the following stages of completion:

Line Plans Expected cost Project status Expected number of stations Expected track length
km
Notes
M1A Connection of Zhdanovskaya Line with the planned Ulich Outer Circle Ћ1.9 billion Undergoing public tender 7 TBA None
M4A Connection of Pionerskaya Line with the planned Ulich Outer Circle unknown Planning scheduled to begin in 2027 unknown unknown According to the currently available information on the project, the line will be constructed in the form of a monorail
M5A Expansion of Osetovskaya Line to create links with the Lefordskaya Line, Dnistrovskaya Line and the planned Ulich Outer Circle Ћ2.7 billion Under construction 11 TBA Construction began in December 2019. 10 of the 11 stations on the line are elevated. Expected date of opening: April 2022
M7 Expansion of Shchyukinskaya Line to connect with the planned Ulich Outer Circle, Belogorodskaya Line, and Malyshevskaya Line Ћ3.1 billion Construction to begin in 2024 12 TBA None
M14 Expansion of Molodyozhnaya Line to connect with Stolichnaya Line and the planned Ulich Outer Circle Ћ2.72 billion Construction to begin in 2022 8 TBA None
Ulich Outer Diameter
First stage
Conversion of the existing Commuter rail ring of Ulich into a light rail system with its integration into the public transport system of the city as Ulich Outer Circle Ћ16.9 billion Undergoing renovation and preparation
Conversion to begin in 2021
35 TBA Conversion of the first stage to be completed in 2026
Ulich Outer Diameter
Second stage
Renovation of the former Ulich Western Horde railway, construction of the Ulich Southern Horde and the following integration of both sectors into the public transport system of the city as Ulich Outer Circle Ћ31 billion Undergoing public tenders
Renovation works to begin in 2030
Construction to begin in 2034
unknown unknown Second stage to be completed and fully integrated in 2040

Network structure

System map

Map of the Ulich metro, including Zhdanovo AeroExpress and Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail, as well as airport bus lines and notable commuter railways, as of 2020.

Travelling

Ticketing

One-day disposable ultralight card. It can be used for all types of mass transit in the city.

Since 2014, the Ulich metro switched completely to disposable ultralight plastic smart cards. The price for a single fare is set at Ћ2 ($0.90). Discounts are provided for students and eldery people. Each station is equipped with a box office at the entrance near the validators, and most stations also have automatic vending machines. Apart from that, up to 10 fares can be purchased via SMS from phones equipped with NFC technology SIM cards. Each card should be validated upon entry, and the validators have time-delay, with each card being unable to be validated for 15 minutes after the first validation.

Depending on the type of the ticket, it can have a set expiry time of 16 hours (1 trip and 1 day tickets) or set number of fares (regardless of the number of transfers during one trip, unless the user leaves the metro). The metro offers weekly, monthly, and yearly subscriptions. Disabled passengers can use their social cards to ride the metro for free. All stations also offer payment via contactless card or telephone transaction, in which case the SMS confirmation is used as warranty in case of inspection by an officer.

Since 2016, the metro also offers an electronic wallet card system to its passengers. The card can hold as much as Ћ500 and should be renovated only once per year. Apart from that, the city municipality began issuing magnetic cards for one-day, one-week and one-month fares on all types of mass transit within the city of Ulich, as well as the Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail. Such cards can be purchased only on several stations, or at shopping centres and in selected banks.

Hours of operation and overnight service

Map of the night metro lines, with the night bus service lines shown.

The majority of the lines of the metro, as well as most of its stations, operate only between 5:25 in the morning until 00:45 after midnight. Since 2017, after a reform of the public transport act of Ulich, 5 of the metro lines and selected stations on them received an additional overnight work time, with night metro trains running between 1 a.m. and 5:10 a.m.

The night metro service consists of 5 lines in total, all based on existing lines. However, on each line only selected stations work. Passengers must obtain a separate ticket to ride the night metro. This ticket also grants access to the night bus service of the city, and the Ulich-Zhdanovo monorail service, which is open 24 hours. There is only one-ride ticket, which allows unlimited number of transfers for one night, and one month subscription, for which passengers receive a separate ultralight card that cannot be used during the day. The five lines serve different parts of the city, mostly in its northern, eastern and southern neighbourhoods, while the western portion of the city is operated only by three bus lines. The night metro lines are the following:

  • M1 - the line follows the route of UlMet1.pngZhdanovskaya Line, connecting northeastern Ulich with the city centre and the district of Sorokino in the southeast, but with only 23 operational stations instead 38 of the daytime line.
  • M2 - the line follows the route of UlMet2.pngKravtsovskaya Line, connecting Odintsovo in northern Ulich with the city centre and Kravtsovo in the south, with 18 operational stations compared to the 26 of the regular line.
  • M3 - the line follows the route of UlMet3.pngBelogorodskaya Line, connecting Kommunarka with the city centre and southeastern Ulich, but has only 21 operational stations compared to the 28 of the regular line.
  • M4 - the line follows the route of UlMet4.pngPionerskaya Line, connecting the southwestern portion of the city with the eastern district of Muravyovo. The line has 17 operational stations compared to 28 of the regular line.
  • M5 - the line follows the route of the UlMet10.pngCentral Diameter, with 5 operational stations instead of 8 during regular service.

Accessability

The escalators at station Hotel Dulebia are considered one of the longest and steepest in the world

During the construction of the first nine stations of the system in 1909, accessibility was taken into consideration. All stations were equipped with several lifts, each being able to transport as many as 10 people. Lifts were staffed and decorated with cast iron ornaments. The number of lifts on each station varied, with station Imperskaya (currently named Rostokino), was equipped with 5 lifts, as it was expected that this station would see the most traffic. The Ulich metro was equipped with an escalator for the first time in 1912, when two were installed on station Parkovaya (now Hotel Dulebia), but were later demolished when the station saw its reconstruction under Soviet authority.

With the advent of the new Soviet architectural school, accessibility for disabled citizens was faded into the background, with the main focus being paid at monumentalist architectural forms and shapes. Early post-civil war stations in the system were built close to ground level, where Dulebian engineers evaluated the necessity of lifts and escalators as minimal. Stations were instead equipped with grand staircases made of marble or granite, and cumbersome metal constructions were viewed as unneeded and were also strongly opposed by both architects and officials. While with the progress of time stations were built deeper and deeper into the ground, escalators and even lifts were still widely opposed by most Dulebian architects working on the project, leading to situations when even major hubs like station Hotel Dulebia, a multi-level underground complex, was left without any back-up constructions for disabled citizens.

During the 1950s and 1960s, some major changes were implemented in the methods of construction of mass transit on the country. Complex decorations and expensive materials of the classicist era were substituted by basic, often cheap materials with little attention to detail, and a bigger focus on the functionality of the stations. During that era, stations for the first time started to receive escalators, and the presence of these constructions was standardized. Numerous old stations also received escalators. Lifts, however, were still a rare sight in the system, as they were both unreliable and required a big amount of energy and maintenance to operate daily. Even the old lifts on stations dating from the imperial period were removed. The biggest part of the system was built in the period between 1950 and 1989, and thus more than 70% of the stations in the system were opened without little-to-no lifts in their original projects.

Since 1990, Ulich metro has been undergoing a renovation process, with the main target of making it easier to access by citizens with limited mobility. At first, stations that were considered major hubs, then most transfer stations, and in the end stations that see major daily traffic were equipped with new elevators, escalators, and other systems. Still, currently, only two-thirds of the stations in the system have renovated accessibility systems, and less than the half can be considered wheelchair-accessible.

Design and architecture

Stations

Map and navigation

autumn
Vintage sign used since 1982
a showy mountain
New sign design, introduced in 2017

Gallery

See also

  • Konopol metro - underground system serving a major city of Dulebia

External links