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'Chelyabinsk Metro' is an underground rapid transit system being constructed in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Envisioned in the 1960s, construction started in 1993.
The first three stations were scheduled to open in 2007, but this has been postponed to 2010, and now the construction company has requested to postpone it even further to 2012. One more station is scheduled to open one or two years later.

Contents

Lines and stations

Financing the project

Criticism

External links

Lines and stations

The current plans include opening three stations and the depot by 2010. The three stations will be:

★ Komsomolskaya ploshchad (Komsomol Square)

★ Ploshchad revolyutsiyi (Revolution Square)

★ Torgovyi tsentr (Trade Center)
The total length of tunnels will be 3,5 km, with an additional 1 km track to the depot.
Further plans include expanding the first line east to the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (one station), and west (4 stations) by 2018.
Two more lines running from north to southeast and from northeast to southwest are planned.

Financing the project

In March of 1998, in the midst of the Russian financial crisis, Pyotr Sumin, governor of the Chelyabinsk province, called the Chelyabinsk Metro one of the most important construction projects in the region. Construction companies in arrears on their taxes to the local and federal governments offered their services to build the Metro in lieu of payment. The project is therefore being financed by the tax debt of the construction companies to various government bodies.

Criticism

The project was initially due to be completed by 2000, but has been postponed several times due to lack of financing.
The construction plan was developed many years ago and as the city has expanded and transport needs have changed greatly, critics argue that the initial three stations will be of little help in reducing traffic congestion or improving the transportation system.
Alternative projects such as a metrotram or surface trains have been rejected.

External links

★ http://www.chelmetro.ru/ - the official website

★ http://www.urc.ac.ru/Chelyabinsk/City/transport/metro/ - unofficial metrofan site

★ [1] - a PDF document which includes detailed schemes of the metro system and its stations