Tashkent Metro (Tashkent's Underground system)

Photo 1. Tashkent Metro (Tashkent's Underground system)

Tashkent Subway

The Tashkent Subway is the rapid transit system serving the city of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It is the only currently operating subway system in Central Asia. It was the seventh subway to be built in the former USSR, opening in 1977.

History

Planning for the Tashkent Subway started in 1968, two years after a major earthquake struck the city in 1966. Construction on the first line began in 1972 and it opened on November 6, 1977 with nine stations. This line was extended in 1980, and the second line was added in 1984. The most recent line is the Yunusobod Line, the first section of which opened in 2001. A northern extension of this line is currently under construction, and a fourth line is expected to follow in 2010. Today, the Tashkent Subway has 36 stations that differ from each other. The architecture and decoration of each station depicts its name. The peculiarity of the Tashkent Subway is its rather shallow station positioning. Some stations have escalators, 7 stations belong to the tower type, 4 stations to the arch type and one station (Mustakillik) to the tower-individual type. Prominent architects and artists of Uzbekistan took part in designing the stations. Interior d?cor features solid and stable materials: metal (in the form of engravings), glass, plastic, granite, marble, smalt, art ceramics, and carved alabaster. Each station is original work of art and centers on a particular theme. The Tashkent Subway has three lines: Chilonzor, Uzbekistan and Yunusobod. It is a favourite means of transportion in Tashkent and the travel time to any part of the city is very short with a four-minute wait between trains.

Lines and stations

System

Toshkent (Tashkent in Russian), the capital of the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, has more than 2 million inhabitants.

Chilonzor Line (red): Construction on this line started in 1968, opened in 1977 between Sabir Rakhimov and Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii (now Amir Temur Khiyoboni) including Khamza depot and one subway bridge over Oqtepa channel between Khamza and Komsomolskaya stations. It was extended to Maksim Gor'kiy (now Buyuk Ipak Yoli) in 1980 (including another subway bridge over Salar river between Hamid Alimdzhan and Pushkin stations). It is 16.7 km long with 12 stations - the planned eastward extension to Traktornyi Zavod (3 stations) was under way but now has disappeared from maps.

Uzbekiston Line (blue): The route of this line crosses the city diagonally from northwest to southeast via the Toshkent Railway station. It opened in 1984 and expanded between 1984 and 1991. It is 14.8 km long with 11 stations.

Yunusobod Line (green): Work is under way on this line to connect the northern districts to the airport in the south . The first 7.6 km section with six underground stations opened for regular service on 24 Oct 2001 (test runs began on 28 August 2001 - the 10th anniversary of independence) between Ming Urik (initially planned to be named Lokhutiy) and Habib Abdullayev (initially planned to be named Shahriston). The depth of tunnels varies between 8 and 25 meters. The strong construction of this line can resist earthquakes of a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale. [1] Moscow type 4-car trains are used on 100 m platforms. It sports a 1524 mm gauge and a third rail power supply (825 V DC). The average station distance is 1400 m and trains have a commercial speed of 46 km/h.

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