Will the previously approved concept for the development of the transport system of St. Petersburg work in 2022, and which new stations will expand the subway scheme in the near future? We propose to take a closer look at the issue that worries the residents and guests of St. Petersburg and find out what changes are possible in the metro construction schedule and what the latest news says.
Construction history
The St. Petersburg metro was opened in November 1955 - 20 years after the Moscow one. On November 15, 1955, the grand opening of the first line of the St. Petersburg metro took place and the first subway trains with passengers departed from Vosstaniya Square.
The Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya line includes seven stations:
- Vosstaniya Square;
- Vladimirskaya;
- Institute of Technology;
- Baltic;
- Narvskaya;
- Kirovsky plant;
- Avtovo.
Soon, the Pushkinskaya station was opened, which made it possible to get by metro to Moskovsky and Varshavsky, Baltic and Vitebsky stations.
On June 1, 1958, the first metro line was extended to the north and the stations Chernyshevskaya and Ploshchad Lenin opened, where the Finlyandsky railway station is located. More than a thousand builders have received government awards for their selfless work.
More than 65 years have passed since the launch of the first train in the metro, but in terms of the pace of development, it still lags behind its older brother by at least two decades. And this greatly affects the quality of life. At the beginning of 2022, there are 5 metro lines in St. Petersburg, which have 72 stations and 7 transfer hubs. The total length of the tracks is over 150 km.
Recently, the city has grown greatly, new huge residential areas have appeared in it. Hundreds of thousands of people live there who simply have no alternative to land transportation. They are forced to stand idle in everyday traffic jams on trolleybuses, buses and minibuses on their way to work and home. The number of private cars is also constantly increasing, which is why the road situation is getting worse every year. New metro stations could significantly relieve the city, but, unfortunately, construction dates are being postponed all the time.
Development concept
Design and construction of the subway in St. Petersburg is carried out in accordance with the following regulatory framework:
- General plan of St. Petersburg, approved by the Law of St. Petersburg dated 22.12.2005 No. 728-99 (as amended on 06.03.2019);
- The sectoral scheme for the development of the metro in St. Petersburg, approved by the Resolution of the Government of St. Petersburg dated 06.28.2011 No. 836 (as amended by the Resolution of the Government of St. Petersburg dated 04.12.2018 No. 921);
- State program "Development of the transport system of St. Petersburg", approved by the Resolution of the Government of St. Petersburg dated 06/30/2014 No. 552 (as amended on 02/11/2020).
In 2008, the city authorities expected 41 stations to be opened by 2020. Then the plans were repeatedly revised, corrected, changed, and in 2011 a greatly reduced new program for the development of the metro was adopted (13 new stations and 2 electric depots).
According to the St. Petersburg metro development plan approved in 2011, if the work will not be delayed in 2022 and beyond, then by 2030 the metro map should receive several new stations at once and acquire the following form.
New stations that have been commissioned
And now 2022 is just around the corner, and only 10 new stations have appeared in St. Petersburg (of which the last three were put into operation more than a year ago, in October 2019):
- "Obvodny Canal" (2010),
- "Admiralteyskaya" (2011),
- "Bucharest" and "International" (2012),
- interchange "Spasskaya" without access to the surface (2009; the lobby was opened only in November 2013),
- Zenit (formerly Novokrestovskaya) and Begovaya (2018),
- "Shushary", "Danube" and "Prospect of Glory" (2019).
Stations planned to open in 2022
"Yugo-Zapadnaya" and "Putilovskaya" (Krasnoselsky district)… The stations are located nearby and new buildings: RC "Angliyskaya Milya", RC "Nautilus", RC "Pearl Cascade", RC "Premiera-2", RC "Aist". Also nearby are the Yuzhno-Primorsky District, Polezhaevsky Park, Aleksandrino Park, the Gulf of Finland, the Pearl Plaza shopping center.
"Mining Institute" (Vasileostrovsky district)… The station should be located next to the Baltiyskiy shopping center, the Marine Station and the Mining University. The construction of the metro here will improve the transport infrastructure of new residential complexes: apart-hotel NEXT, RC Columbus (Captains Harbor), RC Palazio and RC Golden City.
Earlier it was planned that in 2022 not only all the work at the Mining Institute station would be completed, but also a transition to the Bolshoy Prospekt-2 station would be built.
Possible date offset
As for both the immediate and the more distant prospects, there have been regular changes. Due to the events of 2020 (financial crisis, coronavirus), the budget had to first be cut by 8 billion rubles, and then redistributed funds within the targeted investment program for the development of transport infrastructure. The Lakhtinsko-Pravoberezhnaya ("orange") and Krasnoselsko-Kalininskaya ("brown") lines suffered the most.
Taking into account the forecasts of experts and the current situation, the most likely dates for the commissioning of new objects:
Lakhtinsko-Pravoberezhnaya line:
- Mining Institute (approximately December 2023);
- "Theatrical" (approximately 2024-2025);
- Kudrovo (approximately 2025; however, its design has already been postponed for a year, until the fall of 2021);
- "Harbor", "Marine Facade" (after 2030).
Krasnoselsko-Kalininskaya line:
- "South-West", "Putilovskaya" (approximately 2023);
- "Armor", "Zastavskaya" (after 2026);
- Borovaya (after 2026);
- Suvorovskaya, Polyustrovsky Prospect (after 2030).
Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya line:
- Bogatyrskaya (formerly Tourist, after 2026);
- "Kamenka" (formerly "Glider", after 2026).
It was also assumed that on the metro map until 2022 there will be stations Industrialny Prospekt, Ulitsa Kommuny, Bolsheokhtinskaya, Ploschad Kalinina, but even in theory they can be expected no earlier than 2030.
Conclusion
Such a slow development of the St. Petersburg metro is associated with many different factors. But, first of all, we are talking about the specifics of the area, which is full of groundwater and other surprises, the complexity of the work being carried out, as well as the lack of funding. The regional budget of St. Petersburg is several times less than the Moscow budget, therefore, the city simply has no opportunity to introduce several new stations per year (or at least two).
The coronavirus crisis has confused many plans, including the construction of a subway. The opening of new stations is not planned for 2021 and 2022, and most likely the St. Petersburg metro map will remain unchanged, but by 2025 it is theoretically possible to open 4-5 new facilities. But, given the well-established practice of "throwing" money from one construction to another, even these modest intentions may not be realized without additional financial investments.
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