What was the first day of the Moscow metro? 8 interesting facts and archival photos of construction (9 photos)

90 years ago — May 15, 1935 — the Moscow Metro opened.





The ground lobby of the Kirovskaya metro station (now Chistye Prudy). 1938

1. January 6, 1931 can be considered the starting point in the implementation of the Moscow Metro project. On this day, a historic traffic jam occurred: the movement of trams, buses and cabs was paralyzed. The idea itself appeared earlier, but only now it began to be implemented.

2. When the stations were ready, many things still had to be improved. For example, during the testing of the escalators, it was realized that the handrails should move together with the steps.

3. The first train was driven by one of its creators, Mikhail Shpolyansky, an engineer at the Dynamo plant. This was in the spirit of the times: you came up with the idea yourself, and you test it yourself. It was also believed that the country's leadership was obliged to check the readiness of the facility before passengers.

4. The drivers were sought out among the best railway workers in the Union and trained in accordance with the specifics of the metro. Ivan Ivanov, a native of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, received a certificate with the number 001. A. Trofimov and N. Timofeev (their names have not been preserved) were also issued "driver's licenses".

5. The first passenger was Pyotr Latyshev, a worker at the Krasny Proletariy plant - he received a ticket with the number A00001.

6. The trip cost 50 kopecks. It was not cheap, but affordable. For comparison, a student stipend was about 250 rubles (and by the end of the year the fare had dropped to 30 kopecks). The ticket was made of cardboard and was valid for 35 minutes; the time of purchase was indicated manually at the ticket office.

7. At the time of launch, the car's interior was beautiful and comfortable: lincrusta, leather sofas with spring seats, sconce-shaped lamps. Not at all like in 1934 during testing: then the floor was covered with wooden slats, and instead of sofas there were ordinary benches. The management did not approve of this design: the Soviet people deserved more.

8. There were no sound notifications in the metro yet. Before the train started moving, the assistant driver loudly - so that it could be heard throughout the entire station - commanded: "Ready!" On the way, passengers were guided by the signs on the walls to which station the train had arrived.



Exit to the Gorky Park of the Moscow metro. Ramp pit. The development is carried out using 10-meter Miag type transporters





Filling of shaft No. 11 on Okhotnoryadskaya Square (now Okhotny Ryad Street)



Excavation buckets



At the construction of the Kievskaya metro station. Crane-jib for lowering struts into the pit



We will greet the XVII Party Congress with meters of high-quality finished tunnel



Connection of shaft No. 10 with shaft No. 11



Installation of the diaphragm of shafts No. 10–11



Ground vestibule of the Krymskaya Ploshchad station (design name, now Park Kultury). 1930s