The History of the Kyiv Underground

On November 6, 1960, on the eve of the 43d anniversary of the October revolution, at the demonstration there was solemnly opened the Kyiv underground of V.I. Lenin in front of “Khreschatyk” station.

The first section with length of 5,2 km connected five stations – from “Vokzalna” to “Dnipro”. 4,6 mln passengers were already carried for the first two months of its functioning.

Work on projecting the Kyiv underground started right after the Second World War. I remember that there were 120 enterprises of the former Soviet Union which took part in the construction of the third underground (after the Moscow and Leningrad ones) in USSR. So, escalators and cables were delivered from Moscow and Leningrad, electrical equipment – from Ural, low-voltage equipment – from Ufa, engines and generators – from Kharkiv, rails and hardware – from Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya, glazed tiles – from Lviv and etc. Tunnels were built of combined tubing made at the Kyiv plant “Leninska forge”.

The ground area of “Khreschatyk” station was occupied with a restaurant and a café with outdoor area. There was also an inexpensive bar here. It turned to be one of students’ favourite places in Kyiv. If to stand in front of “Khreschatyk”, one can see a cheap bouillon café on the left hand, and a café on the right hand, where hot milk with buns were sold. On the left side of the station façade there was a shop “Gastronomy” in the depth of the yard and there was a free water closet. Does a poor student need anything more?

The underground car of D type at “Dnipro” station. 1961

Based on the materials of the book “Forgotten Pages of Kyiv Life” written by Vitaliy Bakanov

Real estate agency “Teren Plus” offers apartments for rent in Kyiv downtown in Khreschatyk Street.