Omsk Metro

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2022) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (October 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Russian Wikipedia article at [[:ru:Омский метрополитен]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|ru|Омский метрополитен}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Omsk Metro" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Omsk Metro
Entrance to the Biblioteka Imeni Pushkina station
Overview
Native name	Омский метрополитен Omskiy metropoliten
Transit type	Rapid transit/Light metro
Number of lines	1 (planned)
Number of stations	4 (planned)
Operation
Operation will start	Cancelled (May 2018)
Technical
System length	7.5 km (4.7 mi)
Track gauge	1,524 mm (5 ft)
Average speed	36 km/h (22 mph)
System map Situation in May 2018 Unbuilt section Zapadnaya Solnechnaya Molodyozhnaya Prospekt Rokossovskogo Sobornaya* Kristall* Zarechnaya* Irtysh Biblioteka Imeni Pushkina Unbuilt section Torgovy Tsentr Om Marshala Zhukova Lermontovskaya Parkovaya Tupolevskaya* Rabochaya* Unbuilt section Moskovskaya Sibirsky Prospekt (*) Under construction This diagram: view talk edit

Omsk Metro (Russian: Омский метрополитен, Omskiy metropoliten) is a cancelled rapid transit line that underwent various phases of construction from 1992 to 2018 in Omsk, Russia. It was to become Siberia's second metropolitan underground railway system after the Novosibirsk Metro which opened in the mid-1980s.

Construction of the first line of the Metro suffered from many delays, with the planned opening date being postponed four times: from 2008 to 2010, then 2015, then again to 2016.^[1] In May 2018, the regional government of the Omsk Oblast stopped construction after 26 years, leaving behind an unfinished system with only one station that serves as a pedestrian underpass, and a double-decker metro/road bridge over the Irtysh river.^[2]

History

Central planners in Moscow first identified Omsk as a metro-eligible city during the 1960s, due to its length along the Irtysh River and its relatively narrow streets. But after the plan was approved and financed, the planners decided to build an express tram instead, and the money allocated to Omsk was given to Chelyabinsk. In 1979, a Gosplan commission rejected a plan to build an express tram system since it was predicted to be unable to handle projected passenger flows without severely discomforting riders. In 1986, metro plans were revisited and financing began, along with the demolition of residential buildings to make way for tracks and a yard.

Construction began in 1992 between the stations Tupolevskaya (Russian: Туполевская) and Rabochaya (Russian: Рабочая ~ Workers' Station). The initial plans involved opening the section between the stations Marshala Zhukova and Rabochaya on the right bank of the Irtysh River to connect downtown to the manufacturing district, and then later to connect the line to the opposite bank of the Irtysh. Due to poor financial circumstances, by 2003 just the section between Tupolevskaya and Rabochaya was completed (with no intermediate stations). At that time the plans changed and the authorities decided to connect the two banks of the Irtsh with a metro bridge, going between one station on the right bank and three on the left bank. The combined metro (lower level) and motor-vehicle (upper level) bridge was built and opened to vehicular traffic in 2005.

The current phase of construction involves four stations:

• Biblioteka Imeni Pushkina (Библиотека имени Пушкина – Pushkin Library)
• Zarechnaya (Заречная – Over the River)
• Kristall (Кристалл)
• Sobornaya (Соборная – Cathedral Station)

This section is 6.1 kilometers (3.8 mi) in length. The average speed is expected to be 36 km/h and travel time along the entire route is expected to be 10 minutes 12 seconds. Daily ridership is projected at 190,000 passengers and yearly ridership at 69 million.

On 2 September 2011, Biblioteka Imeni Pushkina opened to the public as a pedestrian underpass: at the time, metro constructors expected the system to open in the autumn of 2015.^[3]

Since 2014, construction on the system had stalled, but an 84.6 million Ruble contract was awarded to the Russian firm Sibmost to carry out detailed design studies on completing the 7.5-kilometer (4.7 mi) light metro line, from Biblioteka Pushkina to Prospekt Rokossovskogo, with five stations.^[4] On 9 September 2015, it was announced that the construction would continue, in view of the high cost of preserving and maintaining the core structural features of the metro.^[5]

Suspension and revival attempts (2018–present)

According to Meduza on 11 May 2018, the regional government of the Omsk Oblast announced the previous day that they would indefinitely suspend construction on the Omsk Metro after 26 years: the regional government instead allocated ₽80 million (about US$1.3 million in 2018) for the development of a "conservation project" that would try to complete Zarechnaya station, and to maintain the tunnel between Pushkin Library and Zarechnaya.^[2] The regional government also announced that they would fill in the foundation pits at Kristall and Sobornaya, and return them to public use.^[6]

On 4 October 2022, the regional government announced that they would try to integrate the unfinished system into the city's tram network.^{[7][better source needed]}

Stations

The first two phases of the Omsk Metro were expected to deliver one line with ten stations, all of them underground.^[8] The 2014 light metro study also included Prospekt Rokossovskogo.^[4]

Station English	Station Russian	Photograph	Okrug	Opened	Notes	Ref.
Prospekt Rokossovskogo	Проспект Рокоссовского	—	Kirovsky	—	This station was included in the unsuccessful 2014 light metro study.	[4]
Sobornaya	Соборная		Kirovsky	—
Kristall	Кристалл		Kirovsky	—
Zarechnaya	Заречная		Kirovsky	—
Biblioteka Imeni Pushkina	Библиотека имени Пушкина		Tsentralny	2 September 2011	Biblioteka Imeni Pushkina is currently a pedestrian underpass: the platforms are also complete, albeit unfitted and closed off to the public.	[3][9]
Torgovy Tsentr	Торговый Центр	—	Tsentralny	—
Prospekt Zhukova	Проспект Жукова	—	Tsentralny	—
Lermontovskaya	Лермонтовская	—	Oktyabrsky	—
Parkovaya	Парковая	—	Oktyabrsky	—
Tupolevskaya	Туполевская		Oktyabrsky	—
Rabochaya	Рабочая		Oktyabrsky	—

• Biblioteka Imeni Pushkina was planned as Krasny Put' (Красный Путь — Red Way).
• Kristall was planned as Bulvar Arkhitektorov (Бульвар Архитекторов — Boulevard of the Architects)
• Sobornaya was planned as Avtovokzal (Автовокзал — Bus Terminal).

In popular culture

Construction delays have made the Omsk Metro a subject of humour in the city: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Yuri Litvinenko of Atlas Obscura have noted an unofficial map and mobile app that showed only one station (Pushkin Library), as well as souvenir fare tokens for the incomplete system.^[9][10]

References

• Омское метро будет совмещено с трамваем — губернатор [Omsk Metro will be combined with the tram – the governor]. ИНТЕРФАКС-СИБИРЬ [Interfax-Siberia] (in Russian). 28 February 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Metro in Omsk.

• Omsk Metro (official site?)
• Mostovik – general contractor of Omsk metro (in Russian)
• Omsk Metro at UrbanRail.net