Sofia Metro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sofia Metropolitan (Bulgarian: Софийско метро, Sofiysko metro) is the underground urban railway network servicing the Bulgarian capital Sofia. It is the first and only network of this kind in Bulgaria. As of January 2006, it has 8 stations and a total length of 10 km.

Map of the Sofia Metro

Lyulin station

1 History
2 List of stations
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Planned since the 1960s, the Sofia Metro was not officially launched until 28 January 1998, largely because the city did not experience an urgent need for a subway system until the 1990s. Another factor was the depth construction works had to take place in — being one of the oldest cities in Europe, Sofia contains many historical layers right underneath its very core. Evidence of antiquity can be clearly seen at the Serdika Station, a mixture of unearthed Thracian and Roman ruins and modern architecture.

The construction of the metropolitan began from the areas that experience the most of traffic in the capital city, where the largest streams of passengers form, reaching up to 40,000 at rush hour. During the building of the National Palace of Culture in 1982, two metro stations and the tunnels connecting them were built.

The first section was finished and started on 28 January 1998, with 5 stations and a length of 6.5 km from Slivnitsa Boulevard through Lyulin to K. Velichkov Boulevard. Opalchenska station was opened on 17 September 1999 and Serdika station on St Neledya Square followed on 31 October 2000, making the total length 8.1 km.

In April 2004, the functioning section was connected to another one from Obelya, 1.8 km in length.

The metro's lengthening continued in 2005 (as planned in 2004), from St Nedelya Square through the centre of the city to Interpred in Izgrev. The completion terms of the three new station are for autumn 2007, but a slight delay is anticipated. Meanwhile the construction of a new metro station started in June 2006 also planned to be finished by autumn 2007. The new station is located on the crossing of Andrey Saharov Blvd. and will be used mainly by the inhabitants of the Mladost 1 living complex.

Construction of a 4.2-km line between the Central Railway Station and Hemus Hotel is planned to commence in the second half of 2007. Work on two further extensions of the main line — from Mladost to Sofia Airport and from Mladost to Business Park Sofia is planned to begin in 2008.