There is an increasing need in developing public transport networks in the metropolitan cities of today. The situation is getting more critical with the rising prices for fuel, the increasing number of cars and thus traffic jams on the roads. A situation like this was a prerequisite for creating a new transport infrastructure with a metro system at the core. The first steps include outlining the development programme, defining the costs and the first investment opportunities.
There are three metro systems in Ukraine: one in Kharkiv, another in Kiev and one in Dnipropetrovsk and each system has its own history.
Kharkiv was the first regional centre, the second city in Ukraine and the sixth city of the former USSR to build a metro system. It was on August 22, 1975 that the first of the 1,5 million inhabitants of Kharkiv could use the underground transport services for the first time.
Today, Kharkiv Metro consists of 3 lines, 29 stations, 2 depots and around 100 km of tunnels.
| Kharkiv Metro in figures: |
|
| Number of lines | 3 |
| Total length, km | 37,6 |
| Number of stations | 29 |
| Number of depots | 2 |
| Daily ridership, mio pax | 0,7 |
| Number of interchange stations | 3 |
| Inventory rolling stock, thous | 0,321 |
| Fulfillment of train schedule, % | 99,99 |
| Minimum headway, sec | 140 |