What makes USSR metros different. 

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I definitely remember older Berlin metro trains to release their doors before fully stopping

Yup, Soviet-style Metro systems are famously known for being deep so they could double as bomb shelters, but also because of geography! St. Petersburg Metro's system is deep as the marshland on which St Petersburg lies is not very conducive to building secure underground tunnels. Admiralteyskaya station on the St Petersburg in particular is 86 meters or 282 feet deep because both the soil was particularly water-sodden in this area, but also because such national treasures as the Hermitage lie very close by and needed to be protected. Admiralteyskaya, Ploshchad Lenina, and Chernyshevskaya have escalators that are 453 feet long and 226 feet high! Arsenalna on the Kyiv Metro is over 105 meters deep because it's on the west side of the Dnipro River, and the high bank of the Dnipro River rises above the rest of Kyiv. Moscow is built on a rather atypical geology, which presents some challenges for subway excavators. There’s a mix of gravel, limestone, sand, clay, and loam beneath the city. The clay layer is ideal for construction, but its depth varies around the city, which makes tunnel building difficult and at times erratic. Sometimes this clay layer runs very deep. Add to that the fact that Moscow has a pretty vast, multilevel network of various tunnels under it, subway tunnels had to be dug where the structure that surrounds them would support the weight and vibration. In the US, the DC Metro's Wheaton and Forest Glen stations on the Red Line are both quite deep! The original plan was to build Forest Glen station above ground, but after community opposition to the above-ground station, Montgomery County approved a modified plan for an underground station! Building the tunnels through soft rock close to the surface would have been either very costly or impossible, so engineers decided to dig the tunnels through harder, more solid rock deeper in the ground, leading Forest Glen to have a depth of 196 ft/60 m! Forest Glen has high-speed elevators instead of escalators due to the depth, and it along with Wheaton station farther north, has separate tunnels and platforms for each direction, instead of the large, vaulted common room seen at most other underground stations in the Metro system. This was to save money also due to the station's depth. Wheaton is 145 ft/44m deep and has both an elevator and escalators, with the escalators being the longest set of single-span escalators in the Western Hemisphere, each featuring a length of 230 ft/70 m with a vertical rise of 115 ft/35 m.

Honestly the metro card being available seems extremely useful for someone who wants or needs to use cash to travel on the metro, since I assume these cards can be bought with cash. To use a different payment method at the gate, you have to have one of those payment methods _and_ want to use it, which is far from universal. And yes, can confirm Berlin still does the open-the-doors-slightly-early thing.

In the soviet times, opening doors prematurely was allowed in all USSR metros, but it was later prohibited everywhere except Minsk and Tbilisi. Newer trains don't even allow it.

The biggest problem with these escalators isn't the time it takes to ride them. The problem is that slanted ceiling. You can lose the sense of balance because your brain isn't sure which way is down anymore.

We in Prague sometimes release the doors before fully stopping, mostly in transfer stations on lines A and B (Muzeum, Můstek and Florenc)

Another Soviet-style metro system that more people should be talking about is the Tashkent Metro in Uzbekistan. It's one of the most stunning metros anywhere, and it took until 2018 for them to lift the photography ban and allow tourists to take as many pictures as their hearts desire. Sure, the Tashkent Metro was inspired by the Moscow Metro, but it's more than that. Almost every subway station in Tashkent is fascinating. They all have their own unique architectural features and artistic elements. Some look like ballrooms with huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling while others look like a film set from a science fiction movie. Walking through it is like walking through the city's history. Every station shows a part of Uzbek history, and they all tell a story from the Silk Road to the empires that once ruled over it! Not to mention, Uzbekistan actually has a high-speed rail system! Like the Tashkent-Bukhara high-speed rail line! The line originally ran from Tashkent to Samarqand, but an extension to Bukhara went into operation in August 2016. Travel from Tashkent to Bukhara, a distance of 600 km (373 miles), now takes 3 hours and 20 minutes instead of 7 hours! And when it's extended to Khiva via Urgench, in order to connect all the major Silk Road cities in Uzbekistan, travel between Tashkent and Khiva via HSR takes 7 hours!

If it operates at almost peak capacity, why don't they extend the trains to five cars, if the platforms are ready for it? One would think it would be a better solution than opening doors a second earlier.

Calling a card obsolete just because mobile payment options are available is absolutely unfathomable logic to me. And having actual people selling the tickets/cards is very good. Nowadays cannot be taken for granted. That would be unheard of in Helsinki.

if I remember correctly, Montreal metro also open the doors before the trains come to a complete stop, at least they did so on their older trains, MR63 and MR73

This absolutely gives me Prague metro vibes, even the trains themselves

The system would have cancelled the payment cards long ago IF they were not in demand from passengers! I live is St.Petersburg Russia and I am.very comfortable with a transport card. Here you can program various various travel plans to your card (day-tickets, monthly tickets and do on). Calling a payment method that you DO NOT LIKE, "absolete" is merely a grounfless overstatement!

Finally, a video about USSR metros. Very underrated video.

Fun (?) fact. Actually Kyiv metro system used coins instead of tokens, it was something like 0.15 Rub to enter. Kyiv metro switched to tokens after collapse of USSR in 1992 and magnetic cards since dramatic inflation of newly established currency.

In London, on the Victoria Line I have seen doors open before fully stopping. Mirrors and cameras are combined.

1:05 In Soviet Union tokens were used for a short period in Moscow and never used elsewhere until the Union collapsed. The turnstiles would accept regular 0,05 rub. coins in all cities. The tokens appeared only when prices were liberalised and coins were not enough to pay for a ride. Most cities in post-Soviet Russia started using tokens made of metal.

Nice video! Having ridden the Tbilisi metro myself during a trip to Georgia it braught back some memories

Paris, Lyon, and Marseille metro doors also open a bit before stopping

In Budapest, Hungary we used to have the exact same metro cars. :)

Coming from East Berlin, where subways and the S-Bahn was already partially built before the integration the Soviet Bloc, it's interesting to learn about standardisation in the Soviet transit system. East-Germany therefore did have a fairly strong railway industry, with only some Soviet imports taking happening.

"Premature Doors" There are a few examples that you see on the London Underground where this happens. These are the Victoria, Central, Waterloo & City, Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines.

Kyiv metro does transport cards well: the more fares you buy for that card, the less you pay per fare. Normal fare is 8 UAH but if you buy 50 or more at once, you only pay 6.50 UAH per fare. Adds up in the long run. you also get it exclusively from machines, we got rid of ticket vendors a while back.

London has small tube trains, but 4 of the Underground lines there use larger stock, a similar size to mainline trains, for routes that use larger "cut and cover " tunnels. Glasgow has tube trains that are even smaller!

In Paris and London too they open the doors slightly before stopping (it is very obvious on older Paris metro trains and on London Underground Bakerloo and Victoria lines)

Most of these Berlin subway systems are kind of retro & relaxin' even doe I never been on them.

Great video! You didn’t mention how their countdown clocks actually count upwards. Always thought that was unique!

The Victoria Line also has its doors open prematurely, but I think it's the only line on the London Underground that practices it

Pyongyang in the DPRK has a cool Soviet-style Metro! The Pyongyang Metro is among the deepest metros in the world, with the track at over 110 meters (360 ft) deep underground. Due to the depth of the metro and the lack of outside segments, its stations can double as bomb shelters, with blast doors in place at hallways. Construction of the metro network started in 1965, and stations were opened between 1969 and 1972 by Kim Il Sung. Most of the 16 public stations were built in the 1970s, except for the two most grandiose stations, Puhŭng and Yŏnggwang, which were constructed in 1987. The Pyongyang Metro artwork is incredible too. Like Moscow and St. Petersburgh Metro stations, Pyongyang's stations have chandeliers too! At Yonggwang (Glory) station, its chandeliers represent the fireworks that celebrated the Koreans' victory, and the pillars are sculpted in the shape of victory torches. At Kwangbok (Liberation) station, there are murals showing scenes of the forest from which Kim Il-sung led guerrilla anti-Japanese attacks.

Munich also opened the doors before fully stopping. Has nothing to with optimizing, if you are close to designed passenger numbers with four car trains and have space for a fifth, then simply attach the fifth carriage. It has something to do with human impantience. New metro cars in Munich with electronic doors are very annoying as it takes about two full seconds after the train stopped until they open. In Berlin it was a different topic. The passengers had to manually open the doors, so did we in Munich but the closing mechanism only had air pressure for a few seconds to close the doors. You could open the door about ten seconds after they have been closed and ride all the way with the doors open. These were retrofitted or scrapped but I remember riding an old metro train in the then U55 where I could open the door at 30km/h when the train was half way into the station, which was about 10 years ago. It was popular to open the doors on overground lines during summer to let some fresh air in. If you want to see videos the highest chance is if you look for East Berlin videos from 1989

You speak about the metro opening the doors "too soon" when arriving in stations, i've seen it happen on a regular bassis in the Paris métro (on pretty much all lines without automatic driving). Idk how much it helps with frequency, but it's kinda fun to go out of the train while it's still rolling

25k views!? Wow first time! Congrats chemi dzma! ❤❤❤

Interesting video! being an USSR metro i cant help but compare it to Romania, despite being part of the USSR whilst building its metros they are not too deep underground, even the M1 that follows directly under the river. The rolling stock IVA Astra was made in romania by Astra Arad so it differs there a lot too, the original configuration being 6 cars

well made video, this deserves more views!

4:00 Some of the london underground lines will have doors released early. You'll most often see it on the older stocks like those on the Piccadilly line if the driver wants to have some fun The Victoria line sometimes does this too but the doors are released right before the train stops

For early door opening, in some german cities (Berlin and Munich) some of their metro trains, one with handle open, is released when it's arriving on a platform, means you can already open it yourself as it is arriving

All soviet metro systems except Moscow and St. Petersburg have 105 m long platforms, Tbilisi included, so it's not 102 as you've mentioned.

In the Montreal metro, the doors open before the train stops pretty often, depends on the operator. Even the newest trains from the 2010s sometimes open doors before stopping

in Soviet Russia, Metro rides you

i love how the Номерной and Ема-503.К have that acceleration sound... so nostalgic to me

Doors on old DT3 sets in Hamburg opened also during braking into stations. From my experience at quite high speeds, opening beginning at roughly 15 km/h and doors were fully opened when the train was still moving at fast walking pace, so you could get out from a moving train. The DT3 sets have been withdrawn as of 2024. It happened mostly in rush hours on crowded stations and on end stations.

In old Soviet days the 5 kopeck coin was used instead of tokens.

New York the board you're talking about is called a conductor's board

on tokens: in Soviet times 5kopeck coin was used, not the token. the devices you see on the old photo are coin exchange - there were 20,15,10kop denominations that were split into 5kop (large brass one) coin. In late 1980s various tokens were created to meet rising fare price. They need to be compatible with existing turnstile infrastructure and different from 5kop coins. Moscow introduced brass tokens (heavier?), then switched to translucent fluorescent green ones. Curiously, old brass tokens were given to some other subway system (may be Nizhny Novgorod), with 'Moscow Metropolitan' still stamped on them.

Hungarian Suburban Railway also sometimes opens doors before fully stopping and sometimes closes doors after the train started moving

4:01 The Medellín Metro does the same, I thought it was unintentional, because sometimes the trains could be moving at 5 or 6 Km-h while opening doors, but yeah, it's a feature lmao

The mirrors are not used to only see for the passengers entering the metro but to also see the zebra mark below on the track because the train driver cannot see it directly through the cabin.

We have those mirrors over here in the uk on many metro networks

here in greece the doors have sensor's so when someone is standing in the middle of the doors the doors make a beeping sound and they stay open until the person gets in or out the train

Older lines of the Paris metro release their doors early. You hear this hiss sound and then you can open the doors when the train is still moving. Also, the driver of the Bakerloo line in London sometimes releases the doors early as well - not often but it happens! . I also know a lot of transit systems are in transition between using their cards and mobile/credit card payment - London included. Good to see what's going on in Georgia!

I’ve only been to Moscow and Sankt-Petersburg metros. All Soviet metros are beautiful and fascinating. I wrote an essay about them once.

In Paris you can also open the doors when the train is not fully stopped (at least on older trains without automatic doors )

The Soviet metro system is serene despite that they're almighty, robust and at times velocity. 소련의 지하철 시스템은 견고하고 때로는 빠른 속도임에도 불구하고 고요합니다.

In the worlds northernmost metro, Helsinki, the oldest rolling stock (M100) also allows the driver to open the doors before stopping. I believe the drivers used to be trained to open them just before coming to a stop. But there is a speed limit for door open/release, to prevent accidental opening at high speeds. As a kid I would feel like a badass, if I got to jump out while the train was still in motion. Of course this depends on the driver. Some boring types wait for the train to stop fully. As a bus driver, when driving older buses without doors safety systems, i like to open the doors in slow speed, so that they are fully open when the bus stops. For faster entry/exit and because it looks cool 😁.

on the london underground they open the doors before the trains stop on the bakerloo line as it has very old rolling stock. also at some stations walking from one platform to a different platform can be up to 10 minutes of hell in a small tunnel

20 metre cars have the classic British sound

I wish you'd make a video on a Moscow metro like that... Oh, and did you know, that you can drive these trains in a few funny trainsims?

We have almost the same metro cars here in budapest on the line M3, they are just renovated. But like the _exact_ same ones. Same with the escalators

I love your accent!

Tourist guide says that metro card is used for all types of public transport, so u can travel with multiple types of transport in 90min session

4:17 I felt that 😢

In Paris they still doing It with ( of course not possible on the newest train ) and also not only in the metro but also with the Suburban Trains

Have they changed door closing control system? If I'm not mistaken 717s brake as soon as the "door safety loop" brakes. Btw I love those thyristors

The long escalators are because some of the metro stations had to be deep because of geology, geography, aquifers, and such. Not every city can just dig a ditch and put trains it it. St. Petersburg for example - the surface is too unstable, so they had to dig too deep down in the clay layers. Sometimes it was not possible and St.Petersburg still suffers in one place where metro is in constant risk of leaks, sinking and structural failure. Of course in the US there would simply not be a subway in such a city and everyone is just forced to own a car and drive. Better a deep metro than none at all. The claim that cameras are not used because of power constraints is absolutely bonkers. A camera takes a fraction of power of one of the dozens of incandescent/electrolumenescent bulbs those trains are designed to use (and most of those were long replaced by LED bulbs to save on power). Furthermore cameras installed on trains are rarely used for door checking because they face outwards. Instead the cameras and monitors are installed in the stations, and often do not offer better view than a mirror does, but they are prone to failure and expensive to maintain. Cameras are required on curved stations like "mind the gap" ones in London, otherwise another person has to be employed to observe the far end of the station and give a clear signal to the train driver, but Soviet metros were almost always built with straight stations for this exact reason. Newer stations do get built on curves sometimes and they do have cameras. Some systems also have trains much longer than originally envisioned so on crowded stations they also have cameras that display the rear end of the train for extra safety. Still the mirrors are not just "historic", they are the solution that works and does not need replacement. The card payment system is most definitely NOT obsolete, it's more flexible and more foolproof than credit/debit cards. It's also cheaper because one bulk bank transfer per month costs much less than 20 small ones, so the cards can offer monthly discounts and such. Staffing one booth to sell fares like once a month is not nearly as much of a problem as supporting the banking payments systems clearing millions of individual money transfers per day. The bank card option is for tourists and people who use the system infrequently. Metro card system is used everywhere from London to Tokyo and nowhere I heard it being obsolete. I would be extremely upset if my city removes it for example.

In the Soviet Union the 'token' to enter a metro was a 5-kopeika coin. 1:13 These are from post-Soviet times. The bottom row is not tokens but lead seals. The second from the bottom row are paid phone tokens. And the leftmost one in the second from the top row is a some slot machine token.

It is not obsolete if you can't insert cash into the turnstiles. A metro is an essential public service so must take cash, even if you're American.

If they are hitting capacity, why don't they just add their 5th Waggon. They can't be too expensive to get and 25% added capacity per train sounds worth it to me.

On the Tube sometimes the doors still open before the train comes to a complete stop on the Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Victoria lines

As someone who uses St Petersburg metro daily i will argue that cards are useful, unlike debit cards that everyone have, special metro cards may be used not only for metro but for all kinds of public transport around city and unlike paying with debit card buying travel card for a month is way cheaper Example: one use of debit card for metro will cost you 75 rubles, while metro card for a month is 750 rubles, with debit card you will come to this amount in a less than a week, so here we are seeing that metro cards way more useful

Joining the door comments, not metro but the light rail in Düsseldorf, Germany opens its doors early even on modern cars build in the early 2000s. Soviet metros are so interesting, a constant roaring clockwork of no nonsense just straight efficient public transport. Especially compared to riding a cold loud Ikarus bus or tatra tram. The deep stations don't matter that much as passengers likely aren't going just one stop

Which company modernized these trains? They look very similar to Czech 81-71M.

Philly’s Market-Frankford line trains have doors that open super prematurely

The card could usually be the more cost-effective option. Moscow's pubic transport system, for example, has NFC readers, meaning that you can pay with a regular debit/credit card, or any smartphone or smartwatch with NFC. That being said, "troika" public transport cards are still more popular as: - They're cheaper, often significantly so if you buy a monthly/yearly pass. - You get charged for half a trip if you get on a bus, tram, or a train operating on one of the five urban rail lines within 20 minutes of leaving the nearest metro station. - You can use the bathrooms in the metro stations for free as long as you've got money on your card. - You can earn bonus points that you can use to get a discount in some stores, or to top up your card. - You can register your card in their app and upload your face ID to their system, which will enable you to pay by face ID (the turnstiles are equipped with cameras). - You can get "troika" accessories with NFC chips that you can use instead of an actual card. I myself have one of their leather bracelets, but they also offer keychains and rings.

As an American, I live in Jersey close to NYC and the subway is a literal dungeon. What I love about most European and former USSR metro systems are the old rollingstock and the beautiful architecture. We got nothing like that over here unless you wanna count DC and their brutalist design. This video makes me want to visit Tbilisi and ride their metro lol. Keep up the great work!

5:50 in Moscow the zebra plate also hangs on the wall.

9:14 God save us😂

6:46 😳

What the hell, where is pendilino phonk, why should I watch this high quality analysis video 😮

3:25 Moscow metro does this on older trains (81-717's)

COME TO INDIA and experience delhi metro and mumbai local and kochi water metro.

Lol, now I wanna travel to Tbilisi xd

Prague has TVs instead of mirrors. There were huge TESLA analog TVs up until 2000s. Now they use LCDs.

How about the countdown clocks?

I still should have one of the blue tokens lying around from 2016?

Yerevan also has a metro system. However it doesn’t seem to be as grand as other Soviet metro systems

Why are there mirrors on the train like on a bus?

heck yea

Nice video. Cool that yall have metro, in Tallinn we dont have we only have the commuter train and tram! 🚇

Cameras are not used due to power limitations? What? Do you know how much power the train uses? Cameras literally work for free compared to that.

In Soviet Russia, Metro rides you!

bro, this metro train is exactly the same as in the kyiv metro, the onnly difference is the paintjob

How does the soup card make a second appearance… Also how does this solve the metromoney problem again? 😂

0:01 that looks like Metro in Prague

While the USSR THINKS it still exists, legally it doesn't. So these might have been Soviet era built metro, they are not Soviet anymore and have been modernized in the last 35 years.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rHMUdZ61AlQ.html Doors open and people getting out of the DT3 set in Hamburg while it is still slowing down and coming to a stop.

Why is the metro so deep

Okay, but do we hate the Ezh? (The correct answer is yes)

🚇

0:26 Don’t tell them about Boston

I lost my wallet with my Metromoney card 2 weeks ago in Tallinn 😢