The story
Nizhny Novgorod (known from 1932 to 1990 during the Soviet era as Gorky) is a large city on the Volga River. In the mid-1960s its population exceeded one million, meeting the Soviet requirement for the development of a rapid-transit system. Construction began on December 17, 1977, and the network was opened to the public on November 20, 1985. Russia's third subway system, it is the tenth in the former Soviet Union.
Drilling of tunnels began in September 1978 from the Leninskaya station. Developing design documentation, modifying roads and tram lines, and demolishing houses were time-consuming. In 1979, piles were driven for the foundation of the Moskovskaya station. In June 1980, it was proposed to expand the Gorky Metro to three lines.
On July 13, 1984, during construction of the Moskovskaya station, its walls collapsed; two workers from the student brigade, who were helping with construction, died. According to urban legend, the ghosts of the dead students still walk through the tunnels and metro stations.
On November 20, 1985, the Gorky Metro was opened. The first line was 7.8 km (4.8 mi) long, with six stations (Moskovskaya, Chkalovskaya, Leninskaya, Zarechnaya, Dvigatel Revolyutsii, and Proletarskaya), a depot and an engineering building. Two more stations were opened (Avtozavodskaya and Komsomolskaya, from the Proletarskaya station) in 1987, and Kirovskaya and Park Kultury opened in 1989.
Post-Soviet era
Although the pace of metro construction in the Soviet Union was impressive, the consequences of the dissolution of the Soviet Union complicated the metro's future. When the first stage was completed in 1989, construction began on the second stage. Throughout Russia, segments which opened in the early 1990s were mainly completed; bankrupt companies and workers struggled to finish them. On December 20, 1993, two stations opened on the new Line 2: Kanavinskaya and Burnakovskaya.
On September 9, 2002, the 13th station (Burevestnik, on Line 2) was opened. On September 22, 2012, the metro was closed for the first time to switch power to the new control system of the Line 1 Gorkovskaya station, which was under construction; the station opened on November 4 of that year. The Line 2 Strelka station was opened on June 12, 2018. On March 1, 2022, construction began on two stations in the Upper City on Line 1: Ploschad Svobody and Sennaya.
From Wikipedia’s article on Nizhny Novgorod Metro, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4