The Most Interesting Metro In The World - Alternative View

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The Most Interesting Metro In The World - Alternative View
The Most Interesting Metro In The World - Alternative View

Video: The Most Interesting Metro In The World - Alternative View

Video: The Most Interesting Metro In The World - Alternative View
Video: 'The most beautiful metro in the world' - BBC News 2024, March
Anonim

Nobody really counted the number of subways in the world. And not because of laziness. There is simply no official definition of this type of transport yet. Should we count Chicago electric trains as the metro, the tracks of which are laid along the overpasses overhanging the streets? Does the Volgograd underground tram refer to the concept of "metro"? Let's not talk about it. We will only add that, according to various sources, there are 114 to 168 cities provided with this type of transport. In this article, we will consider the most interesting metro systems in the world.

Underground Albion

London Underground is considered to be the oldest in the world. Indeed, the first trains of the British subway, opened in 1863, ran "under steam", and only starting from 1890, the subway began to be equipped with electric locomotives.

Just over half of London's lines run along the surface. But if the trains do dive under the city blocks, then it is shallow. And some sections of the "underground" highway are ordinary mountain tunnels.

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The London Underground is operated by a handful of private companies, which creates certain difficulties in its service (different trains, different types of cars). Major modernization is not planned for the coming years, and therefore the owners of the metro are forced to knock the thresholds of online auctions and collectors in search of spare parts for equipment that has long been discontinued.

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Promotional video:

The undisputed merit of the London Underground is its cinematic quality. Here, individual plots of more than a hundred films and TV series were filmed.

The length of the London Underground - 408 km - also breaks all records. It consists of 11 lines and 268 stations, 40 of which are closed due to dilapidation. They say these stations are inhabited by ghosts, but this is a topic for a separate article.

Parisian Art Nouveau

The second oldest is the Parisian metro. It was built and opened just in time for the Paris exhibition in 1900.

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The first branches were laid exactly under the streets so as not to damage the foundations of the houses. That is why some stations look somewhat unusual - their platforms are aligned relative to each other in those places where the streets were too narrow.

The distances between most stations are short. Leaning slightly, you can see the next stop from the platform. Interestingly, the doors on some lines can only be opened manually.

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During the construction of the subway, the authorities organized a competition for sketches of ground entrances to the metro, and the right to design some of them was given to the master of the wildly popular Art Nouveau style in those years, Hector Guimard.

Like the Eiffel Tower (which, by the way, is also referred to the Art Nouveau style, only from an architectural point of view), the entrance arches of Guimard are an openwork interweaving of metal structures. And just like the famous tower, steel arches have long been a recognizable symbol of Paris. Now city officials are slowly replacing them with something less flashy. The Parisians, in turn, oppose the destruction of the Art Nouveau arches as actively as they opposed the Eiffel Tower a century ago.

Under the Petersburg swamps

The world leader in burial depth is the St. Petersburg Metro. In fact, the St. Petersburg metro could become the oldest - its first projects date back to 1820. But, due to many tragic events, the construction of the metro in Leningrad began only in 1941, and it was opened in 1955.

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It is clear that the metro builders "dug in" to a depth of 60 meters and below not on their own whim - swamps and groundwater interfered with the construction. And all the same, everything cannot be foreseen. For example, the section between the stations "Lesnaya" and "Ploshchad Muzhestva" was closed from 1995 to 2004 precisely because of soil erosion.

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A kind of "calling card" of the St. Petersburg metro is the presence of 10 "safe" stations with closed platforms - there are metal doors, like in an elevator, which open simultaneously with the doors of the arriving train.

"Bouncers" of the Japanese subway

The busiest is … no, not the Moscow, but the Tokyo subway. For decades, during rush hours, specially trained "bouncers" in snow-white gloves - employees of the Tokyo subway - are engaged in pushing passengers into cars so the doors can close. Some carriages are for women and children only.

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The payment system in the Japanese subway is extremely complex and confusing for the uninitiated. The fare to different stations is different, and therefore there are cashiers on the platforms where you can pay extra for travel if you made a mistake when buying a ticket. Yes, in the Tokyo subway, as in many others, there are tickets, and they must be kept during the trip, otherwise the turnstile will not let you back upstairs.

For safety reasons, the Tokyo subway is equipped with a system that stops all trains in the event of an earthquake, and gates that protect tunnels from flooding.

Great helmsman

The most "closed" for a long time was considered, and is considered the Beijing subway. Its construction began in 1965. In the first years after the launch (1971), foreigners were strictly prohibited from entering the subway, and Chinese citizens had to submit a certificate from their place of work that they were not just skating, but on business.

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On the eve of the 2008 Olympics, in addition to the installation of air conditioners, elevators and TVs in the carriages for broadcasting games, the means of protection were also modernized: metal detectors and baggage scanners appeared at the stations, and the metro employees received the right, at the slightest suspicion of "disloyalty", to search unfortunate passengers right in carriage. During the entire period of the games, the branch leading to the Olympic venues was open only to participants in the Olympics and spectators with tickets to the games. The entrance was closed to ordinary citizens. Now, as far as we know, the security mode has become easier, but anyway, before getting on the subway, you will have to pass your bag through a scanner.

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It is interesting that a plastic card - a reusable "travel" ticket of the Beijing subway - can also be used to pay in a local taxi.

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Konstantin Fedorov