The Vladimirskaya Metro Station is centrally located in Saint Petersburg. It opened on 15 November 1955." It is deep underground, serving both the original M1 Line and the more modern M4 Line.
"Line 1 (Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya)
Line 1 (also known as the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line) is the oldest line of the metro, opened in 1955. The original stations are very beautiful and elaborately decorated, especially Avtovo and Narvskaya. The line connects four out of five Saint Petersburg's main railway stations. In 1995, a flooding occurred in a tunnel between Lesnaya and Ploschad Muzhestva stations and, for nine years, the line was separated into two independent segments (the gap was connected by a shuttle bus route). The line is also the only one to feature shallow stations.
The line cuts Saint Petersburg centre on a northeast-southwest axis. In the south its alignment follows the shore of the Gulf of Finland. In the north it extends outside the city limits into the Leningrad oblast (it is the only line to stretch beyond the city boundary). The Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line generally coloured red on Metro maps.
Line 4 (Pravoberezhnaya)
The Pravoberezhnaya Line was opened in 1985, it is the shortest line in the system with the stations featuring a modern design. Since 1994, it has been officially designated "Line 4," but the original name is still often used in informal context.
The line originally opened to provide access from the centre for the new residential areas in the eastern part of city, along the right bank of the Neva River. However, delays in the construction of the future Fruzenskaya-Primorskaya Line (Line 5), compelled the metro officials to temporarily link the already completed northern part of the Line 5 (starting from Sadovaya) to Pravoberezhnaya Line, as they felt that it was better to have a single connected line rather than two unconnected ones. From that point on, the line expanded northward, as per original plans of Line 5 expansion.
On March 7, 2009, Spasskaya station was completed, creating the city's first three-way transfer and it officially became the new terminal for Line 4. As per the original plan, all Line 4 stations north of Dostoyevskaya were absorbed into the recently opened Kupchinsko-Primorskaya Line.
Stations
Some of the features of the Saint Petersburg Metro make it stand out amongst others, even those in the former USSR. It is customary to have stations in the centre of a city built very deep, not only to minimise disruption, but also, because of the Cold War threat, they were built to double as bomb shelters, and many old stations do feature provisions such as blast doors and air filters. However, in most cities, the lines become shallow or even begin to run above ground as they reach the city's outer residential districts. However, this is not the case in Saint Petersburg. The difficult geology means that 56 out of 63 stations are at a deep level. The design and architecture went through numerous phases. The original stations were predominantly of the pylon type, of which there are 15 stations. Also popular was the column layout, and there are 16 such stations in the system.
Most stations have large surface vestibules, such as Ploshchad Vosstaniya ("Uprising Square")The first stage is exquisitely decorated in the Stalinist Architecture style, but from 1958, Nikita Khrushchev's struggle with decorative extras restricted the vivid decorations to simple aestatic themes. During this time a new design called "horizontal lift" became widespread, and 10 stations were built with this layout. The horizontal lift design is a variation of a station with Platform screen doors, and has not been found elsewhere outside Saint Petersburg. However, because the design became unpopular with passengers, and for technical reasons, no stations featuring this design have been built since 1972. From the mid-1970s, a new open "single-vault" design was developed by local engineers and became very popular, not only in Saint Petersburg, but some other cities as well. Known technically as Leningradky Odnosvod, it remains the most popular of all and there are 16 such stations in the city." (
visit link)
"The Saint Petersburg Metro is the underground railway system in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It has been open since November 15, 1955. Formerly known as the V.I. Lenin Order of Lenin Leningrad Metropoliten, the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is one of the deepest subway systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is 105 metres below ground. Serving two and a half million passengers daily, it is also the 12th busiest subway system in the world." (
visit link)