this "zebra" board in USSR and now made from thin wooden plank. It used to check to if something went broken on underside the the train and dangling lower than "allowed" it break this plank or leave stains on it and station keeper will see it and inform that there are problem with train
Vienna and some Paris lines are still like that. They still use their older metro trains that have manual releasing doors. You can open them before the train has come to a complete stop and it’s always a bit badass when someone jumps off before the train comes to a halt.
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.
I agree! The card thing is unique, just had to make it relevant to the video somehow 😊. Does the Berlin U-Bahn do it for all the rolling stock or just the older ones? Thanks for watching!
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.
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!
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.
Thanks for the info, very insightful! I never thought that someone as big as your channel would see my video, I watch all the Transit youtubers in the NEC, very cool, thanks you so much for watching I'm a big fan!!
You could build a metro line directly under the street level, like in Budapest. There is a other reason why Kiyv Metro is 105 meters deep (and not was 105 meters deep - after the first air raids).
although, the main reason why Kyiv metro is that deep (in this particular case, Arsenalna station), is the height difference between the hilly west bank and the river vale The line has to cross the Dnipro that flows 120 meters lower than the hilltop. The next namesake Dnipro station, situated on a bridge, lies at a very short distance from Arsenalna; so Arsenalna herself was to be built this deep to avoid a descent too steep for the train. The deep Maidan - shallow Poštova Plošča section has the same issue
@@nonameuserua Yes that's what I meant about the high bank on the west side of the Dnipro! It made perfect sense to avoid such a deep descent that you mentioned.
I literally live next to the forest glen station and I used to take it every day to my high school, which was the wheaton station lmao. As kids we used to dare each other to jump while facing down the wheaton escalator (would feel like you were falling). We were dumb
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.
@@МаксВеличко-з1к Ekaterinburg uses old tokens from Moscow. Moscow later got similar ones made of green transparent plastic that were finally replaced with magnetic tickets. After magnetic tickets we got contactless tickets and cards for multiple use.
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.
That can be a problem for a lot of people, especially older people who could get injured a lot worse if they fell down the stairs. For me personally, I just don't like the amount of time it takes, I'm a fan of shallow stations. Thank you for the support!
@@TheTransitDiaries I commented this because I live in a place that doesn't have a metro. I remember how nauseating the escalator tunnel experience was when I visited Budapest and went into my first metro station.
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.
That's superb! I really do like the feel of the Tbilisi Metro, it has this unique Soviet yet modern charm thay you don't get in mang places. I think it's that they havent replaced their rolling stock and infrastructure style yet. Thanks for watching!
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.
Glad you enjoyed the video! You're correct. The reason why they don't have 5 car sets is because they lack sufficient rolling stock, with new rolling stock not even on order yet. The most they can do currently are those small improvements. New rolling stock will have 5 cars per train :)
@@TheTransitDiariesit is difficult to buy new stock for Baku right now. Type of train they currently use is 81-717/714, which is no more in production. Moreover the only compatible in service trains are in russian production line... There they are. The only way they can buy and use new trains is by replacing all the depot and service, which is VERY expencive
@@ДмитрийСтахнёв-ш6у Moscow is just now in the process of getting rid of the last nomernye(81-71*) rolling stock, which is in good enough condition.... not that Georgia would buy them.
@@TheTransitDiaries plus they operate on Russian-gauge rails, which limits their options to designs from post-soviet countries. This is further exasperated by the fact that they chose to sign an association agreement with the EU, which automatically placed them outside any bilateral trade agreements with other countries or blocs thereof, and therefore they'll have to shell out on European-made trains that have been modified to run on Russian gauge rails, which won't be cheap (as St. Petersburg found out in the mid 2010s).
Glad you enjoyed it! It's quite fun talking about USSR metros, there are a lot, and they are so similar, yet different! One of the only metro networks in the world like that!
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
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
Yep! Most new rolling stock does not allow such functions though. That's what makes the Tbilisi Metro unique now; the aggressive door release is now quite rare. They will still carry it on for a while more as well!
Both of these trains are based on the Paris MP59 rolling stock. In Paris, older rolling stocks (the MP59, MF67, MP73, and also the MF77) also have that quirk where the doors open prematurely. I have been in the cab with drivers multiple time and I am in regular contact with people from the RATP and I can tell you it isn't an internal directive to save time over here, but rather, a driver's habit. Quite an interesting fact
Some drivers of the new Azur rolling stock still open the doors before the train comes to a complete stop! I've seen it happen multiple times, and it is very interesting. Also, I don't recall this ever happening on the oldest now-retired MR-63 stock, only on the MR-73 (which do it almost all the time).
@@lothean oh that’s interesting! Maybe that’s Paris metro culture now! However, I guess it will disappear when more and more Paris metro lines become automatically driven.
@@envirosong I think it will take a fair bit of time before we see a full automation. Right now it takes 10 years per line from planning to end. We're just done with the automating of line 4. Line 1 was automated fully in the 2010s. All other lines except line 14 (because it was built as automated) are still with a driver, albeit most of them have automatic driving systems retrofitted on old trains - however they don't necessarily prevent this behavior, interestingly enough. We are just starting to massively replace old rolling stocks tho, almost all ancient rubber tired metros are on the way out. The MP59 is months or weeks away from its last ride, and the MP73 should be gone in a year, leaving the pretty modern MP89 as the oldest. A huge order of regular rail metros has also been placed which should in the following 3-5 years put the MF67, MF77 and MF88 to retirement and leave the MF01 as the oldest standard rail rolling stock on the network. So indeed, not from automation but from more modern rolling stock, this unique aspect that I enjoy a lot will go away. I always exit when the train isn't fully stopped for some reason. Damn, I just realized how much I wrote. Crazy how I could speak about the metro for hours...
"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.
@@TheTransitDiaries I would say so. The Victoria Line isn't a line I have needed to use much, but it operates on its own unique system to make travel as fast as possible.
Singapore's train platforms have CCTVs instead of cameras, but I don't think the driver uses them to check when to close the doors. Instead our railways' CBTC signalling system tells the train what time to automatically close their doors based on their timetables i.e. based on what time the train needs to depart to reach the next station on time. That's a bad thing if a train takes longer to brake & stop at a platform for whatever reason, as the train's door closing & departure won't be delayed even in such a situation, so instead the doors will be kept open at the platform at a shorter duration instead. Maybe because 1 of our former transport minister had suggested that trains might need to close their doors before everyone has managed to board the train (even if it isn't full) if the next train is reaching the station soon & we want to avoid holding it up
We have them in Bucharest too. I heard it's to ensure adequate spacing between trains (if it has been less than a certain amount of time since the last train, the driver must stay in the station until the minimum time)
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
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)
@@TheTransitDiaries Yes, while the Bakerloo line trains are slightly over 50 years old, the ones from the Victoria Line are from 2009, have Automatic Train Control, and they still do it ! In Paris though the newest trains that do it are the MF77 trains from 1977, I'm not sure about the following model (the MF88) but the MP89 which came in the early 90's doesn't do it
@@imaginox9 the MF88 also have the push buttons like the MF77 to release the doors so I'm guessing it possible but I can't confirm because I've personally never ridden in one because they're only on 1 small & weird line (7bis) Ps: the MP89 came out in the mid-late 90's 😊
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.
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.
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!
The main reason to use the Podorozhnik in Saint-Petersburg is that rides on it are cheaper than on a bank card. But it's annoying that it has no electronic copy, when you lose it you lose all the money on it.
@@warmike I cannot agree more. I were trying to say that there might be tons of reasons to keep the travel card as a method of payment. Methods that are not feasible will be fazed out by operators of transit who rarely insist on losing money. :-)))
@@warmike Moscow has introduced personalizable cards a couple of years ago, I think it's probably possible to recover fares from those, but unless you prepay fares for a year in advance it should not be that much of a loss unless you tend to lose stuff often. The reason it's cheaper is that supporting millions of individual bank payments per day is very expensive. Also Moscow now allows free transfers between some suburban trains (МЦД) and metro, and if you buy "90min" fares on the card you additionally have unlimited free bus fares within 90 minutes, i.e. you only pay once per your bus+rail+metro+bus trip. Hope this system to extend to st.Petersburg in near future,
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
Yes, they have some of the most modern 717s, very nice! What I find interesting is the modifications on the door opening, probably one of the only 717s built with door open buttons. I assume this is because the M3 goes outside. Thanks for the support!
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
3:40 older London Underground tube stock such as the Bakerloo Line 1972 stock also prematurely open their doors. I’ve seen it happen both in videos and by myself.
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.
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.
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
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!
What is the diameter for the Glasgow underground? I know it's smaller than Londons, which can be as small as 11ft. It's incredible how they still operate so well!
@@TheTransitDiaries For the same reason as Tsibili: Decreased dwell times. They have 100 second intervals during peak hour, so they have to get extra time where possible.
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
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.
The Moscow Metro used to open doors on the move until the late 2000s at least. Then they stopped doing that and now with the new stock it simply cannot be done
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.
I've been in Tbilisi 6 times, and only from this video I've learned that they actually have surface-level metro stations :D I blame the very good bus system for this, otherwise I would have seen the Didube station!
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!
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.
Yes, I had to squeeze in the info quickly which unfortunately leads to lack of explanation behind my listings. Wonderful article you wrote, with great insightful information! Thank you so much for the feedback and support!
That is correct, some systems still have it. A unique thing about Tbilisi's door situation is that all trains still do it. Thank you for the support and for watching!
It's even worse when you thought about sprinting to the platform just in case but go "nah there will be a train down there". And then the train leaves as you almost enter 😢. It's so painful.
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
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
Thank you for the feedback! Due to station modernizations, 102 meters are usable by trains due to certain circumstances. Good observation from you though! Thank you so much for watching, have a great day!
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!
I'll be there when you visit :). I will tell you though, aside from the façades of the Soviet metros, the USA metro systems have good accessibility, engagement with customers and community, and a lot more standards than a lot of Soviet systems. Even though the stations aren't beautifully decorated, they are very functional and make such large systems like NYC operable and more affordable. The employees there also get great benefits and wages. All metro systems have their ups and downs. Coincidentally, the Soviet and American systems greatly complement each others weaknesses. Thanks for watching, if you want to discuss more, I have a discord server (link in the description)
At the VERY LEAST, the NYC subway vehicles free a FORWARD VIEW, unlike the freight-car designs of these other systems.... A forward view allows one to detect landmarks not otherwise visible with a side view.
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.
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.
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 😁.
@@TheTransitDiaries Heres the M100 train. What a beautifull sound from the variable frequency drive AC-motors. Loved by many. ruclips.net/video/y5SeXrMmBz4/видео.htmlsi=FR1oitU3B0QiU7Yw
@@TheTransitDiaries If you're interested, Helsinki Metro is an endless source of funny lore and interesting quirks. It's a nice mix of east and west, like everything that's great in Finland. It has soviet-style bomb shelter stations and long escalators with huge blast doors at the bottom. It has a ghost station underneath one of the deep stations, just a huge creepy cave. They have tried automation of the system at least twice and f*cked it up royally both times. Before starting service, they planned on using special signals, operated by station staff, to tell the driver to close the doors. Then someone thought to install mirrors on the train and platform 🤣. If you ever feel like making a video on it, I'm happy to provide more fun and interesting info on the system. Keep up the good work!
@@TheTransitDiariesThe original M100 stock trains were first to use variable frequency drive AC-motors, giving the trains their signiture sound: ruclips.net/video/y5SeXrMmBz4/видео.htmlsi=FR1oitU3B0QiU7Yw
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
Thank you for the comment! The electronics systems were replaced and reprogrammed during modernization, so that's probably what allows the trains to do that. This also means drivers have to be extra safe to make sure the doors are fully locked when moving. Thank you for the support!
@@TheTransitDiaries Well the original system wasn't itself flawless, but I'm still surpised seeing 717 opening doors on the move. It's pretty exotic to me I gotta say.
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.
Yes, it's an interesting mix of both. The rail operations have the feeling of something very industrial and utility based like New York, and then when trains aren't in the station, you feel like you're in a Parisian palace. Thank you for your comment and support!
Hello, capybara! The the number counting down shows the time until the next train, the timer counting up shows the time elapsed since the last train departed. It gives a good feel regarding train frequency at that time. The other clock shows the local time. Hope this helps!
That's something cool as well because it's used for drivers, but passengers can use it as well if they have knowledge. The reason why I didn't add it is because a lot of systems use them. Good observation though, thanks for watching!
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.
It's most likely because of the new computer systems, software drivers, and computer hardware needed to work and save all the camera footage. Thanks for your feedback!
I will be releasing more videos in the future! If you enjoyed, make sure to join the discord! It's in the description
Why they still use rolling stock from 1980. Why not just buy new like 81-775 series
It's because of trade agreements. It's a big political discussion that has lasted 5 years.
this "zebra" board in USSR and now made from thin wooden plank. It used to check to if something went broken on underside the the train and dangling lower than "allowed" it break this plank or leave stains on it and station keeper will see it and inform that there are problem with train
@@TheTransitDiaries Yerevan uses the same trains but only 2 cars
I definitely remember older Berlin metro trains to release their doors before fully stopping
That's really cool! How long ago was that, why did they stop? I assume it is unnecessary these days?
I live in Berlin, it still happens.
In Karlsruhe (not quite a metro system, but has an underground tunnel) it also happens regularly.
Vienna and some Paris lines are still like that. They still use their older metro trains that have manual releasing doors. You can open them before the train has come to a complete stop and it’s always a bit badass when someone jumps off before the train comes to a halt.
bakerloo line sometimes does that
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.
I agree! The card thing is unique, just had to make it relevant to the video somehow 😊. Does the Berlin U-Bahn do it for all the rolling stock or just the older ones? Thanks for watching!
@@TheTransitDiaries Alas, I am genuinely unsure! I'll have to pay attention next time I'm back home in Berlin.
@@TheTransitDiariesthe Paris metro definitely does it on many of the lines without platform edge doors
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.
That is really cool! Thanks for sharing!
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!
Too bad the trains don't have a FORWARD VIEW....
@user-dj7wv5ok2x yeah, that is unfortunate
Dear supreme leader plz let me get out of your country.
-Coal miner
We in Prague sometimes release the doors before fully stopping, mostly in transfer stations on lines A and B (Muzeum, Můstek and Florenc)
That's awesome! Is that on all kinds of trains or just the 81-717s?
Yea, that also exists here in Helsinki with the older Metro types like the M100
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.
Thanks for the info, very insightful! I never thought that someone as big as your channel would see my video, I watch all the Transit youtubers in the NEC, very cool, thanks you so much for watching I'm a big fan!!
You could build a metro line directly under the street level, like in Budapest. There is a other reason why Kiyv Metro is 105 meters deep (and not was 105 meters deep - after the first air raids).
although, the main reason why Kyiv metro is that deep (in this particular case, Arsenalna station), is the height difference between the hilly west bank and the river vale
The line has to cross the Dnipro that flows 120 meters lower than the hilltop. The next namesake Dnipro station, situated on a bridge, lies at a very short distance from Arsenalna; so Arsenalna herself was to be built this deep to avoid a descent too steep for the train. The deep Maidan - shallow Poštova Plošča section has the same issue
@@nonameuserua Yes that's what I meant about the high bank on the west side of the Dnipro! It made perfect sense to avoid such a deep descent that you mentioned.
I literally live next to the forest glen station and I used to take it every day to my high school, which was the wheaton station lmao. As kids we used to dare each other to jump while facing down the wheaton escalator (would feel like you were falling). We were dumb
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.
Thanks for the info!
Also some Russian cities use tokens from Moscow, I got one in Ekaterinburg, expected something unique though
@@МаксВеличко-з1к Ekaterinburg uses old tokens from Moscow. Moscow later got similar ones made of green transparent plastic that were finally replaced with magnetic tickets. After magnetic tickets we got contactless tickets and cards for multiple use.
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.
That can be a problem for a lot of people, especially older people who could get injured a lot worse if they fell down the stairs. For me personally, I just don't like the amount of time it takes, I'm a fan of shallow stations. Thank you for the support!
@@TheTransitDiaries I commented this because I live in a place that doesn't have a metro. I remember how nauseating the escalator tunnel experience was when I visited Budapest and went into my first metro station.
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.
Nice video! Having ridden the Tbilisi metro myself during a trip to Georgia it braught back some memories
That's superb! I really do like the feel of the Tbilisi Metro, it has this unique Soviet yet modern charm thay you don't get in mang places. I think it's that they havent replaced their rolling stock and infrastructure style yet. Thanks for watching!
This absolutely gives me Prague metro vibes, even the trains themselves
For sure, it's really cool!
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.
Glad you enjoyed the video! You're correct. The reason why they don't have 5 car sets is because they lack sufficient rolling stock, with new rolling stock not even on order yet. The most they can do currently are those small improvements. New rolling stock will have 5 cars per train :)
@@TheTransitDiariesit is difficult to buy new stock for Baku right now. Type of train they currently use is 81-717/714, which is no more in production. Moreover the only compatible in service trains are in russian production line... There they are.
The only way they can buy and use new trains is by replacing all the depot and service, which is VERY expencive
@@ДмитрийСтахнёв-ш6у Moscow is just now in the process of getting rid of the last nomernye(81-71*) rolling stock, which is in good enough condition.... not that Georgia would buy them.
@jwhite5008 correct, newer rolling stock would be purchased instead.
@@TheTransitDiaries plus they operate on Russian-gauge rails, which limits their options to designs from post-soviet countries. This is further exasperated by the fact that they chose to sign an association agreement with the EU, which automatically placed them outside any bilateral trade agreements with other countries or blocs thereof, and therefore they'll have to shell out on European-made trains that have been modified to run on Russian gauge rails, which won't be cheap (as St. Petersburg found out in the mid 2010s).
Finally, a video about USSR metros. Very underrated video.
Glad you enjoyed it! It's quite fun talking about USSR metros, there are a lot, and they are so similar, yet different! One of the only metro networks in the world like that!
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
You really do feel like you're in an action movie when stepping out early! Thanks for the support!
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
Yep! Most new rolling stock does not allow such functions though. That's what makes the Tbilisi Metro unique now; the aggressive door release is now quite rare. They will still carry it on for a while more as well!
Both of these trains are based on the Paris MP59 rolling stock. In Paris, older rolling stocks (the MP59, MF67, MP73, and also the MF77) also have that quirk where the doors open prematurely. I have been in the cab with drivers multiple time and I am in regular contact with people from the RATP and I can tell you it isn't an internal directive to save time over here, but rather, a driver's habit. Quite an interesting fact
Some drivers of the new Azur rolling stock still open the doors before the train comes to a complete stop! I've seen it happen multiple times, and it is very interesting.
Also, I don't recall this ever happening on the oldest now-retired MR-63 stock, only on the MR-73 (which do it almost all the time).
@@lothean oh that’s interesting! Maybe that’s Paris metro culture now! However, I guess it will disappear when more and more Paris metro lines become automatically driven.
@@envirosong I think it will take a fair bit of time before we see a full automation. Right now it takes 10 years per line from planning to end. We're just done with the automating of line 4. Line 1 was automated fully in the 2010s. All other lines except line 14 (because it was built as automated) are still with a driver, albeit most of them have automatic driving systems retrofitted on old trains - however they don't necessarily prevent this behavior, interestingly enough. We are just starting to massively replace old rolling stocks tho, almost all ancient rubber tired metros are on the way out. The MP59 is months or weeks away from its last ride, and the MP73 should be gone in a year, leaving the pretty modern MP89 as the oldest. A huge order of regular rail metros has also been placed which should in the following 3-5 years put the MF67, MF77 and MF88 to retirement and leave the MF01 as the oldest standard rail rolling stock on the network. So indeed, not from automation but from more modern rolling stock, this unique aspect that I enjoy a lot will go away. I always exit when the train isn't fully stopped for some reason. Damn, I just realized how much I wrote. Crazy how I could speak about the metro for hours...
"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.
In London, on the Victoria Line I have seen doors open before fully stopping.
Mirrors and cameras are combined.
That's interesting, do they release the doors early all the time? I know the doors there open very fast. Thank you for watching!
@@TheTransitDiaries I would say so. The Victoria Line isn't a line I have needed to use much, but it operates on its own unique system to make travel as fast as possible.
Singapore's train platforms have CCTVs instead of cameras, but I don't think the driver uses them to check when to close the doors. Instead our railways' CBTC signalling system tells the train what time to automatically close their doors based on their timetables i.e. based on what time the train needs to depart to reach the next station on time. That's a bad thing if a train takes longer to brake & stop at a platform for whatever reason, as the train's door closing & departure won't be delayed even in such a situation, so instead the doors will be kept open at the platform at a shorter duration instead. Maybe because 1 of our former transport minister had suggested that trains might need to close their doors before everyone has managed to board the train (even if it isn't full) if the next train is reaching the station soon & we want to avoid holding it up
Great video! You didn’t mention how their countdown clocks actually count upwards. Always thought that was unique!
We have them in Bucharest too. I heard it's to ensure adequate spacing between trains (if it has been less than a certain amount of time since the last train, the driver must stay in the station until the minimum time)
Yes, that is a unique feature! I guess it became very normal to me. Thank you for the support!
well made video, this deserves more views!
Much appreciated!
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
Paris, Lyon, and Marseille metro doors also open a bit before stopping
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)
That's awesome! Do they still do it now despite safety laws?
Bacelona too, if you hold the button/door lever when the train stops, it will be unlocked before full stop
@@TheTransitDiaries Yes, while the Bakerloo line trains are slightly over 50 years old, the ones from the Victoria Line are from 2009, have Automatic Train Control, and they still do it ! In Paris though the newest trains that do it are the MF77 trains from 1977, I'm not sure about the following model (the MF88) but the MP89 which came in the early 90's doesn't do it
@@imaginox9 the MF88 also have the push buttons like the MF77 to release the doors so I'm guessing it possible but I can't confirm because I've personally never ridden in one because they're only on 1 small & weird line (7bis)
Ps: the MP89 came out in the mid-late 90's 😊
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.
Thank you for the info, very cool! I'll make sure to get that right next time
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.
Many thanks, Kim! PLEASE don't watch my video on North Korean buses.
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!
That's a fair point and I agree. I had to fit in something about the card system somehow 😅
The main reason to use the Podorozhnik in Saint-Petersburg is that rides on it are cheaper than on a bank card. But it's annoying that it has no electronic copy, when you lose it you lose all the money on it.
@@warmike I cannot agree more. I were trying to say that there might be tons of reasons to keep the travel card as a method of payment. Methods that are not feasible will be fazed out by operators of transit who rarely insist on losing money. :-)))
@@warmike Moscow has introduced personalizable cards a couple of years ago, I think it's probably possible to recover fares from those, but unless you prepay fares for a year in advance it should not be that much of a loss unless you tend to lose stuff often.
The reason it's cheaper is that supporting millions of individual bank payments per day is very expensive.
Also Moscow now allows free transfers between some suburban trains (МЦД) and metro, and if you buy "90min" fares on the card you additionally have unlimited free bus fares within 90 minutes, i.e. you only pay once per your bus+rail+metro+bus trip. Hope this system to extend to st.Petersburg in near future,
bingo
here in NYC, people still love their metrocards.
25k views!? Wow first time! Congrats chemi dzma! ❤❤❤
Dzalian didi madloba megobaro I am so happy right now, I never thought my video would be seen all over the world
Most of these Berlin subway systems are kind of retro & relaxin' even doe I never been on them.
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
In Budapest, Hungary we used to have the exact same metro cars. :)
Yes, they have some of the most modern 717s, very nice! What I find interesting is the modifications on the door opening, probably one of the only 717s built with door open buttons. I assume this is because the M3 goes outside. Thanks for the support!
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
That's great to hear!
3:40 older London Underground tube stock such as the Bakerloo Line 1972 stock also prematurely open their doors. I’ve seen it happen both in videos and by myself.
Very interesting!
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.
" The more you buy, the more you save"
i love how the Номерной and Ема-503.К have that acceleration sound... so nostalgic to me
Yes, I really appreciate it too. In Tbilisi, they modernized the train and kept the same motor technology :)
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.
On the Tube sometimes the doors still open before the train comes to a complete stop on the Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Victoria lines
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
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!
What is the diameter for the Glasgow underground? I know it's smaller than Londons, which can be as small as 11ft. It's incredible how they still operate so well!
In old Soviet days the 5 kopeck coin was used instead of tokens.
That's correct, and then it continued to tokens and eventually, cards! Thank you so much for watching!
The Victoria Line also has its doors open prematurely, but I think it's the only line on the London Underground that practices it
That's quite interesting, why just the Victoria line?
@@TheTransitDiaries For the same reason as Tsibili: Decreased dwell times. They have 100 second intervals during peak hour, so they have to get extra time where possible.
happens frequently on the Piccadilly line too, but think it might also be to do with the old rolling stock in that case
I've seen it on the bakerloo line too
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
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.
The Moscow Metro used to open doors on the move until the late 2000s at least. Then they stopped doing that and now with the new stock it simply cannot be done
The ultimate quirk of Tbilisi metro system was the smell of sulphur on underground stations.
That's one I really love!
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.
That's unfortunate that it was withdrawn. It seems Tbilisi is the only system where all trains open the doors early now:( thank you for the support!
I've been in Tbilisi 6 times, and only from this video I've learned that they actually have surface-level metro stations :D
I blame the very good bus system for this, otherwise I would have seen the Didube station!
Hungarian Suburban Railway also sometimes opens doors before fully stopping and sometimes closes doors after the train started moving
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!
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.
Yes, I had to squeeze in the info quickly which unfortunately leads to lack of explanation behind my listings. Wonderful article you wrote, with great insightful information! Thank you so much for the feedback and support!
In Paris you can also open the doors when the train is not fully stopped (at least on older trains without automatic doors )
That is correct, some systems still have it. A unique thing about Tbilisi's door situation is that all trains still do it. Thank you for the support and for watching!
20 metre cars have the classic British sound
Yes! The technology was pretty similar when the engines were made, resulting in that signature buzz noise!
4:17 I felt that 😢
It's even worse when you thought about sprinting to the platform just in case but go "nah there will be a train down there". And then the train leaves as you almost enter 😢. It's so painful.
I’ve only been to Moscow and Sankt-Petersburg metros. All Soviet metros are beautiful and fascinating. I wrote an essay about them once.
We have those mirrors over here in the uk on many metro networks
That is nice, do you guys also use cameras for the trains?
@@TheTransitDiaries yes but only on the new trains
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
I wonder what it's like riding the tube with claustrophobia...
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
If it ain't broken don't fix it I guess
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.
Thank you for the feedback! Due to station modernizations, 102 meters are usable by trains due to certain circumstances. Good observation from you though! Thank you so much for watching, have a great day!
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!
I'll be there when you visit :). I will tell you though, aside from the façades of the Soviet metros, the USA metro systems have good accessibility, engagement with customers and community, and a lot more standards than a lot of Soviet systems. Even though the stations aren't beautifully decorated, they are very functional and make such large systems like NYC operable and more affordable. The employees there also get great benefits and wages. All metro systems have their ups and downs. Coincidentally, the Soviet and American systems greatly complement each others weaknesses. Thanks for watching, if you want to discuss more, I have a discord server (link in the description)
At the VERY LEAST, the NYC subway vehicles free a FORWARD VIEW, unlike the freight-car designs of these other systems....
A forward view allows one to detect landmarks not otherwise visible with a side view.
@@jpg3702 very true. A lot of older subway stations have beautiful mosaics that are just in disrepair.
The comparison is extremely unfair; the NYC system is a helluva lot OLDER than most European and former USSR systems....
@@CraigFThompson very true and I agree. It was just a piece for the intro.
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
The 81-717.2ks that Sofia and Budapest have are so incredible. I wish we had them in Tbilisi.
@@TheTransitDiariesNow, if only they had a FORWARD VIEW for the passengers....
I love your accent!
Thank you! Why would you like it? Seems pretty normal to me
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.
New York the board you're talking about is called a conductor's board
Yes 🦓 thank you for watching!!
@@TheTransitDiaries I love the video ❤️
I believe in Montreal, Canada they open doors early as well.
in Soviet Russia, Metro rides you
This is Georgia xD
@@TheTransitDiaries Ik, just trying to make the joke. It was going to happen eventually. Is there free will in this universe?
@qiaowani Free will as long as you don't use copyrighted music for 5 seconds (happened to this video)
4:05 anyone see the twins?
Yep, I'm pretty sure it's a glitch in the simulation
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?
Ooh, which train simulators? Metrostroi?
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
Correct! Safe travels!
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.
That's really cool! Here, they have metromoney cards and NFC scanners :)
@@TheTransitDiaries you should come visit, I think you'd like it.
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
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 😁.
That's fantastic, glad to hear there is that universal feeling of hopping out from a moving object :) thank you for the support!
@@TheTransitDiaries Heres the M100 train. What a beautifull sound from the variable frequency drive AC-motors. Loved by many. ruclips.net/video/y5SeXrMmBz4/видео.htmlsi=FR1oitU3B0QiU7Yw
@@TheTransitDiaries If you're interested, Helsinki Metro is an endless source of funny lore and interesting quirks. It's a nice mix of east and west, like everything that's great in Finland. It has soviet-style bomb shelter stations and long escalators with huge blast doors at the bottom. It has a ghost station underneath one of the deep stations, just a huge creepy cave. They have tried automation of the system at least twice and f*cked it up royally both times. Before starting service, they planned on using special signals, operated by station staff, to tell the driver to close the doors. Then someone thought to install mirrors on the train and platform 🤣. If you ever feel like making a video on it, I'm happy to provide more fun and interesting info on the system. Keep up the good work!
@@TheTransitDiariesThe original M100 stock trains were first to use variable frequency drive AC-motors, giving the trains their signiture sound: ruclips.net/video/y5SeXrMmBz4/видео.htmlsi=FR1oitU3B0QiU7Yw
@tepponieminen526 sure, that sounds interesting! You can DM me on discord via my server (link below). Thank you so much for the support!
You supposedly get discount when u use the metro card
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
0:26 Don’t tell them about Boston
ROFL. No subway for you *shuts down your lines*
9:14 God save us😂
Nice video. Cool that yall have metro, in Tallinn we dont have we only have the commuter train and tram! 🚇
I guess we compliment each other's weaknesses :) Tbilisi doesn't have a tram or standardized commuter rail system
Philly’s Market-Frankford line trains have doors that open super prematurely
Very interesting, I didn't expect that in the USA due to safety regulations. Is it on old rolling stock
What the hell, where is pendilino phonk, why should I watch this high quality analysis video 😮
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
Thank you for the comment! The electronics systems were replaced and reprogrammed during modernization, so that's probably what allows the trains to do that. This also means drivers have to be extra safe to make sure the doors are fully locked when moving. Thank you for the support!
@@TheTransitDiaries Well the original system wasn't itself flawless, but I'm still surpised seeing 717 opening doors on the move. It's pretty exotic to me I gotta say.
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.
That's also a possible use of the mirror, good observation! Thank you for watching!
@@TheTransitDiaries thanks
Which company modernized these trains? They look very similar to Czech 81-71M.
They used the Czech blueprints for modernization 😁
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.
Lol, now I wanna travel to Tbilisi xd
It's quite an amazing city 😊
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.
Yes, it's an interesting mix of both. The rail operations have the feeling of something very industrial and utility based like New York, and then when trains aren't in the station, you feel like you're in a Parisian palace. Thank you for your comment and support!
5:50 in Moscow the zebra plate also hangs on the wall.
3:25 Moscow metro does this on older trains (81-717's)
heck yea
Yeaaaaaaa buddyyyyy :)
Prague has TVs instead of mirrors. There were huge TESLA analog TVs up until 2000s. Now they use LCDs.
Interesting! Are the TVs on the platform or in the train?
Did you know that tbilisi metro wagons are not new but are from the soviet union? They just colored it and updated it
Yes, most miss that detail! Great observation!
Yerevan also has a metro system. However it doesn’t seem to be as grand as other Soviet metro systems
The Yerevan system is super unique, I hope to visit someday. Thank you for the support!
what are those 3 separate 7-digit displays above the tunnel entrances at some platforms? what are they counting up or down to?
Hello, capybara! The the number counting down shows the time until the next train, the timer counting up shows the time elapsed since the last train departed. It gives a good feel regarding train frequency at that time. The other clock shows the local time. Hope this helps!
How about the countdown clocks?
That's something cool as well because it's used for drivers, but passengers can use it as well if they have knowledge. The reason why I didn't add it is because a lot of systems use them. Good observation though, thanks for watching!
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.
They have complications with acquiring new rolling stock right now. In the mean time, this is all they can do
6:46 😳
0:01 that looks like Metro in Prague
but it isn't
It's super similar, I know. The Tbilisi Metro actually used the Škoda modernization blueprint for their 81-717!
Yep
bro, this metro train is exactly the same as in the kyiv metro, the onnly difference is the paintjob
you are correct!
I still should have one of the blue tokens lying around from 2016?
COME TO INDIA and experience delhi metro and mumbai local and kochi water metro.
In Soviet Russia, Metro rides you!
Going to the gym asap so I can carry the train on my shoulders
How does the soup card make a second appearance… Also how does this solve the metromoney problem again? 😂
I couldn't break the card, metromoney is here to stay :0
It solves the problem for me (I have an unquenchable rage towards the metromoney system(
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.
It's most likely because of the new computer systems, software drivers, and computer hardware needed to work and save all the camera footage. Thanks for your feedback!
@@TheTransitDiaries well that sounds way more plausible indeed. Let's hope they'll figure it out soon.