SOFIA | Metro

[Gedimin]

wow, i'm impressed by the speed and cost of subway construction in sofia!
good job!

but how is it possible to build so qiuck and cheap? for instance, future 5 km extenstion to the airport build in 2 years for only 70M euros??

good soil+ cheap labour sources+ no problems with property right? or something else?

[gogo3o]

IMO it's a combination of not so expensive labour, a lot of bids in the tenders, past experience of the companies and especially for this section of the M1 - half of it will be overground and the other part, which will be underground, is not deep.

--

Meanwhile, 9 bids are placed in the tender for the other extension of M1 to Mladost 4 (2.6 km, 3 stations).

Source (Bulgarian only): http://infrastructure.bg/railwaysnew...za_metroto_ot/

[PhirgataZFs1694]

Originally Posted by gogo3o

IMO it's a combination of not so expensive labour, a lot of bids in the tenders, past experience of the companies and especially for this section of the M1 - half of it will be overground and the other part, which will be underground, is not deep.

About prise IMHO also:
+ side platforms
+ short platforms(100-5m)
+ there are no rocks to blow/dig through on the tunnels paths
+ shallow stations

About speed:
+ there are no rocks to blow/dig through on the tunnels paths
+ secured financing - EU budget(80%)
+ good expansion planning process on behalf of Metropolitan, the city owned underground operator

[Andrej_LJ]

Very interesting piece of material. Newspaper article from the beginnings of the 70s talking about the (then future) Sofia Metro. Since there is a lot of optimism and propaganda I will just write the main points how they predicted the metro network would develop:

• They planed over 100 km length metro system for Sofia
• The construction of the fist phase (Lyulin-Center) would start in 1976 and end in 1980 (it actually started 1979 and this section opened for passengers in 1998).
• Soviet technology, experts and machinery are provided for the first stage of metro construction.
• The system would have 3 main lines (with few brunches in the end of the lines) as well as two circle (or half-circle lines) along the main ring boulevards of Sofia.
• They also planed to get rid of the trams and the tram system in Sofia as soon as they finish this metro network (how things and way of thinking changed since).
• As far as the first segment of line A is concerned the stretch would have around 10,5 km and 12 stations (in fact stations are much further apart).
• You can see that they planed over ground stations, some shallow stations and deep stations especially towards the Center.
• A lot of talking about the best ever friendly relationships between the Bulgarians and the Soviet people which are helping with the metro construction and thus transforming our beautiful capital.


In the other news regarding Sofia metro construction:
• The European Commission approved the 136 million euro application form for the 8km / 7 stations stretch under construction now in Sofia. The rest about 60 million will be government and city funded.
• It is almost certain now that Metrovagonmash (our long known friend) will win the tender for delivery of 10 new trains for the above-mentioned stretch under construction. This will be done by the end of 2014 which will bring the total number of trains in Sofia to more than 60.

[gogo3o]

Preparing for the construction of the M1 station next to T2 of Sofia Airport. Seems that they are not in a hurry. This station will be overground.

Originally Posted by Geleto59

And meanwhile, EC Approves Funding for Sofia Subway Expansion Project

[Andrej_LJ]

Today in Sofia the Municipal commissions choose the projects for two new stations on line M1. The first one is a Bulgarian project for metro station I-20 called Druzhba and is currently under construction with an opening date at the end of 2014. The second one is a planned brunch of line M1 in the most populous district of Sofia - Lyulin. This station I-17 will cover part of this settlement as well as be on the Rind road of Sofia, so that commuters from the suburbs can transfer on the metro. It is expected to have a big P+R facility and be opened sometime in the period between 2016 and 2020.


The two new stations on the map:





Station I-20 Druzhba:










Station I-17 Sofia Ring Road:










I think we are slowly moving towards very modern and interesting design of the new stations.

[aquaticko]

Slowly? I think these look fantastic. Bravo, Sofia.

Sidenote: I know this is just me being a stupid American, but when I first saw that newspaper, I thought it was from the 1930's or something. Cyrillic+black and white=old?

[pmalenkin]

It's from the 70's.

[gogo3o]

Originally Posted by gogo3o

9 bids are placed in the tender for the other extension of M1 to Mladost 4 (2.6 km, 3 stations).

Update:
CEO of Metropoliten states that the construction works on this extension will begin in March.
Source

---

Several photos from the depot and the new repair facility hall:









Source

[Cerises]

Originally Posted by Andrej_LJ

Today in Sofia the Municipal commissions choose the projects for two new stations on line M1. The first one is a Bulgarian project for metro station I-20 called Druzhba and is currently under construction with an opening date at the end of 2014. The second one is a planned brunch of line M1 in the most populous district of Sofia - Lyulin. This station I-17 will cover part of this settlement as well as be on the Rind road of Sofia, so that commuters from the suburbs can transfer on the metro. It is expected to have a big P+R facility and be opened sometime in the period between 2016 and 2020.


The two new stations on the map:





Station I-20 Druzhba:










Station I-17 Sofia Ring Road:










I think we are slowly moving towards very modern and interesting design of the new stations.

Very interesting projects and quite mpressive!

[NiGhtPiSH]

The construction works for the extention to SOF are already underway - starting with street closures and the relocation of the available freshwater, heating and sewege systems.

[gogo3o]

Originally Posted by NiGhtPiSH

The construction works for the extention to SOF are already underway - starting with street closures and the relocation of the available freshwater, heating and sewege systems.

Near T2 of SOF

Originally Posted by Geleto59

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

In Druzhba neighbourhood

Originally Posted by ivojekov

[gogo3o]

Sofia municipality announced that P+R from now on will be free for public transport card holders (personal cards only, 05:00-24:00). 3 P+R are located at James Bouchier, Tsarigradsko Shose and Beli Dunav stations, with total capacity of ~2500.

Source:http://infrastructure.bg/show.php?storyid=1995005

[Andrej_LJ]

Very good news coming these days from Sofia.
The tender for constructing the 2,7 km extension of line M1 to Mladost 4 suburb has given lower prices than expected. So this segment will be build for around 43 milion euro instead of the 60+ million they had planned. So this means that the 20 million euro saved from this segment will go for extension of line M2 southbound to the quarter of Hladilnika and newly build Sofia Paradise Mall.

This all means that the most optimistic option will prevail and by 2015 Sofia will add 9 new stations of total length of around 9 kilometers. The planned extensions are:

M1 – Tsarigradsko shoes – Sofia Airport (u/c – done by the end of 2014). 4 new stations, 5 kilometer long which include construction of a new train station for transfers to the Bulgarian National Railway services to the eastern suburbs and Plovdiv/Burgas.
M1 – Mladost 1 – Mladost 4 (u/c from spring this year, should be ready by the beginning of 2015). 3 new stations with total length of almost 3 kilometers which include a big underground P+R terminal at Mladost 4 suburb for connections to the southern part of Sofia Ring Highway.
M2 – James Bourchier – Hladilnika (u/c from autumn this year, should be ready during 2015). Total length of this section is around 1,5 kilometers and include a service depot for the trains at the end of the line.
M1 - adding of the ghost station Modernoto predgradie near the depot Obelya, which also include building a new ground-level train station for connections to Bulgarian National Railway services for the western suburbs and Pernik/Greece/Serbia.

These 9 new stations will drive the total number of stations in Sofia by 2015 to 36 and add around 200 000 new passengers daily.

[batman08]

Originally Posted by Andrej_LJ

Stantion 17 will be in Mladost, not in Lulin!

[Andrej_LJ]

I know, my bad!

[JloKyM]

Sofia Airport Metro Station

[JloKyM]

More renders

Originally Posted by mandjasgrozde

[Ulpia-Serdica]

Awesome station

[dexmex]

Well how about economic crisis in Bulgaria,your goverment has just resigned.What is going to happen with this nice project..