Bucharest Metro

The Bucharest Metro (Metroul Bucureşti in Romanian) is an underground urban railway network that serves the capital of Romania, Bucharest. The network is run by Metrorex. It is one of the most accessed public transport systems in the city.

Contents

1 Lines 2 History 3 Future Development 4 Prices 5 Trip Planner 6 See also 7 External links

Lines

The subway system consists currently of four lines: M1, M2, M3 and M4. In total, the network is 63km long and has 45 stations, with 1.5km average distance between stops.

The lines run via the following stops:

• M1: Industriilor-Eroilor-Pantelimon (1983)
• M2: Pipera-Piaţa Unirii-IMGB 2 (1986)
• M3: Pantelimon-Dristor-Piaţa Unirii-Dristor (1979)
• M4: Gara de Nord-1 Mai (2000)

See also List of Bucharest metro stations

History

The Bucharest Metro is one of the most successful results of Communist Romania. It was built in the standard Eastern European style, even though due to the fact that Bucharest was one of the largest cities in the region, it was quite larger than networks in other cities. Even today, the Bucharest Metro is still larger than underground systems in cities such as Prague or Budapest.

The first line, M1, opened on November 16, 1979, running from Timpuri Noi to Semănătoarea. It was 8.63km long with 6 stations. Following this, more lines were opened:

• December 1981: M1/M3 Timpuri Noi - Republica; 10.1 km, 6 stations
• August 1983: M3 Branch line Eroilor - Industriilor; 8.63 km, 5 stations, Gorjului station added in 1991
• December 1984: M1 Semănătoarea - Crângaşi; 0.97 km, 1 station
• January 1986: M2 Piaţa Unirii - Depoul IMGB; 9.96 km, 8 stations
• October 1987: M2 Piaţa Unirii - Pipera; 8.72 km, 6 stations
• December 1987: M1 Crângaşi - Gara de Nord 1; 2.83 km, 2 stations
• August 1989: M1 Gara de Nord - Dristor 2; 7.8 km, 6 stations
• January 1990: M1/M3 Republica - Pantelimon; 1.43 km, 1 station
• March 2000: M4 Gara de Nord - 1 Mai; 3.6 km, 4 stations

Large stations which connect with other lines (such as Gara de Nord) have two terminals, and each terminal goes by a different name (Gara de Nord 1 and Gara de Nord 2). On the official network map, they are shown as two stations with a connection in between, even though, in practice (and in trip planners), they are really only one station.

Future Development

see map here [[1] (http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/buc/bucharest-proj-map.gif)]

The Bucharest Metro is currently in a period of renewal. In 2002, new high-quality trainsets were introduced on M2, manufactured by Canadian maker Bombardier. From 2006 new trains will run also on M1, M3 and M4 and the future M5 (project signed in January 2005 with Bombardier). The new trains are air-conditioned. Also, the following extensions are in the process of being built, and will be finished by 2006-2007:

• An extension of Line M4 (opened in 2000 and currently running from Gara de Nord-1 Mai) to be opened from 1 Mai to Laromet via Pajura (3.1 km, 2 stations), in the city's north. A new station (Pajura) is to open by the end of 2005.
• An branch of Line M1/M3 from Nicolae Grigorescu to Linia de Centură (4.7 km, 3 stations). The first 2 stations (Nicolae Grigorescu 2 and 1 Decembrie) will open at the end of 2005, and the 2 remaining stations (Policolor and Linia de Centura) will be ready by 2006.
• By 2007 Metrorex plans to open 5 new metro stations on M2 and M3 (new locations include Spitalul Colentina on M3, Marasesti on M2)

These extensions will raise the network size to 50 stations with 70.8 km length, making it rather extensive. Metrorex is also planning the following new lines and routes:

• A new line, which is not precisely decided yet, but will run from the Colentina quarter, via the city center at to the large district Drumul Taberei in the city's southwest. The project will start in 2006; the new line is planned to open in 2009, and it will connect Drumul Taberei with Piata Unirii (connection with M2,M3, and the light-rail no 32).

• An extension of some lines, or a new line altogether, serving the two main airports of Bucharest: Otopeni International Airport and Băneasa Airport. This will not happen anytime in the near future, even though, in August 2003, a feasibility study was conducted into the project, and it is near-certain that this project will go on. Both airports are currently served only by bus. An extension would be very convenient because both airports are located in the north of the city and hence a single metro extension could serve both of them, making transfer between the two airports very easy.

In 2002-2003, there was also a proposal to establish a commuter railway system in Bucharest, similar to the RER of Paris, to complement the Metro. This was to be run by Caile Ferate Romane, the national railway carrier. However, this proposal seems to have been scrapped in favour of the above-mentioned metro line extensions, especially the Airport Extension, as well as the construction of a light metro system in western Bucharest.

Prices

(as of May 2005)

• 2 trip ticket- 1.8 new lei (EUR 0.5)
• 10 trip ticket - 6 new lei (EUR 1.7)
• monthly pass - 18 new lei (EUR 5); 50% discount for students (EUR 2,5)
• 1 day tickey - 2.5 new lei (EUR 0.7)

• Metro tickets can not be used on trams, buses or trolleys. You must buy a ticket for every ground vehicle you use (RATB ticket - 1 new leu = EUR 0,3). Practically a trip in Bucharest costs around EUR 0.7-1.0.

Trip Planner

An online trip planner can be found at iMetro Bucharest (http://www.mycgiserver.com/servlet/patriceb.metro.MetrOServlet?v=Bucharest&o=h). For a list of stations to use with the planner, refer to List of Bucharest metro stations.

If you are travelling to Bucharest and would like a trip planner for the Metro, please visit http://nanika.net/metro and download the MetrO program by Patrice Bernard & Frank Van Caenegem, along with the Bucharest city file. This excellent program will find the quickest way between two stations, and is only for Palm OS,Pocket PC, Symbian, iMode, Wap...

See also

• List of Bucharest metro stations
• Bucharest
• Romania
• Metro (metro trains)
• List of metro systems

External links

• Metrorex (http://www.metrorex.ro)
• UrbanRail Europe/Bucharest (http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/buc/bucurest.htm)

de:Metro Bukarest ro:Metroul din Bucureşti