Kharkiv Metro

The Kharkiv Metro (Ukrainian: Харківське метро or Харківський метрополітен) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Kharkiv. The operational length of its three lines is approximately 38.1 km (23.7 mi). The system comprises 30 stations, including three underground interchange hubs located in the city center. The system transported 223 million passengers in 2018 (up from 212.85 million in 2017). Following its opening on 23 August 1975, the Kharkiv Metro became the sixth metro system in the USSR (after the Moscow Metro, Leningrad Metro, Kyiv Metro, Tbilisi Metro, and Baku Metro) and the second in Ukraine. The metro system is owned by the municipal enterprise Kharkiv Metro, established in 2009 through the reorganization of the former state enterprise Kharkiv Metro. The company employs 2,120 workers (as of 2012). It operates two electric depots: TCh-1 "Nemyshlianske" and TCh-2 "Saltivske". The primary source of financial revenue is its core activity — passenger transportation. Additional income is generated from non-core activities, including leasing retail space and advertising areas, advertising services (such as station monitors and station branding), as well as subsidies and compensatory payments from the municipal and state budgets. During the Soviet period, the metro was named after Vladimir Lenin. Kharkiv Metro operations were suspended on 17 March 2020 to prevent COVID-19 spread. To compensate for the lack of a metro, the city administration implemented a series of changes in the tram, trolleybus, and bus routes of the city. The metro was reopened on 25 May 2020; face masks or respirators were mandated to wear for passengers. From 24 February to 24 May 2022, following the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, metro services were temporarily suspended, and stations were used as bomb shelters. Since May 2022, the metro has been operating normally.