# The metro they built without asking Moscow In 1952, Soviet counsellors rejected the Bucharest metro as a “premature aspiration”. Twenty years later the Romanians designed and dug it on their own: 6 stations in November 1979, 64 today. - **1952**: the year Soviet counsellors rejected the project - **19 November 1979**: the first train with passengers, out of Ciurel depot - **78.7 km · 64 stations**: today's network, from the 2024 Metrorex report ## The refusal First there was a no. On the morning of 13 November 1952, the Central Committee plenum debates three projects: rebuilding the cities, the socialist remaking of Bucharest and — third on the list — building the metro. All three pass. But the metro still needed one more approval, from outside the room. The scale of the project demanded, writes the historian of the Bucharest City Museum, “consulting the Soviet counsellors in order to get their approval”. The answer came back curt: the project was rejected, “a premature aspiration of the Bucharest regime”. The reasoning cited the groundwater lying close to the surface, the seismic zone and the buildings hit by the 1940 earthquake — problems that supposedly required solutions “impossible for the socialist camp”. The Soviet condition said everything about what kind of metro that would have been: stations 20–40 metres deep, doubling as wartime shelters, on the Moscow model. A metro too expensive to be possible for Romania's 1952 economy. So the metro was postponed — on paper a pause, in fact a twenty-year wait. > The project was rejected, considered a premature aspiration of the Communist regime in Bucharest. > — Cezar Petre Buiumaci, Urbanitas, 2020 ## The decision Twenty years later, Bucharest no longer asks permission. On 15 February 1972, in the meeting of the Executive Political Committee, Nicolae Ceaușescu decides on “naming a commission that would elaborate proposals concerning the development of public transportation in Bucharest, in particular by building transportation systems with electric means of great capacity and speed, as well as the construction of the subway”. Meanwhile the Titan–Balta Albă and Drumul Taberei–Militari estates had filled the city with people the trams could no longer hold. The tone is set by the meeting of 17 January 1975, which approves the decree founding the Bucharest Metro enterprise. The transcript keeps Ceaușescu blunt: “I have seen the organisation problems, but I must tell you that everything has to be executed in the country, including the shields.” The shields — the machines that dig tunnels — were to be designed and cast in Romania. Works start in April 1975, and the enterprise soon gathers specialists from railways, hydropower plants, mines and buried utilities — the people who already knew how to dig in Romania. But the deadlines are so tight that the design–prototype–test–redesign–series principle is simply abandoned: stages get “burned”. ## The digging Under Bucharest there is mud, water and pipes nobody has mapped. The first buckets meet what everyone feared: muddy ground, heavy infiltration along the whole route. The soil had been investigated too little, and the shields — open-front, hand-dug — advanced through practically unknown ground, under old and vulnerable buildings, with too few skilled workers for such a job. Groundwater remains the greatest problem: the strata change every few metres, and the pumps barely keep up. On one section the freezing of the groundwater is tried experimentally — an expensive, slow fix on a hurried site. Many techniques are applied “on the move”, against the clock, to catch the deadlines. When outside help comes, it does not come from the East: Professor Herald Wagner, of the Hanover Technical University, visits the site and leaves one plain piece of advice — where hydrogeological studies are missing, drill probe boreholes and choose the fix case by case. Line 1, in the builder's figures (Constantinescu et alii 1988, via Buiumaci): - **4 million**: cubic metres of earth dug out — about 1,600 Olympic pools - **900,000**: cubic metres of poured concrete - **420,000**: square metres of retaining walls - **3,000 km**: of power and telecom cables - **40+**: design and research institutes - **45**: collaborating enterprises ## The first train 19 November 1979: a train with people in it leaves Ciurel depot. On 19 November 1979, the first metro train leaves Ciurel depot for Semănătoarea station, and the first passengers board from the platform. Three days earlier, on 16 November, the metro had been put into experimental service — with the public. A whole month of trials with people in the cars follows — according to the Metrorex history, the only metro in the world tested this way. The official ribbon is cut on 19 December, and the reception report is signed on the 27th. The first section measures 8.63 km and six stations: Semănătoarea, Grozăvești, Eroilor, Izvor, Piața Unirii, Timpuri Noi. The older history gives 8.1 km; 8.63 km is the length in the 2024 Metrorex report. ## The number that says it all: 12 metres is the average depth of a Bucharest metro station. The Soviet school — the one that rejected the project in 1952 — demanded 20–40 metres: a shelter-metro, Moscow-style. Bucharest dug much shallower: 12 metres is about seven people standing head to toe; 40 metres would have been about twenty-four. _Average depth: metrorex.ro, via Buiumaci 2020. The 20–40 m demand: Udriște 2009, via Buiumaci._ ## Today's network, in journeys: 152.0 million metro journeys in 2024 — 6.5% more than in 2023. On average, about 400,000 a day; in normal conditions, about 500,000. A fifth of Bucharest's public-transport journeys, on a twentieth of the network's length. M1 and M2 alone carry 78% of the journeys. _Metrorex, activity report for 2024._ ## The map: station by station, year by year Every dot is a station drawn at its real coordinates. Drag the years to watch the network grow. The whole network, 1979–2023: 57 physical points, coloured by opening year. The map shows 57 physical points; Metrorex counts 64 stations, because the shared Eroilor–Nicolae Grigorescu section counts on both lines, M1 and M3. The Dâmbovița is drawn from OpenStreetMap; the lines join the stations in route order. ### Stations opened per decade (first openings): - **1979**: 6 - **1980–1989**: 29 - **1990–1999**: 3 - **2000–2009**: 5 - **2010–2019**: 4 - **2020–2023**: 10 ## The network today Five lines, 78.7 km of double track, 64 stations. - **M1**: 31.01 km, 22 stations, 62.0 m journeys in 2024 - **M2**: 20.38 km, 15 stations, 56.1 m journeys in 2024 - **M3**: 22.20 km, 16 stations, 21.8 m journeys in 2024 - **M4**: 7.44 km, 8 stations, 5.1 m journeys in 2024 - **M5**: 7 km, 10 stations, 7.0 m journeys in 2024 M1 and M3 share 7 stations between Eroilor and Nicolae Grigorescu — which is why the per-line stations add up to 71 while the network counts 64. ### The old station names - ~~Semănătoarea~~ → Petrache Poenaru - ~~Armata Poporului~~ → Lujerului - ~~Industriilor~~ → Preciziei - ~~Depoul IMGB~~ → Berceni - ~~IMGB~~ → Dimitrie Leonida - ~~Leontin Sălăjean~~ → Nicolae Grigorescu - ~~Pieptănari~~ → Eroii Revoluției - ~~Muncii~~ → Costin Georgian - ~~Policolor~~ → Nicolae Teclu - ~~Linia de Centură~~ → Anghel Saligny - ~~Laromet~~ → Laminorului (project name) ## The driver's cab You are driving the 19 November 1979 train. Six stations, six questions — bring them all in on time. - **Semănătoarea**: The train leaves Ciurel depot for the first station. What was it called in 1979? *Semănătoarea.* Semănătoarea — it was named after the engineer Petrache Poenaru only in 2009. - **Grozăvești**: How deep are the stations you are passing, on average? *12 metres.* 12 metres — more than three times less than the 40 metres the Soviet school demanded. - **Eroilor**: How long is the whole of today's section, to Timpuri Noi? *8.63 km.* 8.63 km, per the 2024 Metrorex report. The older history gives 8.1 km. - **Izvor**: In which year did the Soviet counsellors reject the metro project? *1952.* 1952 — “a premature aspiration of the Bucharest regime”. - **Piața Unirii**: “Everything has to be executed in the country, including…” — how does the January 1975 order end? *the shields.* “…including the shields” — the tunnelling machines, designed and cast in Romania. - **Timpuri Noi**: End of the line. When was the metro's official ribbon cut? *19 December 1979.* 19 December 1979 — the ribbon. The reception was signed on the 27th. ## What is said and what the sources show Five claims that go around, checked against documents. ### “The metro opened on 16 December 1979.” (False) The date goes around in shorthand. There were three moments: 16 November (experimental, with the public), 19 November (the first train out of Ciurel) and 19 December (the official ribbon). “16 December” mixes the first two with the third. The source of the confusion: November versus December, in the same winter. ### “The network is 80.1 km long.” (Imprecise) That is what the English Wikipedia says. The 2024 Metrorex report gives 78.7 km of double track. The per-line lengths add up to 88.03 km, because the shared section is counted twice. The differences come from rounding and from the shared sections. ### “The first section was 8.1 km long.” (Partly) That is what the older Metrorex history gives. The 2024 report gives 8.63 km for the same section. Both figures are attested; the one kept is 8.63 km, from the 2024 report. Metrorex does not explain the 530-metre difference. ### “The only metro tested with people.” (Attributed) A month of trials with passengers, between 16 November and 19 December 1979. So the Metrorex history claims. The month of trials is documented; the worldwide uniqueness could not be verified independently. Verified: the month of trials. Unverified: the uniqueness. ### “The stations are deep, like Moscow's.” (False) A decades-old metro means palace-stations at great depth. The average is 12 metres. Depths of 20–40 metres were the demand of the 1952 Soviet school — the very one that was rejected. 12 metres is the network average, not the depth of every station. ## Limits What stays unresolved. - **M6.** The 1 Mai–Otopeni line (12 stations, 14.2 km) is under construction; press calendars change from year to year, so no dates appear here. - **The Soviet side.** The 1952 rejection is known only through the Romanian archive quoted by Buiumaci; no Moscow documents were consulted. - **Journeys.** The passenger count means trips recorded by the fare system, not distinct people. - **Images.** No period photographs: the licence could not be verified for each image. The map is drawn from OpenStreetMap coordinates; the M roundel is an original drawing. ## Sources The political chronology and the digging figures come from Buiumaci 2020 (Urbanitas, Bucharest City Museum), citing Udriște 2009, Constantinescu et alii 1988, Ianuş 2015 and SANIC transcripts. The network, the sections and the journeys come from the Metrorex activity report for 2024. The month of trials with people comes from the Metrorex history reproduced by Evenimentul zilei (2014). The station coordinates, the colours and the Dâmbovița come from OpenStreetMap (ODbL). The per-station years come from the station list (English Wikipedia), checked against the Metrorex sections. The derived figures (percentages, daily averages, Olympic pools) start from the numbers in the sources above. - Buiumaci, Cezar Petre, 2020. Metropolitanul bucureștean. *Urbanitas*, Bucharest City Museum. [full text (PDF, in Romanian)](https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/reviste/Urbanitas/01_Urbanitas-MMB_01-2020_106.pdf). The 1952 rejection, the 1972–1975 decision, the digging and the Line 1 figures, after Udriște 2009, Constantinescu et alii 1988, Ianuş 2015 and SANIC transcripts. - Metrorex, Activity report 2024. [official PDF (in Romanian)](https://www.metrorex.ro/storage/documents/1754996675RAPORT%20DE%20ACTIVITATE-METROREX%202024.pdf). The network (78.7 km, 5 lines, 64 stations), the section table, journeys by year and by line, the fleet. - Etves, Antoaneta, 18 November 2014. 35 years since the first metro ride. *Evenimentul zilei*. [article (in Romanian)](https://evz.ro/se-implinesc-35-de-ani-de-la-prima-calatorie-cu-metroul-cum-s-a-facut-o-luna-teste-cu-oameni.html), reproducing the official Metrorex history: the first train, the month of trials with people, the section chronology. - OpenStreetMap, the railway=station nodes and route=subway relations in Bucharest, queried 20 September 2026. [© OpenStreetMap, ODbL](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright). The coordinates of all 64 stations, the line colours, the Dâmbovița geometry. - List of Bucharest metro stations (English Wikipedia). [The list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bucharest_metro_stations) and [the extension timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucharest_Metro) — secondary sources, used only for per-station years, checked against the Metrorex sections. ### Map and drawings - Map: coordinates and Dâmbovița geometry © OpenStreetMap (ODbL). - The M roundel, the first-section diagram, the cab: original drawings.