Thirty years ago, on April 7, 1995, Poland’s capital opened the first section of its underground rapid transit system, which has been continuously expanded since then.
To mark the anniversary, travelers passing through Świętokrzyska station, where passengers can transfer between the system’s two existing lines, were treated to sweets bearing the logo of the Warsaw Metro.
Large multimedia screens installed at the station displayed a timeline of the network’s construction, while a mosaic celebrating the anniversary was unveiled at the Wilanowska stop, where the opening ceremony took place 30 years ago.
The mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, joined the festivities and lauded the metro for its impact on Poland’s largest city.
“Today is not only a moment of celebration but also a moment of recalling how incredibly ambitious and groundbreaking this project was, which completely changed the face of the city,” said Trzaskowski, who is also the candidate of the Civic Coalition party, which leads the current government, in May’s presidential elections.
Calls for a metro system in Warsaw date back as early as 1903, when the city was part of the Russian Empire. Germany took over in 1915 amid World War I, and the occupying government greatly expanded the borders of the city in 1916. Warsaw city officials then began to draw up a plan for a metro system in 1917-18.
A turbulent period after Poland regained independence meant the project was put on the back burner, with a new plan being drawn up in 1925, but this was again abandoned due to the Great Depression. The idea of a metro resurfaced in the late 1930s but was hampered by the outbreak of World War II.
After the conflict ended, plans were drawn up to revive the project. It was thought that the work of constructing a metro could be facilitated by the city having been completely devastated and turned into a sea of rubble. However, the authorities opted to construct an above-ground rapid rail system for the city instead.
Eventually, in January 1982, Poland’s communist dictator General Wojciech Jaruzelski ordered that a metro system for Warsaw should be constructed, with the ground-breaking ceremony held on April 15, 1983.
A lack of adequate funding - which was hard-to-come-by because the communist centrally-planned economy was collapsing, just like the whole system around it - caused delays in the project.
Finally, on Friday, April 7, 1995, the first section of the first line was opened. It was 11.5 kilometers long, with 11 stops along the route stretching from the southern part of the city center almost to the city limits in the southern district of Ursynów. The line was serviced by just 14 Soviet-manufactured three-car trains.
“The opening was a grand event. Then Prime Minister Józef Oleksy, former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, members of parliament and Warsaw [city] councilors from all [political] clubs and many other esteemed guests attended. Of course, the builders of the metro were present as well - and the late Professor Jan Podoski, probably the greatest advocate of building an underground railway in Warsaw, who spoke about it even before World War II,” then-Mayor of Warsaw Marcin Święcicki, reminisced in an interview for Polish Radio.
Large multimedia screens installed at the station displayed a timeline of the network’s construction, while a mosaic celebrating the anniversary was unveiled at the Wilanowska stop, where the opening ceremony took place 30 years ago.
The mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, joined the festivities and lauded the metro for its impact on Poland’s largest city.
“Today is not only a moment of celebration but also a moment of recalling how incredibly ambitious and groundbreaking this project was, which completely changed the face of the city,” said Trzaskowski, who is also the candidate of the Civic Coalition party, which leads the current government, in May’s presidential elections.
History of the Warsaw Metro
Calls for a metro system in Warsaw date back as early as 1903, when the city was part of the Russian Empire. Germany took over in 1915 amid World War I, and the occupying government greatly expanded the borders of the city in 1916. Warsaw city officials then began to draw up a plan for a metro system in 1917-18.
A turbulent period after Poland regained independence meant the project was put on the back burner, with a new plan being drawn up in 1925, but this was again abandoned due to the Great Depression. The idea of a metro resurfaced in the late 1930s but was hampered by the outbreak of World War II.
After the conflict ended, plans were drawn up to revive the project. It was thought that the work of constructing a metro could be facilitated by the city having been completely devastated and turned into a sea of rubble. However, the authorities opted to construct an above-ground rapid rail system for the city instead.
Eventually, in January 1982, Poland’s communist dictator General Wojciech Jaruzelski ordered that a metro system for Warsaw should be constructed, with the ground-breaking ceremony held on April 15, 1983.
A lack of adequate funding - which was hard-to-come-by because the communist centrally-planned economy was collapsing, just like the whole system around it - caused delays in the project.
Finally, on Friday, April 7, 1995, the first section of the first line was opened. It was 11.5 kilometers long, with 11 stops along the route stretching from the southern part of the city center almost to the city limits in the southern district of Ursynów. The line was serviced by just 14 Soviet-manufactured three-car trains.
“The opening was a grand event. Then Prime Minister Józef Oleksy, former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, members of parliament and Warsaw [city] councilors from all [political] clubs and many other esteemed guests attended. Of course, the builders of the metro were present as well - and the late Professor Jan Podoski, probably the greatest advocate of building an underground railway in Warsaw, who spoke about it even before World War II,” then-Mayor of Warsaw Marcin Święcicki, reminisced in an interview for Polish Radio.
For the first three days of its operation, over the weekend, passengers could ride the metro free of charge. In the following months, to promote the use of the new mode of transport, a single-fare ticket valid on Warsaw’s buses and trams could be used twice on the same day for a ride on the metro.
The metro quickly became popular with Varsovians, even though the first line was not even half the length it was intended to be. Passengers who boarded in the city center and got off at the last stop were greeted with a bizarre sight – upon surfacing from the station, they emerged in the middle of an empty field, with a forest that marks the southern city limit of Warsaw on the horizon, and the Ursynów district with its high-rise residential blocks way behind them.
The metro quickly became popular with Varsovians, even though the first line was not even half the length it was intended to be. Passengers who boarded in the city center and got off at the last stop were greeted with a bizarre sight – upon surfacing from the station, they emerged in the middle of an empty field, with a forest that marks the southern city limit of Warsaw on the horizon, and the Ursynów district with its high-rise residential blocks way behind them.
The first line, M1, was completed in 2008, extending to the northern city limits. The construction of the M2 line began in 2010, in the district of Wola, immediately west of the city center. The first section of the second line was opened in 2015, with subsequent sections extending it west and east and then north-east, under the Vistula River.
Warsaw Metro today and to come
Today, the metro is served by a fleet of 90 modern, sleekly-designed trains, while the Soviet-designed cars were finally retired in 2023, although the Warsaw Metro retains them for use in case of emergency.
In 2024, the average number of daily passengers on the network was 700,000.
The Warsaw Metro now has two lines: the 23-kilometer-long M1 and the yet-to-be-completed, 19-kilometer-long M2. The total number of stations is 38, including one two-level transfer station, with three more stops still under construction. Their opening, planned for 2026, will mark the completion of the metro’s second line.
Warsaw is already gearing up to begin building two more lines, with the design phase and the announcement of a construction tender expected in 2027. City authorities have claimed that by 2050, the Warsaw Metro will have five lines crisscrossing beneath the historic city’s streets.
The metro in Warsaw is currently the only one in Poland, but Kraków, once a seat of kings, and now Poland’s second city and its cultural capital, has already started designing its own metro system.
In 2024, the average number of daily passengers on the network was 700,000.
The Warsaw Metro now has two lines: the 23-kilometer-long M1 and the yet-to-be-completed, 19-kilometer-long M2. The total number of stations is 38, including one two-level transfer station, with three more stops still under construction. Their opening, planned for 2026, will mark the completion of the metro’s second line.
Warsaw is already gearing up to begin building two more lines, with the design phase and the announcement of a construction tender expected in 2027. City authorities have claimed that by 2050, the Warsaw Metro will have five lines crisscrossing beneath the historic city’s streets.
The metro in Warsaw is currently the only one in Poland, but Kraków, once a seat of kings, and now Poland’s second city and its cultural capital, has already started designing its own metro system.
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