The Donetsk Metro is a future underground rapid transit system

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

 in Donetsk

Donetsk

Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...

, construction of which is currently abandoned due to lack of funding. If finished, it will become the fourth metro in Ukraine (after the Kiev

Kiev Metro

The Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...

, Kharkiv

Kharkiv Metro

The Kharkiv Metro is the metro system that serves the city of Kharkiv , the second largest city in Ukraine. The metro was the second in Ukraine and the sixth in the USSR when it opened in 1975.-Lines and Stations:...

 and Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk Metro

The Dnipropetrovsk Metro is a single-line metro system that serves the city of Dnipropetrovsk, the third largest city in Ukraine by population. The metro was the third system constructed in Ukraine, after the Kiev and Kharkiv metro systems, respectfully, when it opened on December 29, 1995...

 metros). A development plan announced earlier calls for 3 lines and 22 stations, with all lines crossing in the center of the city, and also two lines crossing in suburban areas.

History

When the city of Donetsk reached the million inhabitants mark in the 1980s, it was entitled to build its own metro system, which was designed to follow the usual layout in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. In 1984 the first plans for a metro system in Donetsk were shown to the public, but construction did not immediately begin. Only after Ukraine gained independence, the Cabinet of Ministers

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

The Cabinet of Ukraine is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine also referred to as the Government of Ukraine...

 issued a decree on 30 December 1991 to build the new underground metro system in Donetsk. The first investigation work began in 1992, and construction commenced the same year, with completion scheduled for 2002.

In 1995, due to the poor financial situation of the Donetsk municipality, the completion date was postponed to 2005. On September 5, 1997, the Prime Minister of Ukraine

Prime Minister of Ukraine

The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....

, Valeriy Pustovoitenko

Valeriy Pustovoitenko

Valery Pustovoitenko was confirmed as prime minister of Ukraine on 16 July 1997. Pustovoitenko was Ukraine's eighth prime minister. He resigned in connection with Leonid Kuchma's re-election for a new term. He is a former leader of the People's Democratic Party of Ukraine.-References:...

, ordered that the first line of the system should be open to the public in 8 years (2005). In 2000, the first work on four of the six underground stations began. However, the financial situation of Donetsk did not improve. In June 2003, the financial problems affected the metro workers - after seven months of work, no more wages could be paid. By then nearly 300 million Hryven

Ukrainian hryvnia

The hryvnia, sometimes hryvnya or grivna ; sign: ₴, code: , has been the national currency of Ukraine since September 2, 1996. The hryvnia is subdivided into 100 kopiyok. In medieval times, it was a currency of Kievan Rus'....

 (about 48 million euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s) had been spent on the project.
In 2004 the Ukrainian government assured further means for the completion of the metro by 2010. By 2007 this seemed over-optimistic due to the slow pace of construction work. However, it later emerged that Donetsk

Donetsk

Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...

 would be one of the host cities for the Euro 2012 football championships, raising hopes for the Metro to be opened by then, although the budget that had been allocated was clearly insufficient at the time.

In 2009 funding of the project was disrupted so severely that construction workers staged several strikes

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

to demand payment of their salaries.

In 2011 the city mayor announced that construction was to be suspended indefinitely due to continuing underfunding and inability to finish a first line in time for Euro 2012.

Future plans

The first underground line of the system, which will carry the name Proletarsko-Kyivs'ka Line , is to be 9.6 km (6 mi) long and have six stations: Proletars'ka (Пролетарська), Chumakovs'ka (Чумаковська), Chervone Mistechko (Червоне мiстечко), Mushketovs'ka (Мушкетовська), Livoberezhna (Лiвобережна), and Politechnichnyi Institut (Полiтехнiчний iнститут).

The system's red line, Proletarsko-Kyivska, is planned to extend 21 km (13 mi) with 15 stations. Additionally, the blue line, Shakhtarsko-Makiyivs'ka Line , is planned to extend 25 km (15.5 mi). Finally, the green line, Petrovs'ko-Chervonohvardiyska Line , is to have 14 stations. In its final stage, the Donetsk Metro is planned to be 70 km (43.5 mi) long, with a total of 46 stations.