Strelka is the terminal station of the Sormovo-Meshchera line of the Nizhny Novgorod Metro and the newest station on the city's subway [3]. The grand opening took place on 12 June 2018, on the eve of the FIFA World Cup matches [1][12]; sources also give 13 June 2018 as the station's opening date [2][3][9]. The station stands in the trans-river part of the city, northwest of the center, near Lake Meshcherskoye, between Karl Marx Street, Betancourt Street and Meshchersky Boulevard [3][7]. It is named after the Strelka) — the point where the Oka and Volga rivers meet, about a kilometer and a half from the station [3]; the "Encyclopedia of Our Transport" describes the Strelka instead as the district adjoining the confluence of the two rivers [2]. The station was built because Nizhny Novgorod hosted World Cup matches [3], and it stands right next to the "Nizhny Novgorod" stadium, where those matches were played [4].

Conception and construction

Extending the Sormovo-Meshchera line from "Moskovskaya" to Strelka was tied to Nizhny Novgorod's preparations for the World Cup: the station was built because the city hosted matches of the tournament [3], right next to the new arena [4]. As of 30 January 2015, the estimated construction cost had been reduced by 2.28 billion rubles, to 10.448 billion [2]. On 23 March 2015 the contract was signed with the sole bidder in the tender, "Upravlenie Stroitelstva — 620" (Construction Directorate — 620) [2]; the contract was worth 10.396 billion rubles, with a 37-month completion period, that is, by the end of April 2018 [13]. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 12 June 2015, exactly three years before the launch [2]. In total, more than 11.662 billion rubles were allocated for the line extension work that began in spring 2015 [12].

The 3.1-kilometer "Moskovskaya"–"Strelka" section was driven with a tunnel boring shield [4]: the running tunnels were bored by closed-face method using a mechanized shield complex, while the station complex itself was built by the open-cut method, with an artificial dewatering system in place for the duration of construction [2]. The right-hand running tunnel was driven from 22 December 2015 to 19 August 2016, and the left-hand one from 5 October 2016 to 24 May 2017 [2]. The construction employed 420 people and 45 units of construction machinery [4]. In all, the project took 1,140 days and involved more than a thousand workers [1]. A test train from "Moskovskaya" was planned for April 2018, with the running time on the section estimated at about two minutes [4]; according to the "Encyclopedia of Our Transport", it ran on 20 April 2018, carrying acting governor Gleb Nikitin and city mayor Vladimir Panov [2].

Another station, "Yarmarka", was planned on the section from "Moskovskaya", but it was never built because of budget cuts and the tight World Cup preparation schedule, making the "Moskovskaya"–"Strelka" section the longest on the line, at over three kilometers [3]. The "Yarmarka" construction site had been set up back in 1993 on Sovetskaya Street in Kanavino, between the Strelka and the Lenin monument, next to the Nizhny Novgorod Fair: workers occupied half the street, put up a fence, brought in two bridge cranes and drilled several soil test boreholes — at which point the work stopped for lack of funding. In 1999 the project was abandoned and the construction site cleared [14].

On 31 May 2018 Rostekhnadzor issued a certificate of compliance for the first construction stage; the station, the tunnels from "Moskovskaya" and all the vestibules were ready [13]. The grand opening was set for 12 June, Russia Day and City Day — the station was opened by Gleb Nikitin and Vladimir Panov [12]. On the eve of the holiday, exactly when the subway would start carrying passengers was not certain: the "Nizhny Novgorod Metro" municipal enterprise expected it to be the morning of 13 June [13]. Approval for the second stage — the technical facilities needed to extend the line to the planned "Volga" station — was expected to be obtained after the World Cup [12][13].

Layout and design

Strelka is the only shallow, column-type, two-span station in the Nizhny Novgorod Metro [3]; it has no escalators because of its shallow depth [1]. Sources give different figures for the depth: the "Encyclopedia of Our Transport" says 8 meters [2], Metrostat says 12 meters [9]. The platform is an island platform, straight, 102 meters long [2]. The station's architect was P. M. Presnyakov [3].

The track walls are faced with grey and green panels, the columns are finished in glossy corrugated metal, and the floor is laid with grey granite [3]; according to the description in the "Encyclopedia of Our Transport", the walls are faced with light-toned porcelain stoneware, the floors with polished porcelain stoneware in light and dark tones, and the ceilings assembled from aluminum panels [2]. The architectural centerpiece of the design is a set of round light fixtures several meters in diameter, installed around the columns [3].

Above the entrances to the station are two illuminated panels made of perforated metal sheets [2][3]. The panel in the northeastern vestibule is dedicated to the 2018 World Cup: its central image is a footballer with a ball. The panel in the southwestern vestibule depicts the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral at the confluence of the Volga and Oka [2][3].

The northeastern vestibule leads out to Betancourt Street, the southwestern one to Meshchersky Boulevard, with exits to the "Sedmoye Nebo" ("Seventh Heaven") shopping mall and the "Nizhny Novgorod" stadium [2]. Instead of escalators, the southwestern vestibule has a platform lift and lifting devices for passengers with reduced mobility — one from the vestibule up to ground level, and another to overcome a dip in the underpass beneath Meshchersky Boulevard [2]. Entrances are in operation on Karl Marx Street, by the "Metro" hypermarket, and on Meshchersky Boulevard [7].

Current state

The station remains a temporary terminus: no turnback sidings are provided beyond it, so the same track is used both for arrivals from the city center and for departures toward it [3]. The line is intended to be extended further, to the planned "Volga" station [12][13], and eventually toward Sormovo [2].

The construction's financial trail continued for years after the launch. In late March 2018, 645.5 million rubles were allocated from the Russian government's reserve fund to complete the station [12][13]. According to Olga Sulima, the Nizhny Novgorod Region's finance minister, the 640 million rubles allocated in 2018 never reached the contractor: disputes arose over the absence of work-completion certificates and inspections, the money was returned to the federal budget, and no further funds came to the region. In February 2022 she told deputies of the Legislative Assembly that a writ of execution for 638 million rubles in the contractor's favor had been issued against Nizhny Novgorod, and the debt had to be paid off by 7 April [5].

In September 2024, tiles fell off the wall in several places onto the floor at stairwell exit No. 1; the cause remained unknown, and the "Nizhny Novgorod Metro" municipal enterprise planned to select a contractor in mid-September to repair the porcelain-stoneware wall and ceiling cladding at the exit [6]. The repair was scheduled for completion by the end of 2024 [10]; according to GiperNN, the work, costing 1.4 million rubles, was planned to run from 30 September to 31 December [11]. On 30 October 2024, pavilion No. 1 on Betancourt Street was closed for wall tile replacement and ceiling repair, with the work expected to be finished before the New Year; passengers were offered the entrances on Karl Marx Street, by the "Metro" hypermarket, and on Meshchersky Boulevard instead [7].

According to Oleg Yaushev, director of the "Nizhny Novgorod Metro" municipal enterprise, as of November 2024 the Nizhny Novgorod subway had 15 stations across five districts of the city and carried an average of 120,000–130,000 passengers a day [8].

Sources

  1. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Strelka metro station in Nizhny Novgorod marks its anniversary (archive)
  2. wiki.nashtransport.ru — Encyclopedia of Our Transport — Strelka (metro station, Nizhny Novgorod) (archive)
  3. metrowalks.com — Metro Walks — Strelka. Sormovo-Meshchera line, Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  4. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Test train to Strelka station planned for April 2018 (archive)
  5. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — City hall must repay a 638-million-ruble debt for building Strelka metro station (archive)
  6. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Tiles begin to crumble in the underpass at Strelka metro station (archive)
  7. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Pavilion leading to Strelka metro station closed on Betancourt Street (archive)
  8. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Nizhny Novgorod Metro marks 39th anniversary of its first line's launch (archive)
  9. metrostat.ru — Strelka metro station, Sormovo-Meshchera line, Nizhny Novgorod
  10. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Exit at Strelka metro station to be repaired by year's end (archive)
  11. GIPERNN — GiperNN — Exit at Strelka metro station in Nizhny Novgorod to be repaired by year's end (archive)
  12. V Gorode N — Final inspection of Strelka metro station completed (archive)
  13. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Strelka will likely open to residents on 13 June, says "Nizhny Novgorod Metro" (archive)
  14. GIPERNN — GiperNN — Ghost metro station construction site in Nizhny Novgorod stood idle for six years (archive)