They started to build Tashkent metro in 1968 as part of city renovation program after the earthquake. The first line of 9 stations opened in 1977 and the metro became only the sixth in the USSR (after Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Tbilisi, Baku and Kharkov), but it the first until 2011 (when the Almaty Metro opened) in Central Asia. But the late start was compensated by rapid growth: by length of its three lines Tashkent metro (36 km, 29 stations) is less only comparing to Moscow, Petersburg, Kiev and Kharkov. Today the Tashkent underground has the "red" Chilanzar line (1977, the last stations built in 1980), the "blue" Uzbekistan line (1984-1991) and the "green" Yunusabad line (2001). Sadly, no new stations opened for the last 16 years and none was completely built in independent Uzbekistan.
At the entrance of each station there is a police officer (often under a special umbrella to protects from sun or rain) in the green uniform checking the bags as a security measure. To have a ride in Metro you will need to purchase a blue token (costing 1200 sum, less than 15 cents) at a ticket office marked by word ‘KASSA’. After you enter the glass doors just before the old Soviet turnstiles there would be another police checkpoint with metal detector and a special table, where they usually make a more thorough search of the bags. This is a standard procedure for all, officers always very polite, apologise for nuisance and wish a happy journey.
Taking photos once inside Metro is strictly prohibited. Tourists still manage to take photos but they do risk being caught and taken to the police station for further checks.
Tashkent metro has the same trains as in most of the former USSR, they are built in Russia by Metrovagonmash. Each train has 4 cars and they run with a very large intervals, an average of 7-9 minutes between trains, and at peak times around 4 minutes, although it is not that long compared to 12-minute intervals in the Almaty metro.
Passenger traffic of the Tashkent metro is steadily declining, having fallen almost threefold since Soviet times (up to 150 thousand people a day). Overall, it doesn’t seem neither very empty nor very busy: it's less busy than in Kiev and Minsk, but more crowded than in Nizhny Novgorod or Alma-Ata.
All announcements are done in Uzbek, but they are generally easy to understand from the context. The station is "bekati" in Uzbek, and when the train approaches the station the announcement played about approaching station. When leaving the station they announce the name of the next station. Despite the use of Uzbek for signs and announcements, the system is easy to use, and well enough signposted that you hardly need a map. If you listen as the train doors are about to close, you’ll hear the name of the next station at the end of the announcement: ‘Ekhtiyot buling, eshiklar yopiladi; keyingi bekat…’ (‘Becareful, the doors are closing; the next station is…’). As you can see, the cars look rather old-fashioned. There is some advertising at stations and in the cars, but not very much.
The main attraction of Tashkent metro is the architecture of the stations. They even have a legend that building the Tashkent metro was commissioned to two teams of metro-builders from Moscow and Leningrad, and as a result of their competition they managed to design Tashkent metro better than at home. Some consider the Tashkent metro to be the most beautiful in the world, which is of course a disputable question. It is not up to the Stalinist classics of the Moscow metro, but it can be safely considered to be the most beautiful subway in Asia (apart of Pyongyang, perhaps). The architecture of Tashkent stations is mostly amazing for its epoch of concrete boxes, it is pretentious and very oriental. The similarity of the metro architecture in Tashkent, Baku, Kazan and Alma-Ata is clearly visible and one can easily draw parallel lines in their styles.
Chilonzor Line
1. Buyuk Ipak Yuli station
2. Pushkin station
3. Hamid Alimjan station
4. Amir Temur station
5. Mustakillik Maydoni station
6. Pahtakor station
7. Bunyodkor station
8. Milliy Bog station
9. Novza station
10. Mirzo Ulugbek station
11. Chilanzar station
12. Olmazor station
Uzbekistan Line
1. Beruni station
2. Tinchlik station
3. Chorsu station
4. Gafur Gulom station
5. Alisher Navoi station
6. Uzbekistan station
7. Kosmonavtov avenue station
8. Oybek station
9. Tashkent station
10. Mashinsozlar station
11. Dustlik station
Yunus Abad Line
1. Shahriston station
2. Bodomzor station
3. Minor station
4. Abdulla Kodiri station
5. Yunus Rajabi station
6. Ming Orik station
Courtesy to: mytashkent & varandej
