Why Odesa Never Got Its Metro: The 38 km Underground Dream That Wasn't Built.

Odesa's Unbuilt Subway

According to Novyny.live: Despite decades of proposals, Odesa has never seen a metro system built. The first ideas for an underground railway emerged in the 1960s. By the 1970s, when the city’s population approached one million, plans were revived but never turned into action.

In the 1980s, the Leningrad-based institute 'Lenmetrogirotrans' began designing the first metro line. Yet, despite this effort, the plans remained on paper. In the 1990s, engineer Viktor Belikov proposed an alternative—a monorail system—but that too failed to materialize.

Current Situation

The 2000s brought renewed proposals, including a cable car to connect the city center with the Kotovsky settlement. In 2009, the company 'Electrotrans-Odesa' unveiled a 22 km 'light metro' project, which also stalled. In 2012, metro construction was included in urban development plans through 2022, but no concrete steps followed.

By 2017, all metro work was frozen. The planned underground network was set to span 38 km, but to this day, none of the projects have been realized, leaving the city without a subway. This lack of underground transit worsens Odesa's transportation challenges and hinders infrastructure growth.

The absence of a metro in Odesa is a long-standing issue that negatively impacts the city’s transport network, especially as population and car traffic increase. The unrealized projects highlight systemic problems in planning and funding large-scale infrastructure initiatives, potentially jeopardizing Odesa’s future development. Looking ahead, improving the transport situation may require rethinking urban mobility strategies and accelerating new construction projects.