M1 () is the oldest line of the

Bucharest Metro The Bucharest Metro ( ro, Metroul din București) is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the large ...

, the first section having been opened on 16 November 1979. The M1 Line runs from Dristor 2 to Pantelimon. Between

Nicolae Grigorescu Nicolae Grigorescu (; 15 May 1838 – 21 July 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting. There is a metro station named after Grigorescu in Bucharest. It was given his name in 1990, before which it was named after Communist army ...

and Eroilor it shares of tracks with the M3. Due to the single track between

Republica Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. The height of their popularity spanned from 1996 to 1999. The current line-up consists of Saffron (vocals), Tim Dorney (keyboards), Johnny Male (guitar), Conor Lawrence (drums). T ...

and Pantelimon, which has only one operational platform, most trains terminate at Republica and about one in three reaches at Pantelimon.

History

Construction of the line began in 1975, three years after the Bucharest Metro Committee was formed. The chosen route would run along the Dâmbovița river, from

Timpuri Noi Timpuri Noi is a Romanian alternative rock band. History Timpuri Noi was formed in 1980, and remained an underground act up until 1991. This was mainly due to what was perceived as "subversive lyrical content" in the Ceauşescu era. Incide ...

to Semănătoarea (today Petrache Poenaru), with the depot based at Ciurel. The ends of the line were factories, because the initial objective of the system was to transport people to the factories where they worked. This section was opened on 16 November 1979 and was long, however the first train didn't run until the 19th and the "official" opening by

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

only happened on the 16th of December that year. The second section of the line opened on 28 December 1981 from

, this time long. A few extensions followed, namely the branch line from Eroilor to Industriilor (today Preciziei) in 1983, from Semănătoarea to

Crângași Crângași is one of the smallest neighborhoods in the 6th Sector of Bucharest, Romania. It is situated on the west side of the city near the Dâmbovița River, where it flows into Lacul Morii. Its name means "people living in a young forest". ...

in 1984 and then to

Gara de Nord Bucharest North railway station ( ro, Gara București Nord; officially Bucharest North Group A) is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania. The vast majority of mainline trains to and from Bucharest origi ...

in 1987. In 1989 the section between Gara de Nord and Dristor 2 was opened, however at the time this was considered the M3, thus completing the Crângași-Dristor branch. It was also initially supposed to reach the Pantelimon housing estate, but these plans were abandoned. This section was later integrated into the M1 and the Eroilor - Industriilor section became the M3. The newest part of the line is from Republica to Pantelimon, also known as Antilopa station, opened in 1990. As stated above, due to the size of Pantelimon station only roughly one in three trains terminate there, the rest terminating at Republica. Thus, although part of line M1, some Bucharest city tourist maps show this short section in a different colour from the rest of the line (usually black).

Rolling stock

The M1 line uses

Bombardier Movia The Alstom Movia (introduced as the Adtranz Movia and later sold as the Bombardier Movia) is a family of metro train cars designed by Adtranz and later built by Bombardier Transportation and Alstom. The structure and body shell are fully customi ...

trains. These were employed firstly on the M2 in 2000s, until a second batch was introduced on the M1. The line also used to operate

Astra IVA Astra IVA is a family of metro train used by Bucharest Metro, of which 504 cars (252 two-car sets) were built between 1976 and 1993 by Întreprinderea de Vagoane Arad (IVA) in Arad, Romania. History The prototype was made in 1976, with se ...

trains from its inception until the 2010s when Metrorex started to phase out the old trains.

Name changes

References

{{Transport in Bucharest Bucharest Metro Lines Railway lines opened in 1979 1979 establishments in Romania