Although the decision to build a subway was made in the eighties, the history of the investment dates back to the interwar period. Already in 1925 a decision was made to build two underground railway lines. Two years later the Board of the City of Warsaw appointed a special committee, which was to supervise the engineering work. Unfortunately - the global financial crisis in the thirties thwarted the ambitious plans of the authorities. The idea of building the underground surfaced once more before the war, in 1938 on the initiative of the then Mayor of Warsaw Stefan Starzyński. Soon after, for obvious reasons, all plans had to be stopped.

Shortly after the war, the communist authorities came back to the vision of president Starzyński, considerably changing his basic concept. A decision to build a deep metro was made, which in moments of crisis could serve as an atomic fallout shelter (the fifties were a period of the so-called Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, when a spiral of fear was constantly wound, reminding the public about the threat of nuclear attack from the West). The project started with drilling in the district of Targówek (approximately 750 meters of tunnels were dug; they have survived to this day). The work was interrupted due to geological problems. No one believed in the official communique from the authorities. Everyone knew that the real cause of the failure of the investment was a bad economic situation of the country.

Although the eighties were not considered a special period of economic prosperity in Poland, the decision to start the investment in underground railways was taken. The first decision in this case was already made in the mid seventies. The rapid growth in the numbers of Warsaw residents and the expanding numbers of immigrant population meant that the traditional public transport (trams and buses) was not able to efficiently handle more than a million people. The start of construction also had a propaganda aspect - because it started at the same time, when the martial law was lifted in Poland. The authorities wanted to mollify the rebellious sentiments in the country.

The first metro line - built from 15 April 1983 to 25 October 2008 runs in the north-south direction along the left bank of Warsaw. It stretches from Bielany district, through the city centre, in the direction of Ursynów. Tunnels in Ursynów and the centre were put into use in the mid-nineties. Bielany finally saw its metro in full glory only in the twenty-first century.

Shortly after finishing the first line of the metro, the Warsaw City Hall - under totally different political circumstances - decided to start work on the construction of the second metro line. M2 line will ultimately extend from the extreme western districts (Bemowo, Wola), through the centre, in the direction of Praga. The central section of the second line was finished within six years (2010-2015). It consists of seven stations, situated on a route with a length of 6.1 kilometres - from Wola, Praga Północ (thus M2 is the first line, which crosses the Vistula). Currently, the tenders for the construction of the new, edge sections of the line are being held. The estimated completion date of the entire second metro line falls in 2022.

Do you know?

• Over the years, an urban legend was repeated in Warsaw, according to which Joseph Stalin wanted to give the then Polish President Bolesław Bierut and the people of the capital a gift from the Soviet Union. The choice was the underground or the later constructed later Palace of Culture and Science.
• The plans of the City of Warsaw include building a third underground line. According to the preliminary plans, it will begin at Warszawa Zachodnia (West Railway Station) in the district of Ochota, reaching the other side of the Vistula in Białołęka.
• Since the beginning of operation, the Warsaw metro is using Russian-made wagons from series 81. They have characteristic patterns of horizontal stripes, resembling the colours of the flag of Russia. For many people in Warsaw this was the reason for jokes. It became even funnier when in the year 2000 new rolling stock debuted on the underground routes - Alstom Metropolis, reminiscent of the colours of the German flag. From 2013 Warsaw Metro also uses modern trains Siemiens Inspiro.
• The construction of the Warsaw metro line was implemented in the so-called opencast method, by creating trenches in the ground. The exception was the section in the centre of Warsaw. In order not to paralyse traffic in the city centre, a decision was made to utilise special drilling excavation brought from the USSR. They hollowed out tunnels using the mole method, while remaining constantly hidden underground.
• In 2014 Plac Wilsona station in Żoliborz was selected as one of the 12 most impressive metro stations in Europe in a prestigious competition run by an American television station, CNN.