Metro carriages from Warsaw are reaching Kyiv

In March we informed at tvnwarszawa.pl and TVN24 News in English about the agreement signed by Warsaw and Kyiv regarding transfer of 60 old metro carriages - a total of 60 Russian-made series-81 cars, which make up 10 full trains (the same model is being used by Kyiv metro).

The Warsaw Metro on Wednesday posted a video of the carriages being unloaded in the capital of Ukraine. The Kyiv Metro said on its website it has received 18 cars so far, while the remaining 42 are to be delivered by the end of 2023.

"At the moment, company experts are inspecting and checking the received carriages, especially in terms of mechanics. Even though the series-81-717 wagons are also operating on Kyiv Metro lines, there are a number of discrepancies that need to be taken into consideration," Head of Kyiv Metro Viktor Braginsky was quoted as saying in the statement.

All Warsaw metro cars for Kyiv have been issued valid certificates of technical efficiency. They have all been overhauled between 2017-2022. The trains have travelled between 1.18 million and 2.43 million kilometres.

The series-81 trains were being produced for Warsaw since 1989. They have served Warsaw residents since the opening of the first line, and even a bit earlier than that during open days show rides. The first one to go en route from Wilanowska station to Politechnika was train number 03. It was composed of three cars numbers 005, 406, and 006, and the inaugural ride took place on April 7, 1995.

During winter seasons the veteran series-81 sets would be changed into Christmas cars - in recent years those were sets number 10 and 13. The old cars were also used on multiple occasions in fire service and anti-terrorist units practice - both at the stations and inside the tunnels.