Grigory Kasperovich. Kuibyshev metro builder

Grigory Kasperovich – formerly foreman of the Tunnel Detachment No. 30 of the Kuibyshevmetrostroy Construction Department. He was the only one of the metro builders who was awarded the title “Laureate of the award of the twice-ordered city of Kuibyshev” based on the results of 1987 for the successful completion of complex and responsible tasks in the construction of the first launch section of the Kuibyshev metro.

At the invitation of the Metrostroyevets newspaper, Grigory Leontyevich took part in the launch ceremony of the Samara shield from Teatralnaya to Alabinskaya. He hasn’t been at a subway construction site since 1996, when he was forced to leave his native Metrostroy.

“I came to Metrostroy in 1981 as a laborer, they promised me an apartment and, without hesitation, I agreed,” the veteran recalls. – I worked with pleasure, because I love physical work. And he would not have left if not for the 90s, when the construction of the metro actually stopped.

As you know, construction of the Kuibyshev metro began in September 1980, almost in the city center. The first trial tunnel was built between the Prospekt Lenina (now Rossiyskaya) and Oktyabrskaya (Alabinskaya) stations. However, the construction was mothballed. It was decided to start construction from Yungorodok, where the city’s large industrial enterprises were located.

Young Kasperovich began his career at Kirovskaya, the first Samara subway station under construction. When tunneling shields appeared, he was sent to the city of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) to study as a shield operator. He was involved in their assembly and directly supervised the excavation. первой строящейся станции самарской подземки. Когда появились проходческие щиты, его отправили в город Горький (Нижний Новгород) учиться на машиниста щита. Он занимался их сборкой и непосредственно руководил проходкой.

–They made no more than a meter of tunnel per shift, and when the second shield arrived, it was already possible to build up to two meters, says the metro builder. – Mostly they built with jackhammers; we encountered all sorts of rocks. There was such a segment when pure clay was supplied, it was sent to the brick factory by KAMAZ trucks. And on the stretch between “Sovetskaya” and “Gagarinskaya” we encountered a layer of cracked dolomite, the shield did not take it. We had to turn to explosives experts, since we did not have such specialists.

Grand construction

Metro builders from all over the Union came to build the Kuibyshev metro - from Moscow, Gorky, Tashkent. The second tunnel detachment No. 35 was created. In 1985, one of the most labor-intensive operations in the construction of the Samara metro began - tunneling under the railway bed on the Kirovskaya - Bezymyanka stretch. The excavation was carried out without stopping train traffic, which made it possible to significantly bring the commissioning of the section closer.

–At that time, everyone helped us build the metro: the city administration, industry. Togliatti factories supplied us with cast iron blocks. When cutting in, the first six meters of the tunnel were made of cast iron, and then there were reinforced concrete blocks,” explains Kasperovich. – When the first tunnel was being passed, an emergency occurred: the main water supply was touched, as a result, the pit along with the equipment was flooded, the water had to be pumped out. And when they approached the railway, a collapse occurred in the face. The crater on the surface of the earth was covered with sand. It was delivered by dozens of trucks. Conditions were especially harsh in winter, when water flowed into the tunnel. In severe frosts, the canvas robe quickly became covered with ice.

Despite all the difficulties, on December 25, 1987, the first launch site with the stations “Yungorodok”, “Kirovskaya”, “Bezymyanka” and “Pobeda” was inaugurated.

–The launch of the metro became a great holiday for everyone, and the honorary right to ride on the first train was traditionally given to the metro builders, including me. It was for this launch that I was awarded the title “Laureate of the twice-ordered city of Kuibyshev,” which the Volzhskaya Zarya newspaper wrote about on the front page,” recalls Kasperovich.

After that, he participated in the construction of the Sovetskaya, Sportivnaya, Gagarinskaya stations, and finished at Moskovskaya, the eighth station of the Samara metro, which took about ten years to open.

Back in the tunnel

After the ceremony of launching the Samara shield, Grigory Leontievich, like a real metro builder, easily descended into the starting pit to get acquainted with the Herrenknecht S-755 shield, which will build two tunnels to Teatralnaya. And then he shared his impressions.

–Modern technology is impressive. I, of course, heard about German rotor shields, we could not even dream of such a thing. This is heaven and earth. Current technology greatly facilitates the work of metro construction workers and speeds up construction. If earlier we built about 60 meters of tunnel per month, today it is already 250 meters and more,” he concludes. – I am grateful to God and fate that my best years were spent at Kuibyshevmetrostroy, among good colleagues and friends, which I still remember with pleasure.

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In Samara, after the start of excavation of the distillation tunnel, the editors of the Metrostroyevets newspaper visited the former Construction No. 1 in Kuibyshev, namely a special fortification structure. Now it is known as "Stalin's Bunker".

On October 21, 1941, GKO decree No. 826ss “On the construction of a shelter in the city of Kuibyshev” was issued. According to it, Metrostroy was instructed to quickly build two deep gas and bomb shelters in the alternate capital, designed to withstand a direct hit from an aerial bomb weighing two tons. The construction was financed without design assignments, technical design and estimates.

Having received a combat mission, the metro builders went to the city on the Volga. As a result, we built several special facilities. All of them have long been decommissioned and are in varying degrees of flooding and/or preservation. And object No. 1 was turned into a museum in 1991 and opened to tourists.

Many thanks to the director of the museum Anatoly Soluyanov and the Samara guide Peter Yakubson for the excursion.