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An attendant pacing along the platform of Alatau station in the newly opened metro system in ex-Soviet Central Asian nation Kazakhstan's commercial capital, Almaty, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. The transit system project began in 1988, when Almaty's population passed 1 million, but it was delayed for many years, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. (AP Photo/Peter Leonard) |
Kazakhs flock to new Almaty subway
December 2, 2011
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ALMATY, Kazakhstan—After nearly a quarter-century of waiting, residents of Kazakhstan's largest city are able to ride the subway.
Work on the 8.5-kilometer (5.2-mile) line in Almaty began in 1988, when Kazkhstan was part of the Soviet Union. The USSR's collapse three years later severely delayed the project.
Need for the transit system has risen sharply amid the city's growth. It now has about 1.5 million people.
Thousands of residents flocked to the system on Friday, the day after it was officially opened by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
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