Line 2 (Kharkiv Metro)
The Saltivska line is the second line of the Kharkiv Metro operating since 1984, serving Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. The Saltivska Line is the shortest line segment of the system, at, with a total of eight stations. Unique to the Kharkiv Metro is the Saltivska line's metro bridge, which passes above the Kharkiv River between the Kyivska and Akademika Barabashova stations.
Geographically, the Saltivska line cuts Kharkiv on a northeast–southwest axis, and provides subway access to much of Saltivka. It connects the city's largest residential neighborhood with the Constitution Square and Freedom Square in the city center. The Saltivska line is second behind the Kholodnohirsko–Zavodska Line with a daily ridership of 380,250 passengers. There are current proposals that would expand the Saltivska line to include an extra six stations and a split line segment, although these are only in the planning stage and they are not scheduled to start construction until the mid-2020s at the earliest.
History
Since the late 1970s, an expansion of the Kharkiv Metro system was planned towards the then newly developed Saltivka neighborhood, located away from the industrial neighborhoods of the city. Accordingly, on April 9, 1976, the Soviet government adopted a plan to construct a second line on the Kharkiv Metro. Owing to the hilly city landscape towards the southwestern terminus of the Station, the line's first three stations are located deep underground, with the Yaroslava Mudroho station becoming the deepest station of the system at underground. The rest of the stations on the line were built close to the surface, due to their proximity to the Kharkiv River. Construction on the line's second segment began in 1981, continuing on until the last three stations were opened on October 24, 1986.Name changes
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent Ukrainian independence, some of the stations were renamed to more neutral equivalents, sometimes avoiding reference to significant Soviet institutions and their leaders. In addition, the station named after Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was renamed in 2024 to comply with the law "On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy".- Dzerzhynska → Universytet, named after the University of Kharkiv
- Barabashova → Akademika Barabashova
- Pushkinska → Yaroslava Mudroho, named after Grand Prince of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise
- Heroiv Pratsi → Saltivska, named after the Saltivka neighborhood
Stations
Transfers
Following the traditional Soviet metro planning, the second line is crossed by two other line segments at high traffic locations. Currently, the Saltivska line's two transfer stations with the Kholodnohirsko–Zavodska line and the Oleksiivska line are located in the southwestern part of the line. Specifically, the Saltivska line has two transfer stations:| # | Transfer to | At | Opened |
| Maidan Konstytutsii | Istorychnyi Muzei | August 10, 1984 | |
| Derzhprom | Universytet | May 6, 1995 |