Станция метро "1 Май" в Бухаресте: История и Современность

Bucharest metro station

1 Mai(1st of May in Romanian) is a metro station in northern Bucharest, serving line M4. It is situated in Chibrit or Clăbucet Square, at the intersection of Calea Griviței, Ion Mihalache Boulevard, and Bucureștii Noi Road.

The works on line 4, which 1 Mai station is part of, started in December 1989 but were stopped because of budgetary deficiencies in 1994. In the following period the only operations that took place were of evacuating water accumulated from seepage from the unfinished walls, which were subsequently stopped in order to prevent the deformation of the tunnels. In 1997 a loan was obtained from the European Investment Bank for co financing the "Modernizarea metroului din București – etapa I" project which restarted the works. The station has suffered modifications over the years. Sometime between 2007 and 2017 the walls were painted in a yellow and dark blue model. Tactile paving was mounted towards the end of 2022 for visually impaired people. In March 2023, the walls were repainted in yellow and dark blue.

Line M6 will be a new metro line in Bucharest that will connect Gara de Nord and Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport. M6 is expected to have 12 stations, the first of which to be 1 Mai. The deadline until the Line M6 was supposed to be functional was 2021.

The station was built in a manner similar to Grivița Metro, and Gara de Nord II, having a wide central platform and the same color scheme. Initially, the station had a blue grey and dark color scheme, using grey granite floors, white granite columns, blue and grey synthetic walls, and chrome and aluminium metal insertions. The walls were painted in a yellow and dark blue model sometime between 2007 and 2017, which did not have any apparent connection to the already existing architecture. It got deteriorated in time because of seepage. In March 2023 the walls were repainted in yellow (although a different shade) and dark blue, but no measure was taken in order to stop future seepage.

The name of the station was chosen based on the former name of Ion Mihalache Boulevard – 1 Mai Boulevard. This has proven controversial – firstly, because most inhabitants associate "1 Mai" with the 1 Mai Market located almost away from the metro station, and secondly because the name 1 Mai Avenue had been already given to another street in Western Bucharest when the subway station opened. Incidentally, that avenue may also host a metro station in the future.