The Kiev metro - also known as "Pidsemka" - was opened in 1960 and was the first underground in the Ukraine and the third in the USSR. The metro system ist the backbone of the capital's public transport system. 1.7 million people use the metro on a daily basis. The metro is to be extended - this includes the north/south line.
A Herrenknecht EPB Shield was employed for building two kilometers of tunnel on the upgrade section of the north-to-south Line 2 between the stations Lybidska and Teremky. After best weekly performances of 77 rings, the EPB Shield arrived in the target shaft after eleven months of tunnelling on December 4, 2008.