Russian man builds his own subway

Building and maintaining a subway is complicated. Cities like New York and London have spent well over a hundred years creating and expanding their extensive public transport systems, spending billions of dollars in the process. None of this seems to have dissuaded Russian citizen Leonid Murlyanchik from building himself his own personal metro beneath his home since 1984.

The site English Russia provides us with an intriguing photo look inside Leonid’s strange quest to build his own one-man transportation system. The photos actually raise more questions than they answer. Why is Leonid building his own subway? Where will it take the passengers? None of that is clear. What we do know is that Leonid has paid for the construction using his pension and all construction has been approved by city permits. Leonid apparently hopes to connect the system to his neighbors as well.

Is Mr. Murlyanchik’s project a hopeless, stupid waste of time? Some would probably say yes. But those people are also missing the point. Sure, as transportation systems go, this one is a non-starter. But think of this “subway to nowhere” instead as a bizarrely wonderful work of art. The world’s greatest roadside attractions or Italian-style pink palaces rarely make logical sense. Perhaps it’s best we admire them that way – simply as projects created to inspire our awe and wonder.