It’s 10:35 p.m. in Yerevan and the city is hit with a heavy downpour, damaging the Armenian capital’s electricity grid. Power to the metro system fluctuates. Subway riders are unaware of what’s happening. Lights in the cars momentarily go on and off. The subway supervisor works to maintain the train’s uninterrupted operation.

Supervisor Aghavni Martirosyan first establishes contact with stations along the line to find out what is happening and then with the other subway conductors. She’s been working for the metro since 1981, when it was first launched.

Her office is abuzz with calls from conductors on the line. She instructs them on how to proceed since the signal lights have stopped working. 

Martirosyan started at the bottom and worked her way to the top. Nothing takes place along the tracks and in the stations without her knowledge.

A linguist by profession, she dreamt of becoming a ballet dancer. Martirosyan and her husband moved to Russia after marrying and visited Armenia in 1980 to celebrate New Years with relatives.

She saw an announcement in one of the newspapers that the newly opened metro was looking for employees. She applied, got a job, and convinced her husband to relocate to Armenia.

"I couldn't imagine myself without Armenia, I was suffocating, I decided that I was going to return. Celebrating the New Year in Armenia turned out to be consequential for me. I found my second home, the metro, and returned home," says Martirosyan.

Many Yerevan metro riders may not know that when trains stop running every midnight the night work begins.

First, station supervisors on duty cut the power to the train rails, checking that no electricity is present. Repair crews are then dispatched via special cars along the line to trouble spots.

There are ten stations along the twelve-kilometer metro line.

At the depot, we spot the repair crews awaiting their instructions for the night.  

Vachik Tonoyan drives one of these repair trains. Tonoyan, who’s worked for the metro since 1984, says it’s an addiction.”

“In forty years, I’ve never thought about changing my job. It would be like divorcing the woman you love and marrying someone else," he says.

Repair crews work throughout the night until the trains begin running again at 7 am. 

Vladimir Danielyan has been working in the Yerevan metro since 1992 as a concrete worker.

He works in thick dust without a mask. When asked why he doesn't wear a mask, he replies that it makes breathing that much more difficult.

“Once we’re finished, they check that everything was done properly. Thousands use the system every day.  The work requires detail and care,” Danielyan says.

Twenty-year track supervisor Harutyun Petrosyan shows us the numbers written on the rails and says they record when the rails have been changed. While they have a long operational life, they’re regularly inspected for wear and tear.

Petrosyan has been working for the Yerevan metro since 1990. He got a job as a tunnel worker while studying engineering.  After graduating, he did his mandatory military service and then returned to the metro. 

Petrosyan says everyone working at the metro learns the basics on the job. Subway drivers need to know all aspects of the system and pass rigorous exams before sitting at the wheel. All metro employees take a refresher exam every few years. 

He dreams that one day the Yerevan metro will be expanded so that people living in all parts of the city will be able to use it.

We walk through the tunnels. The night silence is broken by the sounds of hammers and tools. A few hours later, when the city wakes up, the subway will be ready to open its doors to passengers.