Line 5 of Saint Petersburg Metro, also known as Frunzensko-Primorskaya Line, connects the city's historical centre to the northwestern and southern neighborhoods. The line is being extended from both ends as of July 12, 2009.
The line originally opened in December 2008. It contained only two stations until March 7, 2009, when the Line 4 (Pravoberezhnaya Line) segment between Komendantsky Prospekt to Sadovaya stations became a part of new line.
The line currently has trains of 81-540/541 and the .2 and .5 modifications running since the opening.
Expansion plans that included the route of the current Line 5 first appeared in the 1980s. Construction began in 1987, but the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resultant financial crash forced the city to freeze the construction of the Frunzenskiy radius (the section south of Sadovaya). However, the city officials decided to continue building the Primorsky radius (the section north of Sadovaya), and incorporated this section in what was then known as Pravoberezhnaya Line (the current-day Line 4), until the construction of Frunzensky radius could be resumed. This is the reason that the Primorsky radius remained a part of Line 4 for the ten years.
Subsequent to the formal opening of Line 5, and the connection of the Primorsky and Fruzensky radii in March 2009, Obvodny Kanal station was opened on the existing open section of line on 30 December 2010. The long-awaited Admiralteyskaya station, serving many of the historic and tourist sites in the city, was opened on 28 December 2011, also on an existing open section of line. Prior to this date, most trains bypassed this partially completed station, save for a few trains that dropped off and picked up construction workers.
The next station in the southeastern direction, Prospekt Slavy, is scheduled be completed after 2013 and according to current plans, it will be a shallow-level station. Two further stations are planned on the Frunzensky radius, namely Dunayskaya and Shushary and this may be followed by a depot. According to these plans, these last two stations will be either be shallow-level or above ground.