'Moscow Metro' (), which spans almost the entire
Russian
capital, is
one of the world's most heavily used
metro systems. It is well known for the ornate design of many of its
stations, which contain beautiful examples of
socialist realist art.
Description of the Metro
''
Trubnaya'' station, the newest station in Moscow Metro, opened in August 2007
In total, the Moscow Metro has 282.5 km of route length, 12 lines and 173 stations; on a normal weekday it carries over 7 million passengers. Passenger traffic is considerably lower on weekends bringing the average daily passenger traffic during the year to 6.8 million passengers per day. The Moscow Metro is a
state-owned enterprise.
Each line is identified by an alphanumeric index (usually consisting of just a number), a name, and a colour. The voice announcements refer to lines by name, while in colloquial usage they are mostly referred to by colour, except the
Lyublinskaya Line (number 10) and the
Kakhovskaya Line (number 11) which have been assigned shades of green similar to that of the
Zamoskvoretskaya Line (number 2). Most lines run radially through the city, except the
Koltsevaya Line (number 5), which is a 20-km-long ring connecting all the radial lines and a few smaller lines outside. On all lines, travellers can determine the direction of the train by the gender of the announcer: on the ring line, a male voice indicates clockwise travel, and a female voice counter-clockwise. On the radial lines, travellers heading toward the centre of Moscow will hear male-voiced announcements, and travellers heading away will hear female-voiced announcements (a good mnemonic rule here is: ‘your boss calls you to work; your wife calls you home’). In addition, there is an abundance of signs showing all the stations that can be reached in a given direction.
The system was built almost entirely underground, although some lines (numbers 1, 2 and 4) cross the
Moskva river, while line number 1 also crosses the
Yauza River by
bridge. Other exceptions include the
Filyovskaya Line, which has a long surface section (seven stations) between
Kievskaya and
Molodyozhnaya stations, and the
Butovskaya Light Metro Line (L1) with 4 elevated stations. Two more stations exist on surface level on the
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line and on the
Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line
The Moscow Metro is open from about 5:30 until 1:00 (the opening time may vary at different stations according to first train schedule but all stations close for entrance simultaneously at 1:00). During peak hours, trains run roughly every 90 seconds on most lines. At other times during the day, they run about every two to three and a half minutes, and every six to ten minutes late at night. As trains are so frequent, there is no timetable available to passengers.
The Lines of the Moscow Metro
The colours in the table correspond to the colours of the lines in the map above.
Metro lines
Notes
1 – Four central stations of Filyovskaya Line –
Komintern,
Arbatskaya,
Smolenskaya and
Kievskaya – were originally opened in 1935/37, when they were a branch of Sokolnicheskaya Line. Between 1938 and 1953, they were part of Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. The stations were closed between 1953 and 1958 and then reopened as part of the (new) Filyovskaya Line.
² – All 3 stations of the Kakhovskaya Line were built in 1969; initially, they were an integral part of the Zamoskovoretskaya Line until 1983, becoming a branch of it until 1995. In 1995, they were split off from the Zamoskovoretskaya Line and used to form the Kakhovskaya Line.
★ – 'L' in 'L1' does 'not' stand for
Light Rail but, somewhat confusingly, for "Light Metro" — lines that are built mainly above-ground. These lines, as a result, do not need expensive tunnelling and are supposed to be ''financially'' "light". However, "light" and "normal" metro lines use interoperable rolling stock. See
Butovskaya Light Metro Line for further explanation.
The 4.7 km, 6 station
monorail line between
Timiryazevskaya and
VDNKh is currently in "excursion mode": trains leave once every 20 minutes, tickets cost about four times more than usual (50 rubles - about $1.70), and the hours of operation are 8:00-20:05. It is not yet known when (or whether) it will become fully operational.
Ticketing
Tickets are available for a fixed number of journeys, irrespective of the distance of travel and the number of lines changed. Monthly and yearly tickets are also available. Once a passenger has entered the Metro system, there are no further ticket checks. Fare enforcement takes place entirely at the points of entry.
The Moscow Metro uses magnetic cards (contact cards) for tickets with a fixed number of journeys (up to 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 60 and 70 journeys for 30 days from the day of the first journey). Magnetic cards were introduced in 1993 as a test and were used as unlimited tickets between 1996 and 1998. The sale of magnetic cards will stop in 2008. In
January 2007, Moscow Metropolitan began replacing magnetic cards with fixed number of journeys by
contactless cards. Since January 20 2007 contactless cards are available for 10, 20 and 60 journeys versions. Smartcards are being used in Moscow Metro since 1998 and are called Transport Cards. Transport Cards was available as 'unlimited' and 'social' tickets. The unlimited card can be programmed for 30, 90, and 365 days. The social cards are free for elderly people (who are officially registered as residents of Moscow city or Moscow area) and some privileged categories of citizens; they are available to school pupils and students at a heavily reduced price. Transport Cards were introduced in 1998 along with a new type of magnetic card. The Moscow Metro became the first metro system in Europe to fully implement
smartcards on September 1 1998. The sale of tokens ended on 1 January 1999 and they stopped being accepted in February 1999.
History
Main articles: History of the Moscow Metro
Mayakovskaya Station
The Moscow Metro was initially built under the 1930s Moscow general plan designed by
Lazar Kaganovich and was named after him ("Metropoliten im. L.M. Kaganovicha").
[1]
First Stage
The first line opened on
May 15 1935 between
Sokolniki and
Park Kultury with a branch to
Smolenskaya which reached
Kievskaya in April
1937 (crossing the
Moskva river by
bridge). The construction of the first stations was based on other underground systems, and only a few original designs were allowed: (
Krasniye Vorota,
Okhotniy Ryad and
Kropotkinskaya). Kievskaya station was the first to use national motifs.
Soldiers helping with construction of the Metro
Second Stage
The second stage was completed before the
war. In March 1938 the Arbatskaya branch was split in two and extended to
Kurskaya station (now the dark-blue
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line). In September 1938 the
Gorkovskaya Line opened between
Sokol and
Teatralnaya. Here the architecture was based on the most popular of the stations already in existence (Krasniye Vorota, Okhotnyi Ryad and Kropotkinskaya) and the compositions followed the popular art deco style, though merging it with socialist visions. The first deep level Column station
Mayakovskaya was built at the same time.
Third Stage
Building work on the third stage was delayed but not interrupted during the
World War II, and two Metro sections were put into service:
Teatralnaya -
Avtozavodskaya (3 stations, crossing the Moskva river in a deep tunnel) and
Kurskaya -
Partizanskaya (4 stations) were inaugurated in 1943 and 1944 respectively. War motifs replaced socialist visions in the architectural design of the stations.
During the
Siege of Moscow, in the autumn and winter of
1941, metro stations were used as air-raid shelters and the
Council of Ministers moved its offices to the platforms of
Mayakovskaya, where Stalin made public speeches on several occasions.
Chistiye Prudy station was also walled off and the headquarters of the Air Defence installed there.
Fourth Stage
After the war, construction started on the fourth stage of the Metro, which included the
Koltsevaya Line and a deep part of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line from
Ploshchad Revolyutsii to
Kievskaya, and a surface extension to
Pervomaiskaya in the early
1950s. The exquisite decoration and design of so much of the Moscow Metro is considered to have reached its peak in these stations.
The
Koltsevaya Line was planned first as a line running under the
Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring), a wide avenue encircling the borders of Moscow's city centre. The first part of the line - from
Park Kultury to
Kurskaya (
1950) - follows this avenue. But later plans were changed and the northern part of the ring line deviates 1-1.5 km outside the Sadovoye Koltso, thus providing service for 7 (out of 9) rail terminals. The next part of the ''Koltsevaya'' line opened in
1952 (Kurskaya -
Belorusskaya) and in 1954 the ring line was completed.
There is an interesting
urban legend about the origin of the ring line. A group of engineers approached
Stalin with plans for the Metro, to inform him of current progress and of what was being done at that moment. As he looked at the drawings, Stalin poured himself some coffee and spilt a small amount over the edge of the cup. When he was asked whether or not he liked the project so far, he put his cup down on the centre of the Metro blueprints and left in silence. The bottom of the cup left a brown circle on the drawings. The planners looked at it and realized that it was exactly what they had been missing. Taking it as a sign of Stalin's genius, they gave orders for the building of the ring line, which on the plans was always printed in brown. This legend, of course, may be attributed to Stalin's
cult of personality.
Kievskaya Koltsevaya station
During the Cold War
The beginning of the
Cold War led to the construction of a deep part of the ''Arbatskiy'' line. The stations on this line are very deep and were planned as shelters in the event of nuclear war. After finishing the line in
1953, the upper tracks between
Ploshchad Revolyutsii' and
Kievskaya were closed and later reopened in 1958 as a part of the
Filyovskaya Line. In the further development of the Metro, the term "stages" was not used any more, although sometimes the stations opened in
1957-
1959 are referred to as the "fifth stage".
During the late 1950s, the architectural extravagance of new metro stations was significantly toned down, and decorations at some stations, like
VDNKh and
Alexeyevskaya, were greatly simplified compared with original plans. This was done on the orders of
Nikita Khrushchev, who favoured a more spartan decoration scheme. A typical layout (which quickly became known as "Sorokonozhka") was developed for all new stations, and the stations were built to look almost identical, differing from each other only in colours of the marble and ceramic tiles. Most of these stations were very poorly built. It was not until the mid-1970s that architectural extravagance was restored, and original designs once again became popular.
Fares
The cost of journeys has been steadily rising after 1991. Under Soviet control, the cost of a single journey was 5
kopecks, practically a free ride (1/20th of a
Soviet ruble - and worth about US $0.002 at todays exchange rate
[1], $0.08 at the Soviet official exchange rate). With the fall of communism, the price rapidly rose to 1
ruble. Subsequent inflation caused the price in rubles to rise considerably to the current (
2007) 9 to 17 rubles per trip. In dollar terms, the post-Soviet price held relatively stable between $0.20 and $0.35.
Recent Developments
Since September 2005, the Filyovskaya Line has had a branch to the
Moscow International Business Center. The first station of the branch,
Delovoy Tsentr, opened in September 2005; the second station,
Mezhdunarodnaya, opened in September 2006.
Trubnaya station was opened in August 2007.
The system
The Moscow Metro has a
broad gauge of 1520 mm, like ordinary Russian
railways, and a
third rail supply of
825V AC. The average distance between stations is 1800 m, the shortest (502 metres) section being between
Delovoy Center and
Mezhdunarodnaya and the longest (3,413 metres) between
Volgogradskiy Prospekt and
Tekstilshchiki. The long distances between stations have the positive effect of a commercial cruising speed of 41.7 km/h.
Since the beginning of Moscow metro,
platforms have been built to be at least 155 m long, so as to accommodate eight-car trains. The only exceptions are certain stations of Filyovskaya line:
Delovoi Tsentr,
Mezhdunarodnaya,
Studencheskaya,
Kutuzovskaya,
Fili,
Bagrationovskaya,
Filyovsky Park,
Pionerskaya, which only allow six-car trains (note that this list includes all ground-level stations of Filyovskaya line, except
Kuntsevskaya).
Trains on lines 2, 6, 7 and 9 consist of eight cars, on lines 1, 3, 8, 10 of seven cars and on lines 4, 5 and 11 of six cars. All cars (both older E-series and newer 81-series) are 19.6 m long with four doors on either side.
The Moscow Metro train is identical to those used in all other ex-Soviet Metro cities (
St. Petersburg,
Novosibirsk,
Minsk,
Kiev,
Kharkov, etc.) and in
Budapest,
Prague,
Sofia and
Warsaw.
Line L1 is called the "Light metro". It was designed to its own standards and has shorter (96 m) platforms. It employs newer
Rusich trains, which consist of three articulated cars, but it can also be served by traditional four-car trains. Rolling stock on the Filyovskaya Line is also replaced with four-car Rusich trains.
The Moscow metro comprises 173 stations, of which 72 are deep-level, and 87 are shallow. Of the deep stations, 55 are pylon-type, 16 are column-type and one is "single-vault" (Leningrad technology). The shallow stations comprise 65 of the pillar-type (a large portion of them following the infamous "sorokonozhka" design), 19 "single-vaults" (Kharkov technology) and three single-decked. In addition there are 10 ground-level stations and four above ground. Two of the stations exist as double halls, and two have three tracks. Five of the stations have side platforms (only one of them-subterranean). The station
Vorobyovy Gory is on a bridge. Three other metro bridges exist but are covered or hidden. In addition there are two closed stations and one that is derelict.
There are also four stations, reserved for future service:
Volokolamskaya of Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line,
Delovoi Tsentr of Kalininskaya and Solntsevskaya lines and
Park Pobedy of Solntsevskaya line.
Besides these, there are two abandoned stations: old Kaluzhskaya and old Pervomayskaya.
Numbers of Moscow Metro
Latest numbers from
official site.
| Passengers | 2475.6 million passengers |
| — privileged category | 917.3 million passengers |
| —— students and schoolchildren | 254.6 million passengers |
| Maximum daily ridership | 9142.5 thousand passengers |
| Revenue from fares (2005) | 15997.4 million rubles |
| Route length | 282.5 km |
| Number of lines | 12 |
| Longest line | Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line (41.2 km) |
| Shortest line | Kakhovskaya Line (3.3 km) |
| Longest section | Volgogradskiy Prospekt–Tekstilshchiki (3.4 km) |
| Shortest section | Delovoy Tsentr–Mezhdunarodnaya (502 m) |
| Number of stations | 173 |
| — transfer stations | 57 |
| — transfer points | 26 |
| — surface/elevated | 14 |
| Deepest station | Park Pobedy (84 m) |
| Most shallow underground station | Pechatniki |
| Station with the longest platform | Vorobyevy Gory (282 m) |
| Number of stations with a single entrance | 70 |
| Total number of entrances | 267 |
| — with surface vestibules | 118 |
| Total area of cladding | 754.3 thousand sq. m. |
| — with marble tiles | 340.1 thousand sq. m. |
| — with granite tiles | 68.6 thousand sq. m. |
| — with different tiles | 210.7 thousand sq. m. |
| — Other cladding materials | 134.9 thousand sq. m. |
| Number of turnstiles with automatic control on entrances | 2374 |
| Number of stations with escalators | 122 |
| Number of escalators | 624 |
| — including Monorail stations | 18 |
| Total length of all escalator | 65.2 km |
| Number of depots | 15 |
| Total number of train runs per day | 9915 |
| Average speed: | |
| — commercial | 41.71 km/h |
| — technical (2005) | 48.85 km/h |
| Total number of cars (average per day) | 4428 |
| Cars in service (average per day) | 3397 |
| Total run of cars | 679.6 million car-kilometres |
| — with passengers | 649.5 million car-kilometres |
| Average run of cars per day | 548.1 car-kilometres |
| Average passengers per car | 53 people |
| Longest escalator | 126 m (Park Pobedy) |
| Total number of ventilation shafts | 393 |
| Number of local ventilation systems in use | 4965 |
| Number of medical assistance points (2005) | 46 |
| Total number of employees | 34792 people |
| — males | 18291 people |
| — females | 16448 people |
| Timetable fulfilment | 99.96 % |
| Minimum average interval | 90 sec |
| Average passenger trip | 13.0 km |
Metro 2
Main articles: Moscow Metro 2
Although this has not been officially confirmed, many independent studies suggest that a second, deeper metro system exists under military jurisdiction and is designed for emergency evacuation of key city personnel in case of attack. It is believed that it consists of a single track and connects the
Kremlin, chief HQ (Genshtab), Lubyanka (
FSB Headquarters) and the Ministry of Defence, as well as numerous other secret installations. There are also entrances to the system from several civilian buildings such as the
Russian State Library,
Moscow State University (MSU) and at least two stations of the regular metro. It is speculated that these would allow for the evacuation of a small number of randomly chosen civilians, in addition to most of the elite military personnel. The only known junction between the secret system and normal Metro is behind the station
Sportivnaya of the
Sokolnicheskaya Line. The final section of this system was completed in 1997.(
[2])
Fatal incidents
Although the Metro is a complex system, it has a very low rate of accidents. On
March 30 1983, several passengers were killed when two trains collided in the
Belorusskaya station on the
Koltsevaya Line. A senior official of the Moscow metro told foreign reporters there had been no
accident and that the closing of the station had been due to a breakdown of
rolling stock.
Terrorist bombing of 1977
On
January 8 1977, a bomb was reported to have killed seven and seriously injured 33. It went off on a crowded train passing the tunnel between Izmailovskaya and Pervomaiskaya stations
[3] [4] [5]. Three
Armenians were later arrested, charged and executed in connection with the incident. (Oberg 104).
Station fires of 1981
In June
1981, seven bodies were seen being taken out of
Oktyabrskaya station during a fire at the station. A fire was also reported at
Prospekt Mira station around that time.
[2]
Escalator accident of 1982
Main articles: Aviamotornaya
A fatal accident took place on
17 February 1982 due to an
escalator collapse at the
Aviamotornaya station of the
Kalininskaya Line. That day 8 people lost their lives, and 30 more were seriously injured, due to the pile-up caused by the faulty emergency brakes.
[6]
Terrorist bombing of 2004
On
February 6 2004, an explosion wrecked a train between
Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations on line 2 of the metro, killing 42 and wounding 250.
Chechen terrorists were immediately blamed. Later investigation concluded that a
Karachay-Cherkessian resident, an
Islamic militant, had committed a suicide bombing.
Recent events
On
May 25 2005, a city-wide blackout halted some lines. The following lines continued operations: Sokol'nicheskaya, Zamoskvoretskaya from
Avtozavodskaya to
Rechnoy Vokzal,
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, Filyovskaya, Kol'tsevaya, Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya from
Bitsevskiy Park to
Oktyabrskaya-Radialnaya and from
Prospekt Mira-Radialnaya to
Medvedkovo, Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya, Kalininskaya, Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya from
Serpukhovskaya to
Altufyevo, Lyublinskaya from
Chkalovskaya to
Dubrovka. Trains did not run on Kakhovskaya and
Butovskaya lines.
On
March 19 2006, a construction pile from an unauthorized billboard installation was driven through the roof of the tunnel hitting a train between the
Sokol and
Voikovskaya stations on the
Zamoskvoretskaya Line. No injuries were reported.
[3]
Yauza train
Expansion plans
Official site. As of 2007-2009 metro expansion program.
2007
Sretensky Bulvar (
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line central section), 1 station
— between
Chkalovskaya and
Trubnaya
Park Pobedy -
Strogino (
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line Strogino section), 11.5km, 2 stations
—
Kuntsevskaya
—
Strogino
2008
Slavyanskiy Bulvar (
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line Strogino section), 1 station
— between
Park Pobedy and
Kuntsevskaya
Technopark (
Zamoskvoretskaya Line), 1 station
— between
Avtozavodskaya and
Kolomenskaya
2009
Trubnaya -
Marina Roshcha (
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line central section), 2.98km, 2 stations
—
Dostoyevskaya
—
Marina Roshcha
Strogino -
Volokolamskaya (
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line Mitino section), 4.2km, 2 stations
—
Myakininskaya
—
Volokolamskaya
2010
Ulitsa Starokachalovskaya -
Bittsevsky Park (
Butovskaya Line), 5.0km, 1 station
Marino -
Zyablikovo (
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line), 4.33km, 3 stations
—
Borisovo
—
Shipilovskaya
—
Zyablikovo
Krasnogvardeyskaya -
Brateyevo (
Zamoskvoretskaya Line), 2.9km, 1 station
2011
Volokolamskaya -
Mitino (
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line Mitino section), 4.3km, 1 station
Novogireevo -
Novokosino (
Kalininskaya Line), 3.23km, 1 station
2012
Vykhino -
Zhulebino (
Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line), 3.38km, 1 station
2013
Marina Roshcha -
Likhobory (
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line central section), 8.04km, 4 stations
—
Sheremetyevskaya
—
Butyrskiy Khutor
—
Petrovsko-Razumovskaya
—
Likhobory
Solntsevskaya Line, 11.95km, 6 stations
2014
Buninskaya Alleya -
Novokuryanovo (
Butovskaya Line), 5.0km, 3 stations
—
Ulitsa Staropotapovskaya
—
Ulitsa Ostafyevskya
—
Novokuryanovo
See also
★
List of rapid transit systems
★
Moscow Metro 2
★ (detailed per-station statistics; Russian Wikipedia)
Primary source
★ Oberg, James E. ''Uncovering Soviet Disasters:Exploring the Limits of Glasnost.'' New York:Random House, 1988.
References
1. After post-Soviet hyperinflation, the modern ruble was revalued to be worth 1000 old rubles in 1998.
2. UPI. "7 Die in Moscow Subway Fire" 'New York Times':12 Jun. 1981
3. Moscow Metro Tunnel Collapses on Train; Nobody Hurt
External links
★
Official Website
★
Metro.ru — Information, history, maps, art
★
MetroWalks Moscow Photos of all metro station
★
Metro.Molot.ru — Lines, stations, plans, articles
★
Моё Метро ("My Metro") — Stations, cars, links
★
Metronews — News of Moscow metropolitan
★
Molnet Metro Map — Dynamic metro map to calculate travel time from A to B
★
Moscow Metro
★
81-717 Pictures about 81-717 type trains
★
UrbanRail.Net
★
Moscow Metro Photos — "faithful rendering of the decorations of the Moscow metro, through some 450 photos and 27 panoramas"
★
KartaMetro.info — Lines, stations, and exits on Moscow map and satellite imagery. Public transportation near metro stations.
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