Information AboutMoscow Metro |
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The Moscow Metro in Moscow , Russia is the world's most heavily used Metro system (see Top 10 Rail Systems In Terms Of Annual Passenger Rides ). It is well known for the ornate design of many of the Stations , containing stunningly beautiful examples of Socialist Realist art. DESCRIPTION OF THE METRO In total, the Moscow Metro has 278.3 km of the full route length ( source to the full route length ), 12 lines and 171 stations, and on a normal weekday (according to the annual report 2004) it carries 10.05 million passengers. Passenger traffic is considerably lower on weekends bringing the average daily passenger traffic during the year to 8.745 million passengers per day. Moscow Metro is a State-owned Enterprise . The lines have triple identification: by numbers, by names and by colours. The voice announcements mention lines by name, while in colloquial usage they are mostly referred by colour, except Lyublinskaya (number 10) and Kakhovskaya (№ 11) which have been assigned shades of green, that was assigned to Zamoskvoretskaya (№ 2) long before. Most lines run radially through the city, except Koltsevaya (№ 5), which is a 20 km long ring connecting all the radial lines and a few smaller lines outside. On the ring line, travellers can detect the train direction by the gender of the announcer: male voice for clockwise travel, and female voice for counter-clockwise travel. On the radial lines, travellers heading toward the centre of Moscow will hear male voiced announcements, and travellers heading away from the center will hear female voiced announcements (a good mnemonic rule here is ‘the boss urges to go to work, the wife urges to go home’). Apart from that, there are plenty of signs showing all the stations which can be reached in a given direction. Unfortunately for a tourist, nearly all the station signs are written in Russian only; however, most metro maps inside the trains have English transliteration. The system is almost entirely built underground, although some lines (№ 1, 2, 4) cross the Moskva River and line 1 also the Yauza river on a Bridge . Exceptions include the Filyovskaya Line which has a longer surface section between the stations Kievskaya and Molodyozhnaya with 7 surface stations, Butovskaya Light Metro Line (L1) with 4 elevated stations, two more ground-level stations exist one on Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line and one on Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line Moscow Metro is open from 5:35 until 1:04 (the time may vary on different stations according to first/last train schedule). During peak hours, trains run about 90 seconds on most of the lines; about every 2-3.5 min. during the day, and every 6-10 min. late in the night. Because of such a frequent operation, there is no special train timetable available to passengers. THE LINES OF THE METRO The colours in the table correspond to the colours of the lines in the map above. It should be noted there are plans to extend the system with several "light Metro" lines (one, Butovskaya , is already in operation). The next light Metro line to open seems to be Solntsevskaya ("Солнцевская"). 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 roubles, about $1.70), hours of operation are 8:00-20:00. It is currently unknown when 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 (with a number of journeys limit) and yearly tickets are also available. 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 first journey). Magnetic cards were introduced in 1993 as a test. From 1996 to 1998 magnetic cards were used as unlimited tickets. For all other cases Moscow Metro uses a Transport Card (contactless smartcards). Smartcards are available as unlimited and social tickets. Unlimited could be programmed for 30, 90 and 365 days. Social card are free cards for all pensioners and other privileged citizens of City of Moscow. Pupils and students have social cards with heavily reduced price. Transport Cards were introduced in 1997 along with new type of magnetic card. Selling of tokens was stopped on 1 January 1999 and usage was stopped in February 1999. HISTORY OF THE MOSCOW METRO The Moscow Metro was initially built under the 1930's Moscow general plan designed by Lazar Kaganovich and was named after him ("Metropoliten im. L.M. Kaganovicha"). {Link without Title} The first line opened on 15 May 1935 between Sokolniki and Park Kultury with a branch to Smolenskaya which reached Kievskaya in April 1937 (crossing Moskva River on a bridge). Construction of the first stations was based on other underground systems, and only a few original indigenous designs were allowed ( Krasniye Vorota , Okhotniy Ryad , Kropotkinskaya ). The Kievskaya station was the first to use national motifs. The second "stage" was completed before the war. In March 1938 the Arbatskaya branch was separated and extended to the Kurskaya station (now Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line - dark blue line). In September 1938 the Gorkovskaya Line opened between Sokol and Teatralnaya . Here the architecture was based on the most popular stations (Krasniye Vorota, Okhotnyi Ryad and Kropotkinskaya) and the compositions followed the popular art deco style, though merging it with socialist visions. In engineering terms the first deep level Column station Mayakovskaya was built at that time. Building works on the third stage were delayed but not interrupted during the - 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 stations' architectural designs. Although during the Siege of Moscow, in the autumn and winter of 1941, the metro was used for air-raid shelters and the Council of ministers moved its offices to the platforms of Mayakovskaya where Stalin made public speeches on several occasions. Also the station Chistiye Prudy was walled off and the headquarters of the air defence was installed there. 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 peak of design and exquisite decoration is evident at 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 Kursakya ( 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 where the idea for a ring line came from. A group of engineers came to Joseph Stalin with the Metro plans to let him know about the progress and what was being done at that moment. While looking at the drawings, Stalin poured himself some coffee and spilt it a little bit over the edge of the cup. When he was asked whether he liked the project so far or not, he put his cup right 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 all this time. 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 . The reason for the construction of a deep part of the ''Arbatskiy'' radius was the beginning of the Cold War . Stations are very deep and were planned to serve 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 anymore, 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 Alekseevskaya were greatly simplified compared to their original plans. This was done on orders of Nikita Khruschev , 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 by the marble and ceramic tile colours. 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. INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE SYSTEM The Moscow Metro has Broad Gauge , 1520 mm, like regular Russian Railway s, and third rail supply of 825V AC . The average distance between stations is 1800 m, the shortest (510 m) section being between Aleksandrovskiy Sad and Arbatskaya and the longest (4 km) between Kievskaya and Park Pobedy . The long distances between stations have the positive effect of a commercial cruising speed of 41.3 km/h. Since the beginning of Moscow metro, , Studencheskaya , Kutuzovskaya , Fili , Bagrationovskaya , Filyovskiy Park , Pionerskaya , which only allow for 6-car trains (note that this list includes all of ground-level stations of Filyovskaya line, except Kuntsevskaya ). Trains on lines 2, 6, 7 and 9 consist of 8 cars, on lines 1, 3, 8, 10 of 7 cars and on lines 4, 5 and 11 of 6 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 "Light metro". It was designed to its own standards, which means shorter (96 m) platforms. It employs newer Rusich trains, which consist of 3 articulated cars, but it can also be served with traditional 4-car trains. Rolling stock on Filyovskaya line is also replaced with 4-car Rusich trains. The Moscow metro currently comprises 171 stations, of them 70 are deep level, and 87 are shallow. Of the deep stations 53 are pylon type, 16 are column type and 1 is a "single-vault" (Leningrad technology). The shallow stations compromise 65 pillar type (a large portion of them being the infamous "sorokonozhka" design), 19 "single-vaults" (Kharkov technology) and 3 single-decked. In addition there are also 10 ground level stations and 4 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-subterranial). The station Vorobyovy Gory is situated on the bridge. Three other metro bridges exist, the other three are covered and hidden. In addition there are two closed and one derelict stations. METRO 2 See Also: Moscow Metro 2 Although officially this fact is not confirmed there are many independent studies suggesting 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, Lubyanka and Ministry of Defence, and numerous 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. 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.( {Link without Title} ) RECENT EVENTS On February 6 , 2004 , an explosion wracked 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, a racist militant, had committed the suicide bombing. On and Voikovskaya stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line . No injuries were reported. EXPANSION PLANS Source: Official site 2006 - Delovoi Tsentr - Mezhdunarodnaya , Filyovskaya Line , 0.4 km 2007 - Chkalovskaya - Trubnaya , Lyublinskaya Line , 3.7 km 2007 - Park Pobedy - Kuntsevskaya , Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line , 4.9 km 2007 - Krylatskoe - Strogino , Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line , 6.6 km 2008-2009 - Trubnaya - Marina Roshcha , Lyublinskaya Line , 3 km 2008-2009 - Ulitsa Starokachalovskaya - Bitsevskiy Park , Butovskaya Light Metro Line , 4.3 km 2010 - Vykhino - Zhulebino , Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line , 3.4 km 2010 - Novogireevo - Novokosino , Kalininskaya Line , 3.2 km 2010 - Krasnogvardeiskaya - Brateevo , Zamoskvoretskaya Line , 2.9 km 2010 - Marino - Zyablikovo , Lyublinskaya Line , 4.3 km 2011 - Strogino - Mitino , Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line , 8.3 km 2011 - Solntsevskaya Light Metro Line , 11.95 km SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS Official Website Metro.ru — Information, history, maps, art MetroWalks Moscow Photos of all metro station Metro.Molot.ru — Lines, stations, plans, articles Moë Metro ("My Metro") — Stations, cars, links Metronews — News of Moscow metropolitan 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" |
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