Moscow Metro

Moscow Metro map
Logo of Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is a metro system which reaches nearly every part of the city of Moscow in Russia. It is one of the most heavily used metro systems in the world. It is also famous for its stations, which are heavily decorated with paintings.

In total the metro is 314 kilometres long and has 214 stations (including 1 temporarily closed). During the day about 7.2 million passengers use the metro. As in many subway systems every line has its own colour, name and number. In total there are 14 lines. The metro runs from 5:30 AM to 1:00 AM. In peak hours trains run every 90 seconds, in the rest of the day every 3–4 minutes and in the evening every 6–10 minutes. The metro does not publish a timetable, because the trains run at short intervals. Part of Filevskaya line (4) has a timetable because there are two lines there - new line to Mezhdunarodnaya and old line to Fili.

History

The first stations were opened 1935, May 15th. There were routes from Sokolniki to Park kultury and to Smolenskaya. First the Moscow metro had name after Lazar Kaganovich who was the had of Moscow Committee of All-Union communist party. In 1957 he was exiled from the party, and the Moscow metro became be named after V. I. Lenin. During the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union some stations were used as shelters against bombs.

Lines

The Moscow Metro has 16 lines, consisting of 14 normal lines and one light line and one U-railway. Here is a short overview of the lines:

Name Number Line
completion
Newest station
added
Length Stations
Sokolnicheskaya   1935 2019 44.1 km 26
Zamoskvoretskaya   1938 2018 42.8 km 24
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya   1938 2012 45.1 km 22
Filyovskaya   1958 2006 14.9 km 13
Koltsevaya   1950 1954 19.4 km 12
Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya   1958 1990 37.6 km 24
Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya   1966 2015 42.2 km 23
Kalininskaya   1979 2014 19.7 km 10
Solntsevskaya   2014 2020 24.9 km 12
Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya   1983 2023 41.5 km 25
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya   1995 2023 28.0 km 17
Bolshaya Koltsevaya Line   2018 2023 ~11 km 6
Butovskaya   2003 2014 10.0 km 7
Monorail   2004 2004 4.2 km 6
Moscow Central Circle   2016 2016 54 km 31
Nekrasovskaya   2019 2020 TBD km 10
Total: 325.4 km 194

Tickets

There are tickets for a certain number of rides and tickets for a certain time.

The moscow metro uses magnetic cards for tickets with a certain number of rides: 1,2,5,10,20 and 60. These tickets were first sold in 1993 as a test. All other tickets are Transport Cards (Smartcards). There are two kinds of smartcards, 'unlimited' and 'social'. Both kinds of cards can be used for 30, 90 or 1 year. Social cards are free for senior citizens and reduced for students.

Interesting Facts

The metro has a gauge of 1520 mm, like most Russian railways. It gets the electricity from a third rail. The metro is run on a voltage of 825V AC. The average distance between stations is 1800 m. The shortest is 300m between the stations Alexandrovskiy Sad and Arbatskaya. The longest distance between stations is 6627 m between Krylatskoe and Strogino. The long distance helps trains travelling faster and more efficient.

Most platforms are at least 155 m long. They can take trains which have 8 cars. The only exceptions are some stations on Filyovskaya Line which can only take 6-car trains. These stations are:

  • Delovoy centr
  • Studentcheskaya
  • Kutuzovskaya
  • Fili
  • Bagrationovskaya
  • Filyovskiy Park and Pionerskaya

Trains on lines 2, 6, 7 and 9 have eight cars, on lines 3, 8, 10 seven cars and on lines 4, 5 and 11 six cars.

Line 12 is different from all other lines. Its platforms are much shorter than the normal platforms. They are only 96 m longs. It has newer trains than the other line.

The metro has 214 stations. 71 of them are deep under the ground, 87 are just under the ground. There are also 10 stations above the ground and 3 on bridges.

On trains to the city there is a male announcer, on trains from the city there is a female announcer. (The boss calls you to work, the wife calls you home).

One of the stations - Vorobievy Gory is situated at the bridge and has a great view at the Moscow river. Also this station is the longest at Moscow.

Metro 2

Although this has not been officially said, many independent studies say that there is a second, deeper metro system designed for emergency evacuation of important 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.[citation needed] 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.

Statistics

Latest numbers from official site Archived 2006-07-14 at the Wayback Machine.

Passengers 2603.2 million passengers
— paid a trip 1958.6 million passengers
Average number of passengers per day 7132.1 thousand passengers
Revenue from fares 15997.4 million rubles
Network length 320.9 km
Number of lines 12
Longest line Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line (43.7 km)
Shortest line Kakhovskaya Line (3.3 km)
Longest section KrylatskoeStrogino (6.625 km)
Shortest section Delovoy TsentrMezhdunarodnaya (502 m)
Number of stations 192
— transfer stations 61
— transfer points 26
— surface/elevated 15
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 273
Number of turnstiles 2545
Number of escalators 681
— including Monorail stations 18
Total length of all escalators 67.4 km
Number of depots 15
Total number of train runs per day 10072
Average speed:  
— commercial 41.57 km/h
— technical 48.85 km/h
Total number of cars (average per day) 4545
Cars in service (average per day) 3565
Total run of cars 733.6 million car-kilometers
— with passengers 699.2 million car-kilometers
Average run of cars per day 562.3 car-kilometers
Average passengers per car 48 people
Longest escalator 126 m (Park Pobedy)
Total number of ventilation shafts 406
Number of local ventilation systems in use 5551
Number of medical assistance points 46
Total number of employees 37401 people
— males 19936 people
— females 17465 people
Timetable fulfillment 99.98 %
Minimum average interval 90 sec
Average passenger trip 13.0 km

Expansion plans

2014

Moscow Metro Media

Other websites

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