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	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	Krylatskoe–Strogino (6.625 km)
Shortest section	Delovoy Tsentr–Mezhdunarodnaya (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

Moscow metro lines geographical
A Moscow Metro train passes through Sokolnicheskaya and Koltsevaya lines. View from the driver's cabin
Soviet government resolution to construct the Moscow Metro
1935 Soviet stamp marking the opening of the first Moscow metro line
Women's construction brigade led by Tatyana Viktorovna Fyodorova during construction of the second line of the Moscow metro, 1936
Sokolniki station, Line 1. Opened in 1935 (the first stage)
Krasnye Vorota, also opened in 1935 (the first stage) as part of Sokolnicheskaya line, e.g. Line 1
Mayakovskaya station. Opened in 1938 (the second stage)
Elektrozavodskaya station. Opened in 1944 (the third stage)
A train parade on the Circle Line