Moscow authorities have announced budgets and public transport is one of the sectors that will receive a significant share of investments. Metro development is a priority. Over the next years, 80 km of line will be put into service. Construction works are currently carried out for 30 new stations.
Moscow is one of the first 10 cities in the world whose budgets are compared to that of small countries. In the first 10 months of the year, the city’s budget was of around USD 22,5 billion (RUB 1.4 Trillion). Another USD 25,7 billion will be added to the budget by the end of the year. Taxes are the main source of income which make for 83% of the revenues. Next year, budget revenues will increase by 2.3% to USD 28 billion, while in 2019 they will increase by 5.1%, reaching USD 30.5 billion. For the next period, Russia’s capital plans to invest in social support, education, health and, last but not least, the transport sector.
In terms of transport, Moscow has a network that covers the entire city. Public transport includes trolley, bus and metro services, the metro being the most important public transport system. The public transport system is comparable to that of the world’s megacities. According to estimates, by 2020, Moscow’s public transport system has to cope with a passenger flow of 6 billion a year or 16.5 million passengers per day. If in 2014, the metro system accounted for 2.5 billion journeys, their number will increase to 2.8 billion by 2020. Growth is also estimated in case of suburban rail traffic (from 2.2 billion to 2.5 billion passengers in 2020). Next to transport by taxi, metro, rail and public urban transport will increase by 25% until 2020 from 5.48 billion journeys in 2014 to 6.83 billion journeys.
The city has set a series of objectives on the improvement of the system and reducing average travel time by 10 minutes until 2020. Within the strategy, the increase in the public transport share is one of the main objectives. Thus, for public surface transport, the authorities plan to upgrade the entire rolling stock fleet which is currently made of 12,000 units, to modernise 300 km of railway lines and the establishment of 300 km of dedicated corridors. For railway transport, the authorities propose the construction of 161 km of additional railways, the construction of the Small Rail Ring and reaching the 300 million passenger/year objective. Regarding the metro network, plans include the construction of new lines with a total length of 161 km and 77 stations.
The new strategy includes initiatives to encourage use of public transport, increasing its market share and attracting private investments worth USD 24 billion, apart from public funds (of the city and federal) of USD 60 billion. The authorities will allocate USD 6 billion/year of public funding investments, 40% of which will go to metro projects.
In terms of private investments, plans include the establishment of a system of 273 transfer hubs and the construction of facilities (such as depots/ warehouses) with investments of USD 7.4 billion, the acquisition of 3,000 cars, including their maintenance and the implementation of ticketing initiatives, with investments of USD 4 billion, the supply of 2020 new suburban trains (and 24 Aeroexpress double-decked trains), with investments of USD 5.6 billion. Also, USD 7.8 billion will be allocated to renew the ground transport fleet of private carriers through a new management model, to develop taxi services and create a bike rental network. Investment objectives focus on improving the transport system, the allocation of an important sum of the city budget for these projects, the development of PPP mechanisms and the establishment of a single transport system for the capital’s metropolitan region. According to the 2025 investment strategy, Moscow’s Investment Agency says that regarding the transport infrastructure, the metro development project is a priority, next to the modernisation of the public transport system, the development of the rail transport services, the procurement of new trains, the construction of transport hubs and then the construction of the road network.
Investments
The programme targeted for investments and facilities in infrastructure (for 2016-2018), according to Moscow Investment Agency, RUB 808 billion (USD 13 billion) or 70% of the Targeted Investment Programme will be distributed to the “Transport System Modernisation” project that includes RUB 482 billion (USD 7.7 billion) or 60% for the metro system development. Projects include the construction of 36 new stations, 78 km of line and 4 depots.
Next year, the authorities will allocate RUB 434 billion (USD 7 billion) for the development of public transport, roads, parking lots, the modernisation of railways and the construction and reconstruction of the infrastructure. The amount will be constantly increased over the next two years reaching RUB 436.9 billion (over USD 7 billion) in 2018 and RUB 435.6 billion (around USD 7 billion) in 2019. Investments will amount to RUB 316 billion – USD 5 billion in 2017, RUB 337.5 billion – USD 5.4 billion in 2018 and to RUB 333.7 billion/USD 5.3 billion in 2019.
For the next 3 years, the metro system will receive the most significant part of the budget, a share worth RUB 157 billion (USD 2.5 billion).
In the first three quarters of the year, Moscow Metro placed in service the Rumyantsevo – Salaryevo section which is 3.5 km long (Sokolnicheskaya Line) and 5.5 km between Lyublinskaya and Dmitrovskaya, with 3 stations. At present, Moscow is implementing construction works for 30 new metro stations and approx. 80 km of line. “Transport system development is a big priority: nearly 70 percent of the funds have been allocated for this from the Targeted Investment Programme. More than half of the money will be spent on metro construction. At the moment, over 30 new metro stations are under construction in Moscow,” Andrei Bochkaryov, the head of the Moscow Department of Construction said.
A section of the Third Interchange Circuit will be opened next year and will provide connection between Delovoi Tsentr Station and Petrovsky Park with a line length of 10 km. The line also includes tunnel digging works on the Rubtsovskaya – Aviamotornaya section, while the first phase includes plans for the construction of 3.7 km of line between the two stations. Also, Metro Line 10 will be completed in 2019. “It was decided to extend the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line for another 3.5 km after Seligerskaya metro station. During the next year, we will finish the design of the new section,” Moscow Deputy Mayor for Urban Development and Construction Marat Khusnullin said. Other three metro stations, Okruzhnaya, Verkhniye Likhobory and Seligerskaya, will be put into service in the north of the city next year. This will reduce travel time to the centre of Moscow by 20 minutes. By 2018, the authorities want to commission 80 km of metro lines with 35 stations.
by Pamela Luica
Share on:
