With a population of 10.5 million citizens, Moscow has an efficient public transport system, and the estimates on the long-term transport demand determined the authorities to focus on the development of the urban rail transport. Under the circumstances, the authorities have suggested the construction of a new ring line of 54 km to extend the metro network.
Moscow Metro (12 lines, 298 km) is the main mode of transport of the capital city ensuring the transport of 56 % of the total number of passengers, 9 million passengers being transported a day. The development of the underground network include the construction projects for doubling the length and, according to estimates, the new lines will ensure the traffic of one billion passengers a year. If the projects are implemented, by 2015 the underground system will cover a quarter of the area that does not currently benefit from underground and by 2020 the entire rolling stock fleet will be replaced.
By 2020, the total length of the network will reach 451 km, being served by 252 stations. All projects aimed at will enable the increase of the passenger traffic and the number of those who do not use the underground will drop from 22% to 13%, which will determine the reduction of the surface traffic density and the increase of the market share of public transport.
Within the development strategy, in February, the Municipality of the city announced that it plans to build a second underground ring line, a project that is ra-pidly progressing compared to the rhythm estimated by the authorities. After the review of the technical parameters, the final plan aims at the completion of the line until 2018, declared Andrei Bochkaryov, the head of the municipal construction department. According to the final plans, the project would be completed until 2020 and aims at the construction of a 54-km line, which would represent half the length of Moscow Ring Road.
“The first segment to come on line will be the north-western part (Khoroshevskaya station to Nizhnyaya Maslovka). Then we will move from Nizhegorodskaya Ulitsa to Elektrozavodskaya station,” Bochkaryov said. The next stage will be Vernadskogo Prospekt to Aminyevskoye Shosse. “Afterwards, parts of the ring will gradually become available for service once completed”, said Bochkaryov.
To implement the metro project, this year the authorities allocated funds amounting to RUB 130 Billion (USD 3.7 Billion), the construction of the lines being the most expensive element on the budget of the city, and an amount of RUB 330 Billion (USD 9.5 Billion) will be necessary for 2014.
In the next decade, the authorities want to build 158 km of line, and until 2020 the length of Moscow metro network will double.
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