The metro transport system in the Russian capital is one of the busiest transport systems, but also one in continuous expansion and development. Approximately 9 million passengers transit Moscow’s underground transport every day on a network of 325.4 km. The metro network has 194 stations and 12 conventional lines.
Moscow Metro and the consortium of Metrovagonmash and Transleasholding, two subsidiaries of Transmashholding (TMH), signed a deal for the delivery of 832 cars. The contract amounts to RUB 144 Billion (USD 4.1 Billion) and will be carried out between 2014 and 2017.
At the end of May, SC Mosinzhproekt, China Railway Construction Corporation and China International Fund signed an agreement on the south-west metro line project. The agreement was concluded with the occasion of the visit to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong of Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. The new line will have 14.9 km and six stations, connecting Ulitsa Novatorov to Stolbovo.
The rapid construction of the new metro line, through the agreement signed with the Chinese, will also intensify the development of the New Moscow region which includes the new suburbs that the municipality will develop in the south-west of Moscow and that the metro line will serve. Ambitious plans announced by Russia since 2012 for the development of public transport include doubling the territorial surface of the Russian capital. This extension and development project has already attracted investments of USD 4 Billion and the total amount to be invested in such projects is estimated at USD 200 Billion by 2035, Moscow authorities announce. “These development plans, although very ambitious, could not be possible without building the metro line”, declared Sergei Zuyev, Dean of the Public Strategy School of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Zuyev also activates as head of a group of experts for elaborating Moscow’s economic and social development plan for 2025.
Apart from serving the new development region, the extension of the metro network is the key to increasing the life standard of Moscow’s citizens. In contract with other worldwide important metropolises, the transport network in Moscow is still insufficient to meet the customers’ needs and the extension of the metro is “one of the most efficient methods of solving this problem”, added Zuyev. Another measure of satisfying the demands of Moscow’s citizens in terms of comfort and quality services, the passengers travelling by metro will enjoy wireless internet connection starting with 2014, announced Vice Mayor Maksim Liksutov. Internet access will be possible in all units and on all lines.
The authorities in Moscow said that after 2020, the metro network could be extended outside the city, to rural areas; however, the authorities oscillate between the underground and developing a rapid light rail line, with greater chances of implementing the latter which is less expensive than boring new tunnels for the construction of metro lines.
Source: www.mosmetro.ru
[ by Elena Ilie ]Share on:
