Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin officially launched the first section of capital’s Large Circle Line, being the large circle of the Moscow Metro system.
The first section of Bolshaya Koltsevaya line has a length of 10.5-km section served by 5 stations of which four are interchange stations – Delovoy Tsentr, Shelepikha, Khoroshevskaya and Petrovsky Park.
The new line provides metro access to five Moscow districts.
“This is a historical day for Moscow, Muscovites and the Moscow Metro. We are launching the first section of the Large Circle Line. This is one of the largest metro lines in the world. It will connect the central parts of Moscow and will bring many districts much closer, improve transport accessibility and increase travel convenience for Muscovites. It will take the load off the Circle and other lines. During the next four to five years, we must complete the entire line and make Moscow transport more advanced and comfortable,” Moscow Mayor said.
Until the Large Circle Line is completed, trains in this first section will run to one of two destination like Line 4 currently does: from Petrovsky Park, they will run to Shelepikha and then either to Delovoi Tsentr or to Ramenki on Line 8 through Park Pobedy via a connecting track. This new section will provide easier access for employees and visitors of the Moscow City Business Centre where about 300,000 people go every day. Over 400,000 Muscovites will be able to get from one district to another without having to go through the centre.
The new section brings Moscow metro system at 212 stations and totaling 360 km. When completed, the Large Circle Line will have a total length of 67 km with 31 stations. Within the project, there will be 17 crossings with existing metro lines, 7 with radial railways and two with the Moscow Central Circle (MCC). The underground Third Interchange Circuit is the second Circle Line of the Moscow Metro. It will be located 10-km from the first Circle Line and will link all existing and planned radial metro routes. The Third Interchange Circuit will allow passengers to save travel time and will help reduce the load on central sections of radial metro lines by 20-25 percent.
According to city’s transport strategy, Sobyanin, announced that in the next few years, 95 percent of city residents are to get metro stations in their neighbourhoods. By 2025, the city will build 169 km of metro lines with 74 stations and 9 train maintenance facilities.
In 2017, Moscow built over 20 km of new metro lines with 9 stations.
Photo: Vladimir Gerdo/TASS
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