Moscow Metro

• Sokolnicheskaya line was previously named Kirovsko-Fruzenskaya
•  Zamoskvoretskaya line was previously named Gorkovsko-Zamoskvoretskaya.
•  Filyovskaya line was previously named Arbatsko-Filyovskaya.
• Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line was previously named Zhdanovsko-Krasnopresnenskaya

The V-type trains were formerly from Berlin U-Bahn C-class trains from 1945 to 1969, until its complete demise in 1970. They were transported from the Berlin U-Bahn during the Soviet occupation. A-type and B-type trains were custom-made since the opening.

• 
  A-type
• 
  B-type
• 
  V-4-type (former Berlin Class C-1)
• 
  V2-type (former Berlin Class C-2)

Currently, the Metro only operates 81-style trains.

Rolling stock on the Koltsevaya line is being replaced with articulated 81-740/741 Rusich four-car trains. The Butovskaya Line was designed by different standards, and has shorter (96-metre (315 ft) long) platforms. It employs articulated 81-740/741 trains, which consist of three cars (although the line can also use traditional four-car trains). On the Moscow Central Circle, Lastochka trains are used, consisting of five cars.

• 
  G-type
• 
  D-type
• 
  E-type
• 
  I-2-type (81-715.2/716.2)
• 
  81-717/81-714-type
• 
  81-717.5A/81-714.5A-type
• 
  81-717.6-714.6-type
• 
  81-720/721-type ("Yauza")
• 
  81-740/741-type ("Rusich")
• 
  81-760/761-type ("Oka") (ru)
• 
  81-765/766/767-type ("Moscow")
• 
  Intamin P30 train (operates on the Monorail line)
• 
  ES2G Lastochka train (operates on the Moscow Central Circle line)

External video

Moscow Metro opening, Soviet Archive Footage

Sokolniki station. Opened in 1935 (the first stage)

Mayakovskaya station. Opened in 1938 (the second stage)

Elektrozavodskaya station. Opened in 1944 (the third stage)

Kiyevskaya. Opened in 1954 (the fourth stage)

The first line was opened to the public on 15 May 1935 at 07:00 am.[13] It was 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long and included 13 stations. The day was celebrated as a technological and ideological victory for socialism (and, by extension, Stalinism). An estimated 285,000 people rode the Metro at its debut, and its design was greeted with pride; street celebrations included parades, plays and concerts. The Bolshoi Theatre presented a choral performance by 2,200 Metro workers; 55,000 colored posters (lauding the Metro as the busiest and fastest in the world) and 25,000 copies of "Songs of the Joyous Metro Conquerors" were distributed.[14] This publicity barrage, produced by the Soviet government, stressed the superiority of the Moscow Metro over all other metros in capitalist societies and the Metro's role as a prototype for the Soviet future. The Moscow Metro averaged 47 km/h (29 mph) and had a top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).[15] In comparison, New York City Subway trains averaged a slower 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) and had a top speed of 45 miles per hour (72 km/h).[14] While the celebration was an expression of popular joy it was also an effective propaganda display, legitimizing the Metro and declaring it a success.

The initial line connected Sokolniki to Okhotny Ryad then branching to Park Kultury and Smolenskaya.[16] The latter branch was extended westwards to a new station (Kiyevskaya) in March 1937, the first Metro line crossing the Moskva River over the Smolensky Metro Bridge.

The second stage was completed before the war. In March 1938, the Arbatskaya branch was split and extended to the Kurskaya station (now the dark-blue Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line). In September 1938, the Gorkovskaya Line opened between Sokol and Teatralnaya. Here the architecture was based on that of the most popular stations in existence (Krasniye Vorota, Okhotnyi Ryad and Kropotkinskaya); while following the popular art-deco style, it was merged with socialist themes. The first deep-level column station Mayakovskaya was built at the same time.

Building work on the third stage was delayed (but not interrupted) during World War II, and two Metro sections were put into service; Teatralnaya–Avtozavodskaya (three stations, crossing the Moskva River through a deep tunnel) and Kurskaya–Partizanskaya (four stations) were inaugurated in 1943 and 1944 respectively. War motifs replaced socialist visions in the architectural design of these stations. During the Siege of Moscow in the fall and winter of 1941, Metro stations were used as air-raid shelters; the Council of Ministers moved its offices to the Mayakovskaya platforms, where Stalin made public speeches on several occasions. The Chistiye Prudy station was also walled off, and the headquarters of the Air Defence established there.

After the war ended in 1945, construction began on the fourth stage of the Metro, which included the Koltsevaya Line, a deep part of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line from Ploshchad Revolyutsii to Kievskaya and a surface extension to Pervomaiskaya during the early 1950s. The decoration and design characteristic of the Moscow Metro is considered to have reached its zenith in these stations. The Koltsevaya Line was first planned as a line running under the Garden Ring, a wide avenue encircling the borders of Moscow's city centre. The first part of the line – from Park Kultury to Kurskaya (1950) – follows this avenue. Plans were later changed and the northern part of the ring line runs 1–1.5 kilometres (0.62–0.93 mi) outside the Sadovoye Koltso, thus providing service for seven (out of nine) rail terminals. The next part of the Koltsevaya Line opened in 1952 (Kurskaya–Belorusskaya), and in 1954 the ring line was completed.

Novoslobodskaya station

Komsomolskaya station

Sokol station

The beginning of the Cold War led to the construction of a deep section of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. The stations on this line were planned as shelters in the event of nuclear war. After finishing the line in 1953 the upper tracks between Ploshchad Revolyutsii and Kiyevskaya were closed, and later reopened in 1958 as a part of the Filyovskaya Line. In the further development of the Metro the term "stages" was not used any more, although sometimes the stations opened in 1957–1959 are referred to as the "fifth stage".

Other stations, too, were supplied with tight gates and life-sustenance systems to function as nuclear shelters.

During the late 1950s the architectural extravagance of new Metro stations was toned down, and decorations at some stations (such as VDNKh and Alexeyevskaya) were simplified by comparison with the original plans. This was done on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev, who favoured more spartan decoration. A typical layout (which quickly became known as Sorokonozhka–"centipede", from early designs with 40 concrete columns in two rows) was developed for all new stations and the stations were built to look almost identical, differing from each other only in colours of the marble and ceramic tiles. Most stations were built with simpler, less-costly technology; this was not always appropriate, and resulted in utilitarian design. For example, walls with cheap ceramic tiles were susceptible to train vibration and some tiles eventually fell off. It was not always possible to replace the missing tiles with the ones of the same color, which eventually led to variegated parts of the walls. Not until the mid-1970s was the architectural extravagance restored and original designs again popular. However, the newer design of "centipede" stations (with 26 columns, more widely spaced) continued to dominate.

The Moscow Metro was one of the USSR's most ambitious architectural projects. The metro's artists and architects worked to design a structure that embodied svet (radiance or brilliance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future).[17] With their reflective marble walls, high ceilings and grand chandeliers, many Moscow Metro stations have been likened to an "artificial underground sun".[18] This palatial underground environment[18] reminded riders that their tax rubles had been well spent on svetloe budushchee.

The chief lighting engineer was Abram Damsky, a graduate of the Higher State Art-Technical Institute in Moscow. By 1930 he was a chief designer in Moscow's Elektrosvet Factory, and during World War II was sent to the Metrostroi (Metro Construction) Factory as head of the lighting shop.[19] Damsky recognized the importance of efficiency, as well as the potential for light as an expressive form. His team experimented with different materials (most often cast bronze, aluminum, sheet brass, steel, and milk glass) and methods to optimize the technology.[19] Damsky's discourse on "Lamps and Architecture 1930–1950" describes in detail the epic chandeliers installed in the Kaluzhskaia (now called the Oktiabrskaia) Station and the Taganskaia Station:

The Kaluzhskaya Station was designed by the architect [Leonid] Poliakov. Poliakov's decision to base his design on a reinterpretation of Russian classical architecture clearly influenced the concept of the lamps, some of which I planned in collaboration with the architect himself. The shape of the lamps was a torch – the torch of victory, as Poliakov put it... The artistic quality and stylistic unity of all the lamps throughout the station's interior made them perhaps the most successful element of the architectural composition. All were made of cast aluminum decorated in a black and gold anodized coating, a technique which the Metrostroi factory had only just mastered.

The Taganskaia Metro Station on the Ring Line was designed in...quite another style by the architects K.S. Ryzhkov and A. Medvedev... Their subject matter dealt with images of war and victory...The overall effect was one of ceremony ... In the platform halls the blue ceramic bodies of the chandeliers played a more modest role, but still emphasised the overall expressiveness of the lamp.[19]

— Abram Damsky, Lamps and Architecture 1930–1950

The work of Abram Damsky further publicized these ideas hoping people would associate the party with svetloe budushchee.

Stalin's first five-year plan (1928–1932) facilitated rapid industrialization to build a socialist motherland. The plan was ambitious, seeking to reorient an agrarian society towards industrialism. It was Stalin's fanatical energy, large-scale planning, and smart resource distribution that kept up the incredible pace of industrialization. The first five-year plan was instrumental in the completion of the Moscow Metro; without industrialization, the Soviet Union would not have had the raw materials necessary for the project. For example, steel was a main component of many subway stations. Before industrialization, it would have been impossible for the Soviet Union to produce enough steel to incorporate it into the metro's design; in addition, a steel shortage would have limited the size of the subway system and its technological advancement.

The Moscow Metro furthered the construction of a socialist Soviet Union because the project accorded with Stalin's second five-year plan. The Second Plan focused on urbanization and the development of social services. The Moscow Metro was necessary to cope with the influx of peasants who migrated to the city during the 1930s; Moscow's population had grown from 2.16 million in 1928 to 3.6 million in 1933. The Metro also bolstered Moscow's shaky infrastructure and its communal services, which hitherto were nearly nonexistent.[14]

The Communist Party had the power to mobilize; because the party was a single source of control, it could focus its resources and inspire its people. The most notable example of mobilization in the Soviet Union occurred during World War II. The country also mobilized in order to complete the Moscow Metro with unprecedented speed. One of the main motivation factors of the mobilization was to overtake the West and prove that a socialist metro could surpass capitalist designs. It was especially important to the Soviet Union that socialism succeed industrially, technologically, and artistically in the 1930s, since capitalism was at a low ebb during the Great Depression.

The person in charge of Metro mobilization was Lazar Kaganovich. A prominent Party member, he assumed control of the project as chief overseer. Kaganovich was nicknamed the "Iron Commissar"; he shared Stalin's fanatical energy, dramatic oratory flare, and ability to keep workers building quickly with threats and punishment.[14] He was determined to realise the Moscow Metro, regardless of cost. Without Kaganovich's managerial ability, the Moscow Metro might have met the same fate as the Palace of the Soviets: failure.

This was a comprehensive mobilization; the project drew resources and workers from the entire Soviet Union. In his article, archeologist Mike O'Mahoney describes the scope of the Metro mobilization:

A specialist workforce had been drawn from many different regions, including miners from the Ukrainian and Siberian coalfields and construction workers from the iron and steel mills of Magnitogorsk, the Dniepr hydroelectric power station, and the Turkestan-Siberian railway... materials used in the construction of the metro included iron from Siberian Kuznetsk, timber from northern Russia, cement from the Volga region and the norther Caucasus, bitumen from Baku, and marble and granite from quarries in Karelia, the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Urals, and the Soviet Far East[20]

— Mike O'Mahoney, Archeological Fantasies: Constructing History on the Moscow Metro

Skilled engineers were scarce, and unskilled workers were instrumental to the realization of the metro. The Metrostroi (the organization responsible for the Metro's construction) conducted massive recruitment campaigns. It printed 15,000 copies of Udarnik metrostroia (Metrostroi Shock Worker, its daily newspaper) and 700 other newsletters (some in different languages) to attract unskilled laborers. Kaganovich was closely involved in the recruitment campaign, targeting the Komsomol generation because of its strength and youth.

When the Metro opened in 1935 it immediately became the centrepiece of the transportation system. More than that, it was a Stalinist device to awe and control the populace, and give them an appreciation of Soviet realist art. It became the prototype for future Soviet large-scale technologies. Kaganovich was in charge; he designed the subway so that citizens would absorb the values and ethos of Stalinist civilization as they rode. The artwork of the 13 original stations became nationally and internationally famous. For example, the Sverdlov Square subway station featured porcelain bas-reliefs depicting the daily life of the Soviet peoples, and the bas-reliefs at the Dynamo Stadium sports complex glorified sports and physical prowess on the powerful new "Homo Sovieticus" (Soviet man).[21] The metro was touted as the symbol of the new social order—a sort of Communist cathedral of engineering modernity.[22]

The Metro was iconic also because it showcased Socialist Realism in public art. Socialist Realism was in fact a method, not a style.[17] This method was influenced by Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Lenin's favorite 19th-century nihilist, who stated that "art is no use unless it serves politics".[14] This maxim explains why the stations combined aesthetics, technology and ideology. Any plan which did not incorporate all three areas cohesively was rejected. Without this cohesion, the Metro would not reflect Socialist Realism. If the Metro did not utilize Socialist Realism, it would fail to illustrate Stalinist values and transform Soviet citizens into socialists. Anything less than Socialist Realism's grand artistic complexity would fail to inspire a long-lasting, nationalistic attachment to Stalin's new society.[23]

Luzhniki MCC station

A proposal to convert the Little Ring of the Moscow Railway into a metropolitan railway with frequent passenger service was announced in 2012. New track was laid and stations were built between 2014 and 2016. The Moscow Central Circle line (Line 14) opened to passengers in September 2016, relieving congestion on the Koltsevaya line. Line 14 is operated by Russian Railways. Free transfers are permitted between the MCC and the Moscow Metro if the trip before the transfer is less than 90 minutes.[24]

Note: The real discount is higher because validity period is doubled (90 days is enough to pass even twice only in the week days).

There is no difference between types of transport for fare collection, the difference apply for carrier.

Note: in main fare zone is the territory: (in some area 2 fare systems have track overlap, these areas are not written above).

• Routes in MKAD borders (include all trolleybusses routes inside MKAD and all trams),
• Butovo
• Solntsevo-Novoperedelkino
• Zelenograd

The Moscow Metro is undergoing a major expansion; current plans call for almost 150 kilometres (93 mi) of new lines to be opened between 2012–2022. There were 15 tunnel boring machines working in Moscow as of April 2013 with 24 planned by the end of 2013.[39][40]

In addition to major metro expansion the Moscow Government and Russian Railways plans to upgrade more commuter railways to a metro-style service, similar to the MCC. New tracks and stations are planned to be built in order to achieve this.

List of expansion projects of Moscow Metro by date

Line	Terminals		Length (km)	Stations	Status	Planned opening
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line	Lefortovo	Elektrozavodkaya	2.9	1	Under construction	2020
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line	Khoroshyovskaya	Karamyshevskaya	5.0	2	Under construction	2020–2021
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line	Kakhovskaya	Aminyevskaya	~11	6	Under construction	2021
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line	Aminyevskaya	Karamyshevskaya	~8	3	Under construction	2021–2022
Kievsko-Gorkovsky diameter	Aprelevka	Zheleznodorozhny	85		Under construction	2021–2022
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line	Seligerskaya	Lianozovo	3.9	2	Under construction	2022
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line	Nizhegorodskaya	Kashirskaya	11.4	4	Under construction	2022
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line	Kashirskaya	Kakhovskaya	3.3	2	Under renovation	2022
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line	Elektrozavodkaya	Savyolovskaya	7.2	3	Under construction	2022
Solntsevskaya line	Rasskazovka	Vnukovo	5.5	2	Under construction	2022–2023
Kommunarskaya line	Ulitsa Novatorov	Stolbovo	16.3	7	Under construction	2023
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line	Lianozovo	Fiztekh	3.0	1	Planned
Sokolnicheskaya line	Kommunarka	Novomoskovskaya	2.4	1	Planned
Kommunarskaya line	Ulitsa Novatorov	Krymskaya	7.3	3	Planned
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line	Shchyolkovskaya	Golianovo		1	Planned
Kalininskaya line	Tretyakovskaya	Delovoy Tsentr	5.1	3	Planned
Kommunarskaya line	Stolbovo	Troitsk		6	Planned
Leningradsko-Kazansky diameter	Alabushevo	Ippodrom	82		Planned	2023–2024
Total under construction (underground lines):			~75 km	32
Total under construction (onground lines):			217 km

On 8 January 1977, a bomb was reported to have killed 7 and seriously injured 33. It went off in a crowded train between Izmaylovskaya and Pervomayskaya stations.[43] Three Armenians were later arrested, charged and executed in connection with the incident.[44]

In June 1981, seven bodies were seen being removed from the Oktyabrskaya station during a fire there. A fire was also reported at Prospekt Mira station about that time.[45]

A fatal accident occurred on 17 February 1982 due to an escalator collapse at the Aviamotornaya station on the Kalininskaya Line. Eight people were killed and 30 injured due to a pileup caused by faulty emergency brakes.[46]

On 8 August 2000, a strong blast in a Metro underpass at Pushkinskaya metro station in the center of Moscow claimed the lives of 12, with 150 injured. A homemade bomb equivalent to 800 grams of TNT had been left in a bag near a kiosk.[47]

On 6 February 2004, an explosion wrecked a train between the Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line, killing 41 and wounding over 100.[48] Chechen terrorists were blamed. A later investigation concluded that a Karachay-Cherkessian resident (an Islamic militant) had carried out a suicide bombing. The same group organized another attack on 31 August 2004, killing 10 and injuring more than 50 others.

On 25 May 2005, a citywide blackout halted operation on some lines. The following lines, however, continued operations: Sokolnicheskaya, Zamoskvoretskaya from Avtozavodskaya to Rechnoy Vokzal, Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, Filyovskaya, Koltsevaya, Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya from Bitsevskiy Park to Oktyabrskaya-Radialnaya and from Prospekt Mira-Radialnaya to Medvedkovo, Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya, Kalininskaya, Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya from Serpukhovskaya to Altufyevo and Lyublinskaya from Chkalovskaya to Dubrovka.[49] There was no service on the Kakhovskaya and Butovskaya lines. The blackout severely affected the Zamoskvoretskaya and Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya lines, where initially all service was disrupted because of trains halted in tunnels in the southern part of city (most affected by the blackout). Later, limited service resumed and passengers stranded in tunnels were evacuated. Some lines were only slightly impacted by the blackout, which mainly affected southern Moscow; the north, east and western parts of the city experienced little or no disruption.[49]

On 19 March 2006 a construction pile from an unauthorized billboard installation was driven through a tunnel roof, hitting a train between the Sokol and Voikovskaya stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line. No injuries were reported.[50]

On 29 March 2010, two bombs exploded on the Sokolnicheskaya Line, killing 40 and injuring 102 others. The first bomb went off at the Lubyanka station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line at 7:56, during the morning rush hour.[51] At least 26 were killed in the first explosion, of which 14 were in the rail car where it took place. A second explosion occurred at the Park Kultury station at 8:38, roughly forty minutes after the first one.[51] Fourteen people were killed in that blast. The Caucasus Emirate later claimed responsibility for the bombings.

On 25 January 2014, at 15:37 a construction pile from a Moscow Central Circle construction site was driven through a tunnel roof between Avtozavodskaya and Kolomenskaya stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line. The train operator applied emergency brakes, and the train did not crash into the pile. Passengers were evacuated from the tunnel, with no injures reported. The normal line operation resumed the same day at 20:00.

On 15 July 2014, a train derailed between Park Pobedy and Slavyansky Bulvar on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line, killing twenty four people and injuring dozens more.