The Moscow Metro successfully transports passengers for almost eighty years. Its first line opened back in 1935. The plan for the construction of the metro in Moscow at that time was not worked out for such a distant future and was formed gradually, as new districts were built up and the historical part of the city was reconstructed.
The transport system of the capital
The metro is an essential element of the entire transport infrastructure of Moscow. The value only increases with the development of the metropolis. With congestion of all major ground lines during peak hours, the metro works without traffic jams and interruptions. For the majority of the population, this is the only reliable way to get to the right point in the city without delay. Without a well-functioning metro, life in Moscow will be paralyzed. There is no doubt that the existing metro scheme should be developed and improved. But it is worth making conclusions from the miscalculations and mistakes made in the past.
The main disadvantages of the existing system
Time mercilessly revealed many of the imperfections of the once accepted concept of the subway. The metro construction plan in Moscow, tied to the Koltsevaya line, was progressive and relevant for the post-war period. But such a decision has become an absolute brake on development in modern conditions. The existing metro scheme often forces passengers to get to the desired station through a change on the Koltsevaya line. And this contradicts the elementary principles of logistics. Therefore, the plan for the construction of the metro in Moscow for the near and more distant future should be based on principles that can overcome the shortcomings of the formed system.
Directions for further development
The further plan for the construction of the metro in Moscow implies an integrated approach to overcoming today's problems. There will be several directions for further development. They also mean the appearance on the map of new and the continuation of existing lines. Increasingly, subway lines will go beyond the Ring Road in the direction of the region. An undoubted innovation is the plan for the construction of a light metro. It will pass through the exclusion zone of existing railway lines and provide communication between large cities near Moscow and the center of the capital.
Third transfer circuit
At present, specific construction tasks for the period up to 2020 have been identified and accepted for execution. One of the most important projects, which includes the construction plan of the Moscow metro, is the creation of a third interchange circuit. This project involves the construction of four chord lines passing through the peripheral areas of the capital. The pattern of movement along these lines will have a route principle. After the circuit is closed, one of the routes is supposed to be made circular. Thus, the second ring line may appear in the Moscow metro. But this is in the distant future. The construction of the first chord section is currently underway. Its opening is tentatively planned in the fourth quarter of 2015. The launch site will pass between the stations "Business Center" and "Lower Maslovka". It will include six new stations.
Easy subway
In the near suburbs there are a number of fairly large cities. First of all, it is Khimki, Podolsk, Dolgoprudny, Mytishchi and Reutov. They live a lot of people who work in the capital. They are forced daily to overcome the distance to their workplace and come back. The construction of metro lines in these cities would require a very large investment if we build the metro in the format we are used to. Therefore, in order to provide transport links with these cities, the so-called “easy metro” option was adopted. In fact, this is closer to the usual train for everyone. But its wagons are converted according to metro standards and the departure interval is significantly reduced. Light metro trains move along existing railway tracks or, if there is no such possibility, along parallel to them. So, for example, trains from Khimki will arrive at the Leningradsky railway station. The light metro allows for fairly modest investments to provide the Moscow Region with transport communications. The disadvantages of this project include the fact that its lines will not be integrated into the existing Moscow metro scheme. At the Leningrad station, passengers will have to transfer to Komsomolskaya - circular or radial. And for this you have to go through the turnstile a second time.
Existing Network Development
In addition to the fundamentally new approaches, the metro construction plan until 2020 implies further development and improvement of the already formed Moscow metro scheme. We should not forget about the expansion of the borders of Moscow itself in the south-west direction. On the former territory of the region, which in July 2012 became part of the city of Moscow, three metro lines will be built. This, first of all, is about the continuation of the Sokolniki and Kalinin-Solntsevskaya lines. The new light metro line will run parallel to the Kaluga highway in the direction of Kommunarka. In addition, new Moscow metro stations will appear in many other existing directions. According to the approved plans, by 2020, 160 kilometers of new lines and 79 stations will appear in the Moscow metro. By the end of 2014, the launch site on the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line from the Maryina Roscha to Seligerskaya should be commissioned. The oldest Sokolnicheskaya line will be continued from "Southwest" to "Salaryevo". The Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line will reach the Kotelniki station. In addition, the Spartak station unfinished in former times will be mothballed there. In 2017, it is planned to commission the section of the Solntsevskaya line from Victory Park to the Ramenki station. And in 2019, it will be possible to drive along the Kalinin line from the Tretyakovskaya station to the Delovoy Tsentr station. Two lines existing now will be united in one Kalinin-Solntsevskaya.