The Moscow Metro is an off-street rail (mainly underground) urban public transport on electric traction, located in Moscow and partly in the Moscow Region. It is the first and largest metro in the post-Soviet space. The Moscow metro is the sixth in the world in terms of intensity of use after the Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Guangzhou metros; fourth in the world and first in Russia and Europe in terms of the length of operated lines. The State Unitary Enterprise “Moscow Metro” (state unitary enterprise of the city of Moscow “Moscow Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor Metro named after V. I. Lenin”) operates the metro.
One of the most important parts of transport system of Moscow.
The Moscow Metro is the fifth most-used metro system in the world and is widely known for the rich decoration of many stations with wonderful examples of art from the era of socialist realism.
The total average daily number of passengers of the Moscow Metro is about 4.99 million people. On average, 5.82 million people use the metro per month on weekdays and about 3.74 million people on weekends.
On average, Muscovites spend 287 minutes a week in the metro – 231 of them on a weekday and 56 minutes on a weekend. 929.3 thousand people use the circle line per day, which is about 9% of all passengers per day.
The largest passenger traffic falls on the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya, Zamoskvoretskaya, Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya and Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya metro lines: about 3.1 million people use them on a weekday.
The average daily passenger flow of the Moscow Metro is about 32,000 people per kilometer of line and about 52,000 people per station.
The first line – Sokolnicheskaya – opened on May 15, 1935; at the time of launch, it had 13 stations, a length of 11.2 km and went from Sokolniki station to Okhotny Ryad station with a forked branch to Park Kultury and Smolenskaya. For 2022, the metro consists of 14 lines (while the current Nekrasovskaya line has the official number 15) with a length of 438.6 km in double-track terms, excluding the monorail and the MCC with 250 stations, of which seven are closed for reconstruction and more than 40 stations are monuments of cultural heritage.
According to the plans of the Moscow government, another 25 stations and 58 kilometers of lines will be built by 2027.
Working mode
The metro is open to passengers from 5:30 to 1:00. Until 2015, some stations located closer to the suburbs opened from 5:20. At a small number of stations with two or more exits, previously only one was open all the time, while the rest worked on a reduced schedule. From September 8, 2019, ticket offices at some stations open at 5:00.
Exactly at 1 am, some escalators stop for the entrance and transfer of passengers, and all stations work only for the exit. At 01:03, the last train leaves the final stations (from the Pyatnitskoye Shosse station – at 1:04, from the Aleksandrovsky Sad station towards Mezhdunarodnaya – at 1:08, from the Delovoi Tsentr station –at 1:15). Late passengers who are already in the metro still have a chance to leave the city center for the outskirts – the last trains on the radial lines pass the central stations around 1:20-1:40.
On some holidays (New Year’s, Christmas, Easter, and in some years, Victory Day, City Day, etc.), since the mid-2000s, the Moscow Metro’s operating time has been extended (usually until 2:00).
The average interval between train departures is 2.5 minutes, the minimum during peak hours is 90 seconds, and the maximum can reach 10 minutes or more (on weekend nights, or in case of failures, emergencies and accidents). On lightly loaded lines, intervals of the order of 4-5 minutes are kept. At the stations “Vystavochnaya” and “Mezhdunarodnaya” during “rush hours” trains leave every 5-6 minutes.
The train schedule is fulfilled by 99.944%.
Wi-Fi and Internet
The cellular network and free wi-fi cover most of the stations of the Moscow metro, and many transitions, escalator slopes and hauls provide passengers with methods of communication. The availability of coverage and the signal level depending on the specific station (haul) and the mobile operator. All hauls of the Circle Line offer continuous coverage.
Rolling stock
Records of Moscow metro (without considering the monorail, MCC and MCD)
- The longest line is Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya (45.1 km)
- The shortest line is Butovskaya (10 km)
- The busiest line is Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya
- The busiest station is Komsomolskaya on the Circle Line (142,000 people a day)
- The least loaded station is Lesoparkovaya
- The deepest station is Park Pobedy (73 m) and will be replaced in the list of record holders after the commissioning of Maryina Roshcha (74 m)
- The underground station, located closest to the surface of the earth, is Pechatniki (5 m)
- The longest station (along the length of the platform) is Vorobyovy Gory (282 m)
- The narrowest station is Mezhdunarodnaya (International)
- The longest haul (span between the station) is Krylatskoye – Strogino (6625 m)
- The shortest haul is Arbatskaya – Aleksandrovsky Sad (328 m) and Vystavochnaya – Mezhdunarodnaya (500 m)
- The longest escalator is 126.8 m, and the lifting height is 63.4 m (“Victory Park”)
- Stations, the exits of which are in several cities at once: “Kotelniki” (in Moscow, Kotelniki and Lyubertsy); “Novokosino” (in Moscow and Reutov)
- The station is located entirely outside of Moscow and built entirely with private funding – Myakinino (in Krasnogorsk)
- In 2018, the largest number of stations in the history of the Moscow metro construction was put into operation – 17.
Prices
The fare is paid with contactless tickets, contactless smart cards or contactless bank cards (including using Samsung Pay), and automatic turnstiles control the pass at the station.
Since April 2, 2013, the Troika electronic wallet has been introduced (a smaller amount is deducted from the card for one pass than for a regular ticket for one or two trips). Tickets for 90 minutes are also available. The cost of one trip from January 2022 is 60 rubles, but with the Troika card,the cost is 42 rubles for a regular trip. Payments made with bank cards or Apple Pay and Samsung Pay cost passengers 46 rubles. Police officers, metro security services and controllers of the Transport Organizer, who have the right to issue a fine and confiscate illegal discount tickets, usually guard the turnstile lines to prevent unpaid passage through the turnstiles.
See here Moscow 10 railway stations.
