The world of the Moscow Metro is unique, dynamic, vibrant and expressive. For Muscovites and for guests of the capital, this is much more than part of the urban transport infrastructure. The Moscow metro, of course, has a certain aesthetic and spiritual dimension. However, for most of its users it has long been familiar. They have no time to think about abstract questions, or even about how many metro stations are in Moscow. There are just a lot of them.
How it all began
It will soon be eighty years since subway trains carry passengers in the Moscow dungeon. This is if you calculate the date from the moment the first metro line was put into operation. The first passengers drove along Sokolnicheskaya in 1935. She connected the city center with the Sokolniki district on the north-eastern outskirts of the capital. But the construction of the metro began much earlier. This process did not stop even during the Great Patriotic War. It is being built to this day. That is why it is not so easy to answer the seemingly uncomplicated question of how many metro stations are in Moscow. Their number is steadily increasing. As new districts are erected on the periphery and reconstruction of the historic city center, new metro stations appear along with growing neighborhoods.
The disadvantages of the radial ring circuit
The plans for the development of the metro for the nearly eighty years of its existence have changed repeatedly. Adopted for execution in the forties, the radial-ring system up to a certain point provided the transport work well. For a long time, she seemed almost perfect. But its flaws became more and more pronounced as the megalopolis developed. The main one was that the main passenger flow from the densely populated peripheral areas was directed to the center, towards the Ring Line. In most cases, it was possible to get to the desired station with only two transfers. The deepest metro stations in Moscow were located in the historical center of the city, and this fact in no way facilitated the design and construction of large interchange nodes.
Change the overall concept
After a thorough analysis of the current situation, the general approach in the direction of the development of the metro scheme was changed in the direction of building chord lines directly connecting Moscow districts. This made it possible to create transfer stations at a distance from the Garden Ring and not to overload the Ring Line with the transit flow of passengers. The central part of the city is already sufficiently provided with transport infrastructure. The most active construction is being carried out today in the outlying districts, where new metro stations in Moscow should appear. The city map has already crossed the Ring Road in many directions, which once denoted its border. The metro should not lag behind the development of new territories by the metropolis for a long time.
How many metro stations are there in Moscow?
The answer to this question only makes sense in relation to a specific calendar date. As of May 22, 2014, the Moscow Metro has twelve operating lines with 194 stations. There is no doubt that the number of both will increase in the near future. Under construction metro stations in Moscow are currently available both in the central part of the city on already existing sections, and on radial extensions in the direction of the outlying areas. Laying of metro lines in several places continues beyond the Ring Road in the direction of the region.
About the architecture of the Moscow metro
The architectural design and decoration of many Moscow metro stations makes them an unconditional part of the national cultural heritage. There are a lot of amazing masterpieces in the Moscow metro. In terms of expressiveness of visual images, it has no equal in the world. Of course, such a statement is subjective. But this is testified by those who happened to visit many large cities of the world. These people have something to compare their impressions with. They can be trusted. But the architecture of the Moscow metro experienced both ups and downs, and not all of its stations are masterpieces.
Attempt to save
The open metro stations in Moscow, located on the Arbat-Pokrovskaya, Zamoskvoretskaya and Filevskaya lines, make a very wretched impression. The point here is that they were built during the so-called period of struggle with architectural excesses. The decree of the party and government during the Khrushchev period of history was aimed at saving financial resources and made it possible to quickly build and commission new metro lines. But architecture is practically absent in them, if you do not take naked functionalism for it. A lot at this time was built on standard designs. The first metro station in Moscow of this type (we are talking about the "Pervomaisky" Arbat-Pokrovskaya line) had many columns throughout the hall. For this, she received a well-known nickname - “centipede”. The excesses order was only overcome in the mid-seventies, when the metro stations under construction in Moscow regained their face. But back in our time.
Under construction metro stations in Moscow
What metro stations in the capital will appear in the near future? Metro development plans for the period until 2020 have been approved and are being actively implemented. The emergence of new stations should be expected both in the central part of the city, and on the continuation of radial directions to the periphery. By the end of this year, six new stations in the north of the Lublin-Dmitrov line should be operational. We are talking about Butyrskaya, Fonvizinskaya, Petrovsky-Razumovskaya, Okrug, Upper Likhobory and Seliger stations. In 2017, the section of the Solntsevskaya line between the Park Pobedy and Ramenki stations with the intermediate stations Lomonosovsky Prospekt and Minskaya will be commissioned. And in 2019, it will be possible to travel along the Kalinin line from the Tretyakovskaya line to the Business Center through the Volkhonka, Plyushchikha and Kutuzovsky Prospekt stations.
The Solntsevskaya and Kalinin lines in the future should unite into one. The oldest in the Moscow metro Sokolnicheskaya will continue to Salaryevo, and the Tagansky radius to Kotelniki station. In total, taking into account the commissioning of the so-called light metro lines in the direction of the cities near Moscow, by 2020, 79 new stations should appear in Moscow. In subsequent years, it is planned to extend the Solntsevsky radius in the direction of Novoperedelkino, and Riga - in the direction of Chelobitevo. What metro stations in Moscow will appear after 2020, we still do not know.
Third interchange lines
In order to unload the center of the city, activities are already underway to develop and build four chord lines running along the outskirts and making up a single closed loop. The first chord section between the Nizhnyaya Maslovka and Business Center stations is nearing completion. It should be put into operation in the last quarter of 2015. Four lines of the third interchange circuit imply the organization of movement according to the route principle. If it is deemed appropriate to make one of the routes a ring, the second ring line will function in the Moscow metro.
Easy subway
The answer to the question of how many metro stations there are in Moscow will become even more complicated after the entry into force of the light metro lines running in the direction of the largest cities near Moscow, such as Khimki, Podolsk, Dolgoprudny, Reutov and Mytishchi. It is not entirely clear whether the stations of this autonomous transport system should be attributed to the Moscow Metro. Light metro involves organizing traffic along existing suburban railways or, if this is not technically feasible, laying new lines parallel to the railways. In any case, these routes will pass through the exclusion zones of the railway.
A light metro will differ from a commuter train only by the minimum interval in the departure of trains and the conversion of rolling stock into a format corresponding to that adopted in the subway system. Trains will arrive at the railway stations and stations of the capital. The whole system of light metro will not be integrated into the general scheme of the Moscow Metro, which is an absolute minus. But this kind of technical solution saves significant material resources and allows for a short period of time to provide reliable transport links with large cities near Moscow, whose residents go to work in the capital.