Wednesday, 15 January 2025 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Russia / Russland Category/Kategorie: General, ArchitectureReading Time: 3minutes
As of September 2024, the Moscow Metro had 297 stations and 519.4 km (322.7 mi) of route length, excluding light rail Monorail, making it the 8th-longest in the world, the longest in Europe and the longest outside China. It is also the only system with three circle lines. The system is mostly underground, with the deepest section 73 m (240 ft) underground at the Park Pobedy station, one of the world’s deepest underground stations. It is the busiest metro system in Europe, the busiest in the world outside Asia, and is considered a tourist attraction in itself, thanks to its lavish interior decoration.
The Moscow Metro is a world leader in the frequency of train traffic, as intervals during peak hours often do not exceed 90 seconds. In February 2023, Moscow was the first in the world to reduce the intervals of metro trains to 80 seconds, but in practice trains are not likely to exceed the 90 seconds interval.
The deep stations comprise 55 triple-vaulted pylon stations, 19 triple-vaulted column stations, and one single-vault station. The shallow stations comprise 79 spanned column stations (a large portion of them following the “centipede” design), 33 single-vaulted stations (Kharkov technology), and four single-spanned stations. In addition, there are 12 ground-level stations, four elevated stations, and one station (Vorobyovy Gory) on a bridge. Two stations have three tracks, and one has double halls. Seven of the stations have side platforms (only one of which is subterranean). In addition, there were two temporary stations within rail yards.
The stations being constructed under Stalin’s regime, in the style of socialist classicism, were meant as underground “palaces of the people”. Stations such as Komsomolskaya, Kiyevskaya or Mayakovskaya and others built after 1935 in the second phase of the evolution of the network are tourist landmarks: their photogenic architecture, large chandeliers and detailed decoration are unusual for an urban transport system of the twentieth century.
The stations opened in the 21st century are influenced by an international and more neutral style with improved technical quality.