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MOCKBA . MOSKVA
 Russia

Moscow metro map

System | Lines | History | Projects| Moscow Central Circle | Tram | Links
 METRO

Moscow became the capital of Russia and the Soviet Union after the revolution of 1917. Then it had 1.7 million inhabitants. In 2010 the city has 11.5 million inhabitants on an area of 1081 km2 (40 km from one side to the other). In 1932 construction of Moscow's metro began as a piece of art with elegant and huge stations. Today the Moscow metro seems to be the busiest in the world, carrying an average of 8-9 million passengers on a normal weekday, i.e. some 3,000,000,000 (!) a year.

former metro token Although now there are also line numbers, the lines are primarily identified by names referring to the areas they serve. The network features a 20 km long ring line, Kol'tsevaya, built in the 1950s and connecting all other lines, and since March 2023, also the 57.5 km large circle line, Bolshaya Kol'tsevaya. The system is almost entirely underground although some lines (1, 2, 4) cross the Moskva river and line 1 also the Yauza river on a bridge. An exception is the Filyovskaya which has a longer surface section between Kievskaya and Kuntsevskaya with 7 above ground stations.

The first line opened on 15 May 1935 between Sokol'niki and Park Kul'tury with a branch to Smolenskaya which reached Kievskaya in April 1937 (crossing Moskva river on a bridge). Two more lines were opened before World War II. In March 1938 the Arbatskaya line was extended to Kurskaya station (now Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya - dark blue line). In Sept. 1938 the Gorkovsko-Zamoskvoretskaya line opened between Sokol and Teatral'naya (without Tverskaya station which was added in 1979).

The projects of the third stage of the Moscow metro were delayed during the War. Two metro sections were put into service: Teatralnaya - Avtozavodskaya (3 stations, crossing the Moskva river in a deep tunnel) and Kurskaya - Partizanskaya (ex Izmaylovskiy Park - 4 stations).

After the War construction started on the fourth stage of the metro, which included the Kol'tsevaya line and a deep part of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line from Pl. Revolyutsii to Kievskaya.

The Kol'tsevaya line was planned first as a line running under the Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring), a boulevard ring running along the limits of 16th century Moscow. The first part of the line - from Park Kul'tury to Kurskaya (1950) is indeed situated under this boulevard. But later plans were changed and the northern part of the ring line runs 1-1.5 km outside the Sadovoye Koltso, thus providing service for 7 (out of 9) railway stations. The next part of the Kol'tsevaya line opened in 1952 (Kurskaya - Belorusskaya) and in 1954 the ring line was completed.

M5-Belorusskaya © Boris Kogut M5-Komsomolskaya © Boris Kogut M5-Komsomolskaya © Boris Kogut M5-Novoslobodskaya © Boris Kogut M4 - Kievskaya © Boris Kogut M3 Park Pobedy © Boris Kogut M4 - old and new train © Boris Kogut M4 Delovoy Tsentr © Boris Kogut
Photos © Boris Kogut

The reason for the construction of a deep part of the Arbatskaya was the beginning of the Cold War. Stations are very deep and were planned to serve for hiding people even in the case of nuclear war. After finishing the line in 1953, the upper tracks between Pl.Revolyutsii and Kievskaya were closed. In fact they were reopened in 1958 as a part of the Filyovskaya. In the further development of the metro, the term stages was not used anymore, although sometimes the stations opened in 1957-1958 are referred to as the fifth stage.

[View a station by station depth map created by Alexey Goncharov]

The Moscow Metro has standard Russian gauge, 1520 mm, and third rail supply. The average distance between stations is 1790 m (!), the shortest with 500 m is between Vystavochnaya and Mezhdunarodnaya (Line 4), and the longest with 6.6 km between Krylatskoye and Strogino (Line 3). At 73 m below the surface, Park Pobedy is among the deepest stations in the world. With the exception of lines 4 and 12, all station platforms have been consistently built 162 m long.

Whereas most transfer stations have two separate stations carrying two different names and connected by foot tunnels, six offer convenient cross-platform transfer: between lines 6 and 7 at Kitay-Gorod, between lines 2 and 11 at Kashirskaya, between lines 6 and 8 at Tret'yakovskaya, between lines 3 and 4 at Kuntsevskaya, between lines 3 and 8A at Park Pobedy and between lines 9 and 10 at Petrovsko-Razumovskaya.

The metro network is complemented by an expanding S-Bahn-style rail network which comprises a circular line (MCC, line 14, metro-style frequency) and two cross-city lines (MCD).

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 Lines
1
 Sokol'nicheskaya (Kirovsko-Frunzenskaya)  27 stations - 42 km
 

Moscow Metro Line 1 Sokol'nicheskaya Moscow Metro Line 1 Sokol'nicheskaya Moscow Metro Line 1 Sokol'nicheskaya Moscow Metro Line 1 Sokol'nicheskaya

More Line 1 info & photos

 

2
 Zamoskvoretskaya  24 stations - 42.9 km
 

Moscow Metro Line 2 Zamokvoretskaya Moscow Metro Line 2 Zamokvoretskaya Moscow Metro Line 2 Zamokvoretskaya Moscow Metro Line 2 Zamokvoretskaya

More Line 2 info & photos

 

3
 Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya  22 stations - 45.1 km
 

Moscow Metro Line 3 Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Moscow Metro Line 3 Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Moscow Metro Line 3 Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Moscow Metro Line 3 Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya

More Line 3 info & photos

 

4/4A
 Filyovskaya  13 stations - 14.9 km
 

Moscow Metro Line  4 Filyovskaya Moscow Metro Line  4 Filyovskaya Moscow Metro Line  4 Filyovskaya Moscow Metro Line  4 Filyovskaya

More Line 4 info & photos

 

5
 Kol'tsevaya  12 stations - 19.3 km - ring line
 

Moscow Metro Line  5 Koltsevaya Moscow Metro Line  5 Koltsevaya Moscow Metro Line  5 Koltsevaya Moscow Metro Line  5 Koltsevaya

More Line 5 info & photos

 

6
 Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya  24 stations - 37.9 km
 

Moscow Metro Line 6 Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Moscow Metro Line 6 Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Moscow Metro Line 6 Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Moscow Metro Line 6 Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya

More Line 6 info & photos

 

7
 Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya  23 stations - 42.3 km
 

Moscow Metro Line 7 Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Moscow Metro Line 7 Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Moscow Metro Line 7 Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Moscow Metro Line 7 Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya

More Line 7 info & photos

 

8/8A
 Kalininskaya & Solntsevskaya  Eastern part: 8 stations - 16.3 km; Western part (8A): 14 stations - 28.4 km
 

Moscow Metro Line 8 Kalininskaya Moscow Metro Line 8 Kalininskaya Moscow Metro Line 8 Kalininskaya Moscow Metro Line 8 Kalininskaya

More Line 8 info & photos

 

9
 Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya  25 stations - 41.5 km
 

Moscow Metro Line 9 Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Moscow Metro Line 9 Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Moscow Metro Line 9 Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Moscow Metro Line 9 Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya

More Line 9 info & photos

 

10
 Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya  26 stations - 43.9 km
 

Moscow Metro Line Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Moscow Metro Line Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Moscow Metro Line Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Moscow Metro Line Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya

More Line 10 info & photos

 

11/11A
 Bolshaya Kol'tsevaya (Grand Circle Line)  Line 11: 57.5 km, 29 stations
 

Outer circular line, completed on 1 March 2023, which incorporates what used to be the old Line 11; it was initially operated jointly with Line 8A. The 5 km 11A branch south from Khoroshyovskaya to serve Shelepikha and Delovoy Tsentr stations was closed on 22 June 2024 to be integrated into the future line 17.

The original 3.4 km Line 11 (Kakhovskaya) was originally operated as a branch of Line 2 from Kashirskaya to Kakhovskaya until 1995, then referred to as Line 11. Kakhovskaya station was taken out of service on 1 April 2019 for construction of ring line. The entire line was closed on 26 Oct 2019 to be integrated in Grand Circle Line by 2022. Kakhovskaya station reopened with the opening of the western ring section on 7 Dec 2021.

 


Moscow Metro Line  11 Moscow Metro Line  11 Moscow Metro Line  11

More Line 11 info & photos

 

 


Moscow Metro Line  11 Kakhovskaya Moscow Metro Line  11 Kakhovskaya

More Line 11 info & photos

 

12
 Butovskaya  7 stations - 10.0 km
 

"Light Metro", formerly "L1" - (90 m long platforms)

 

13
 Monorail  6 stations - 4.7 km (previously line M1)
 

Moscow Monorail Moscow Monorail Moscow Monorail Moscow Monorail

14
 MCC - Moscow Central Circle  31 stations - 54 km
 

S-Bahn-style circular line with initially 26 stations opened on 10 Sept 2016, with trains running every 4-8 minutes. Travelling the full circle takes 88 minutes.

Dubrovka and Sokolinaya Gora stations opened on 11 October 2016, Koptevo on 1 November 2016, Zorge on 4 Nov 2016 and finally, Panfilovskaya on 8 Nov 2016.

Moscow Central Ring Moscow Central Ring

Moscow Central Ring Moscow Central Ring

 

 

Video (All stations):


15
  Nekrasovskaya  8 stations - 14 km
  03 June 2019: Kosino - Nekrasovka (5.3 km)
27 March 2020: Kosino - Lefortovo (14.4 km)
31 Dec 2020: Lefortovo - Elektrozavodskaya (1.8 km)
20 Feb 2023: Elektrozavodskaya - Nizhegorodskaya > served by circle line 11; line 15 curtailed
 
 

Nekrasovskaya Nekrasovskaya Nekrasovskaya Nekrasovskaya

More Line 15 info & photos

 

16
  Troitskaya  4 stations - xx km
 

07 Sept 2024: Novatorskaya - Tyutchevskaya


 
 D  Moscow Central Diameters
 

MCD - S-Bahn-style cross-city services, integrated with metro fares:

21 Nov 2019: D1 (Belorussko-Savyolovskiy) Odintsovo - Lobnya (52 km)
21 Nov 2019: D2 (Kursko-Rizhskiy) Nakhabino - Podol'sk (80 km)

The first two diameters are 132 km long and initially have 57 stations.

Two more cross-city routes were launched in 2023, although with some stations unfinished:

17 Aug 2023: D3 (Leningradsko-Kazanskiy) Zelenograd - Ramenskoye/Ippodrom (88 km)
09 Sept 2023: D4 (Kaluzhsko-Nizhegorodskiy) Aprelevka - Zheleznodorozhnaya (86 km) - eastern leg not yet quadrupled for exclusive D4 tracks

This will be followed by D5 from Pushkino to Domodedovo (75 km).

   
   

 

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 History

L10 - Sretenskiy Bul'varSee each line for detailed history and view 1970 network map

View a chronological map created by Alexey Goncharov

 Projects

The following sections are currently under construction:

More details about Moscow Metro projects (by Yuri Popov)

 

 Links

Moscow Metro - Official Site

Moskovskiy Transport - Official Site

MosMetrostroy - Metro Construction Site

Moscow Urban Development Office > Metro

Moscow Metro at Wikipedia

Metrowalks.ru - The Ultimate Photo Gallery including all Moscow metro stations by Igor Vanin

Artemiy Lebedev's extensive metro.ru site (in Russian only) incl. lots of maps (new 2003 official map)

Yuri Gridchin's Metropoliten site includes an animated history map

Mockobckoe Metpo - Moscow Metro

Paleometro by Alexandr Mironenko

 

 

Moscow Metasubway station

METROCARS - Anything about Metro Trains in the ex-USSR

Voices in the Underground by Artemiy Y. Lomov

Mir Metro - Metroworld by Dmitry Aksenov, Di. Vendox and Andrey Surikov

METRO - not at first sight by Artemiy Y. Lomov

Metrostroy (Metro construction) by Andrey Surikov

Peter Donn's Underground Stations includes excellent pictures of some stations

Various Moscow Metro Maps (by depth, chronological, etc.) by Alexey Goncharov

Moscow Metro Track Map

Exact location of stations drawn over Google Map

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