Russia completed a new phase of expanding the metro network in Moscow in March, building the Big Circle Line, a 70-kilometer loop that links 31 stations across the city.
Maria Khilchenko, the head of the Moscow Metro External Relations Department, said in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that construction of the new line increased passenger capacity one million per day, bringing the total number of users of the underground network to nine million every day.
Number of metro stations throughout Moscow including newly built districts reached 250, she said adding that the new line enabled passengers to gain 45 minutes per day, contributed to linking up various sectors of the 2,500-sq-km capital, shortened distances and helped in easing off traffic especially at the peak hours in the morning and at night.
Supervisors of the system largely depend on digital technology but its use has not resulted in cutting number of the working personnel, amounting to 68,000, Khilchenko said, indicating that the metro authorities had to train some of the workers on the new technologies.
Carriages are equipped with state-of-art technologies and facilities such as phone charging devices strapped to each seat, Khilchenko told KUNA.
Metro stations in Moscow are tourist attractions due to amazing golden ornamentations. The Revolution Square (Ploshchad Revolyutsii, also known as the Resurrection Square), is distinguished with brightly-colored statues, Mayakovskaya station features outstanding marble columns, Sportivnaya Station stands out with with shapes depicting glorification of sports, in addition to other eye-catching ones such as Arbatskaya amd Aviamotornaya stations.
The Moscow metro was opened on May 15, 1935, starting with an 11-km-long line encompassing 13 stations in the beginning, compared to 11 lines of a 450-km length dotted with 250 stations throughout the city at present.
Authorities had built a power-operated gigantic station in the Moscow suburb, Karansia Bakhra, in line with the State approach to ease off congestion and cut pollution. The station director, Tatiana Medvedova told KUNA that the station was the largest in Europe with 300 electro buses.
The electro bus battery, charged several times a day, is capable to travel for 80 kms per day. There are 200 charging stations and 50 minutes are required to refill the electro bus.
A plant in Kamaz, Tatarstan, produces the electro buses but the batteries are imported from China, she revealed.
The Moscow authorities are planning to build more power-operated stations in Moscow and various Russian regions.
Source: Kuwait News Agency