Moscow Metro facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Moscow Metro map

Novoslobodskaya station

Komsomolskaya station

Sokol station

Alma-Atinskaya (opened 2012)

Moscow Metro is one of the busiest metro systems in the world.

A-type — the first train of Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is a metro system which reaches nearly every part of the city of Moscow in Russia. It is one of the most heavily used metro systems in the world. It is also famous for its stations, which are heavily decorated with paintings.

Description
Lines
Tickets
Interesting Facts
Metro 2
Statistics
Images for kids
See also

Description

In total the metro is 325.4 kilometres long and has 194 stations. During the week about 8.2 million passengers use the metro. On weekends there are 7.1 million passengers. Every line has its own colour, name and number. In total there are 12 lines. The metro runs from 5:30 AM to 1:00 AM. In peak hours trains run every 90 seconds, in the rest of the day every 3–4 minutes and in the evening every 6–10 minutes. The metro does not have a timetable, because the trains run at short intervals. Only one line have timetables at the part of it - Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, because there are two lines there - line L1(to Mezhdunarodnaya) and old line to Fili.

Lines

The Moscow Metro has 12 lines, consisting of 11 normal lines and one light line. Here is a short overview of the lines:

Name	Number and colour	Line completion	Newest station added	Length	Stations
Sokolnicheskaya	1	1935	1990	26.1 km	19
Zamoskvoretskaya	2	1938	2012	39.9 km	21
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya	3	1938	2012	45.1\1 km	22
Filyovskaya	4	1958	2006	14.9 km	13
Koltsevaya	5	1950	1954	19.4 km	12
Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya	6	1958	1990	37.6 km	24
Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya	7	1966	2013	40.5 km	21
Kalininskaya	8	1979	2014	19.7 km	10
Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya	9	1983	2002	41.5 km	25
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya	10	1995	2011	28.0 km	17
Kakhovskaya	11	1995	1969	3.4 km	3
Butovskaya	12	2003	2014	10.0 km	7
Total:				325.4 km	194

Tickets

There are tickets for a certain number of rides and tickets for a certain time.

The moscow metro uses magnetic cards for tickets with a certain number of rides. (1,2,5,10,20,60 and 70 rides). These rides must be used within 30 days after the first ride. These tickets were first sold in 1993 as a test. All other tickets are Transport Cards (Smartcards). There are two kinds of smartcards, 'unlimited' and 'social'. Both kinds of cards can be used for 30, 90 or 1 year. Social cards are free for senior citizens and reduced for students.

Interesting Facts

The metro has a gauge of 1520 mm, like most Russian railways. It gets the electricity from a third rail. The metro is run on a voltage of 825V AC. The average distance between stations is 1800 m. The shortest is 502m between the stations Delovoy Center and Mezhdunarodnaya. The longest distance between stations is 6627 m between Krylatskoe and Strogino. The long distance helps trains travelling faster and more efficient.

Most platforms are at least 155 m long. They can take trains which have 8 cars. The only exceptions are some stations on Filyovskaya Line which can only take 6-car trains. These stations are:

Delovoy Center
Studentcheskaya
Kutuzovskaya
Fili
Bragationovskaya
Filyovskiy Park and Pionerskaya

All of these stations are above ground.

Trains on lines 2, 6, 7 and 9 have eight cars, on lines 1, 3, 8, 10 seven cars and on lines 4, 5 and 11 six cars. All cars are 19.6 m long and have four doors on each side.

Line L1 is called "Light Metro". It is different from all other lines. Its platforms are much shorter than the normal platforms. They are only 96 m longs. It has newer trains than the other lines. They were built by the company Rusich.

The metro has 172 stations. 71 of them are deep under the ground, 87 are just under the ground. There are also 10 stations above the ground and 3 on bridges. There are also 4 stations, which are not opened yet: Volokolamskaya of Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line, Delovoy Center of Kalininskaya and Solntsevskaya lines and Park Pobedy of Solntsevskaya line.

On trains to the city there is a male announcer, on trains from the city there is a female announcer. (The boss calls you to work, the wife calls you home) One of the stations - Vorobievy Gory is situated at the bridge and has a great view at the Moscow river. Also this station is the longest at Moscow.

Metro 2

Although this has not been officially said, many independent studies say that there is a second, deeper metro system designed for emergency evacuation of important city personnel in case of attack. It is believed that it consists of a single track and connects the Kremlin, chief HQ (Genshtab), Lubyanka (FSB Headquarters) and the Ministry of Defence, as well as numerous other secret installations. There are also entrances to the system from several civilian buildings such as the Russian State Library, Moscow State University (MSU) and at least two stations of the regular metro.[citation needed] It is speculated that these would allow for the evacuation of a small number of randomly chosen civilians, in addition to most of the elite military personnel. The only known junction between the secret system and normal Metro is behind the station Sportivnaya of the Sokolnicheskaya Line.

Statistics

Latest numbers from official site: http://www.mosmetro.ru/pages/page_0.php?id_page=99.

Passengers	2603.2 million passengers
— paid a trip	1958.6 million passengers
Average number of passengers per day	7132.1 thousand passengers
Revenue from fares	15997.4 million rubles
Network length	320.9 km
Number of lines	12
Longest line	Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line (43.7 km)
Shortest line	Kakhovskaya Line (3.3 km)
Longest section	Krylatskoe–Strogino (6.625 km)
Shortest section	Delovoy Tsentr–Mezhdunarodnaya (502 m)
Number of stations	192
— transfer stations	61
— transfer points	26
— surface/elevated	15
Deepest station	Park Pobedy (84 m)
Most shallow underground station	Pechatniki
Station with the longest platform	Vorobyevy Gory (282 m)
Number of stations with a single entrance	70
Total number of entrances	273
Number of turnstiles	2545
Number of escalators	681
— including Monorail stations	18
Total length of all escalators	67.4 km
Number of depots	15
Total number of train runs per day	10072
Average speed:
— commercial	41.57 km/h
— technical	48.85 km/h
Total number of cars (average per day)	4545
Cars in service (average per day)	3565
Total run of cars	733.6 million car-kilometers
— with passengers	699.2 million car-kilometers
Average run of cars per day	562.3 car-kilometers
Average passengers per car	48 people
Longest escalator	126 m (Park Pobedy)
Total number of ventilation shafts	406
Number of local ventilation systems in use	5551
Number of medical assistance points	46
Total number of employees	37401 people
— males	19936 people
— females	17465 people
Timetable fulfillment	99.98 %
Minimum average interval	90 sec
Average passenger trip	13.0 km

Images for kids

A-type trains
Soviet government resolution to construct the Moscow Metro
Sokolniki station, Line 1. Opened in 1935 (the first stage)
Krasnye Vorota, also opened in 1935 (the first stage) as part of Sokolnicheskaya line, e.g. Line 1
Mayakovskaya station. Opened in 1938 (the second stage)
Elektrozavodskaya station. Opened in 1944 (the third stage)
Statue representing the Soviet workers at Baumanskaya station
Monument to Soviet partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya at the Partizanskaya station from 1944
Kiyevskaya (Line 3) (1954) is decorated with a series of mosaics by various artists depicting life in Ukraine which was then part of the Soviet Union.
Komsomolskaya station, opened in 1952, Line 5
Profsoyuznaya, 1962, Line 6 only has gray tiles
Rechnoy Vokzal, 1964, Line 2
Kakhovskaya, 1969, Line 11 (before reconstruction)
Polezhayevskaya. Opened in 1972. As for January 2022, the variegated walls are preserved "as is"
Luzhniki MCC station
Old Belokamennaya station building from 1908
Delovoy Tsentr MCC station is made with green-tinted plastic.
Kakhovskaya after reconstruction
81-765 train on Shelepikha station
One-trip transport card of Moscow Metro
Moscow Metro turnstiles
Site of construction pile incident on next day after event (2006)
Ploshchad Revolyutsii (1938)
Baumanskaya (1944)
Taganskaya (1950)
Novoslobodskaya (1952)
Prospekt Mira (1952)
Arbatskaya (1953)
Frunzenskaya (1957)
Kakhovskaya (1969, after 2021 reconstruction)
Tretyakovskaya, (southern hall, opened 1971)
Tretyakovskaya (northern hall, opened 1986)
Aviamotornaya (Line 8) (opened 1979)
Shabolovskaya (opened 1980)
Tyoply Stan (opened 1987)
Rimskaya (opened 1995)
Park Pobedy (opened 2003)
Novokosino (opened 2012)
Kosino (opened 2019)
Aviamotornaya (line 11) (opened 2020)
Nizhegorodskaya (opened 2020 as part of line 15, planned part of line 11)
A-type
B-type
V-4-type (former Berlin Class C-1)
V2-type (former Berlin Class C-2)