Koltsevaya Line
Encyclopedia
The Koltsevaya Line (Line 5), is a railway line of the Moscow Metro
. The line was built in 1950-1954 encircling the central Moscow, and became crucial to the transfer patterns of passengers.
Of all the lines, the ring remains the most famous, mostly due to its notable stations built at the height of Stalinist Architecture
. Each of the twelve stand out in their own right, but some, like Komsomolskaya
, Novoslobodskaya
and Kievskaya represent the whole system.
suggests that Joseph Stalin
himself suggested the line when he placed a coffee cup on the original development map (with no ring) and then lifting it and leaving a circular stain around the centre of the city and said "It's your main fault, it should be built". It is thought this is the reason for the line's brown colour on all metro maps.
In principle the alignment of the ring was also debated, whether to use the Sadovoye Koltso avenue that encircles the centre or a wider circumference. In the end it was decided to partially align the southern path along the Sadovoye Koltso, and let the northern part deviate to connect most of Moscow
's rail terminals. This solved an important logistical problem, because, due to the layout of Russia's railroads, it would be impossible to travel from a region on one side of Moscow to another without having to make a manual transfer from one terminal to another.
Construction began shortly after the end of the war, and the first stage was opened in 1950 from Park Kultury
to Kurskaya
, in 1952 a second segment completed the northern deviation up to Belorusskaya
and in 1954 the circumference linked up.
The construction of the ring allowed for massive changes in the passenger flow patterns around Moscow, and allowed a systematic development platform for many future lines. A total of seven radial lines began at the ring, four of which later linked up in the centre to become diameters.
model trains in 1978. There have also been four 81-740.4/81-741.4 carriages in service since the beginning of 2010. Presently 36 six-carriage trains are assigned to it.
Many restoration works are carried out to improve the old line, recently Novoslobodskaya
had major restoration work carried out, including replacement of lighting and retouching on the stained glass masterpieces by Pavel Korin
. The vestibule of Taganskaya
was closed in 2005 to replace old escalators and upgrade with new turnstiles and also cosmetically renovate it, this was re-opened in 2006, and shortly afterwards Dobryninskaya
followed suit for a similar upgrade.
Despite the fact that when opened, there were six stations left for future transfer provisions, this turned out to be too small for the growing system. Two stations are planned to be opened on the Koltsevaya Line to provide transfer points to two future radii. The first one, Suvorovskaya (also referred to as Ploshchad Suvorova) located between Prospekt Mira
and Novoslobodskaya will provide a transfer to Dostoyevskaya of the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line
. However, though construction has begun on Suvorovskaya it is currently frozen for financial reasons and the station will not be complete in time for the opening of the Dmitrovsky radius.
The other planned station, presently dubbed Rossiyskaya, is to be built between Krasnopresnenskaya
and Kievskaya
to become a transfer point to the Kalininskaya Line
when eventually begins its westward extension. However construction is not expected to begin until 2015 at least and this means an opening of no earlier than 2020.
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
. The line was built in 1950-1954 encircling the central Moscow, and became crucial to the transfer patterns of passengers.
Of all the lines, the ring remains the most famous, mostly due to its notable stations built at the height of Stalinist Architecture
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
. Each of the twelve stand out in their own right, but some, like Komsomolskaya
Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya
Komsomolskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Krasnoselsky District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Prospekt Mira and Kurskaya stations....
, Novoslobodskaya
Novoslobodskaya
Novoslobodskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Tverskoy District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Belorusskaya and Prospekt Mira stations...
and Kievskaya represent the whole system.
History
In the initial plans of the Metro's development there was no provision for the ring line. Instead it was planned for complete "diameters" to cross the city centre and with transfer stations at their intersections. However after the opening of the second stage in 1938 it was clear from the excessive loads on those junctions, that this plan would be insufficient to deal with the growing number of passengers as the system expanded. An urban legendUrban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
suggests that Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
himself suggested the line when he placed a coffee cup on the original development map (with no ring) and then lifting it and leaving a circular stain around the centre of the city and said "It's your main fault, it should be built". It is thought this is the reason for the line's brown colour on all metro maps.
In principle the alignment of the ring was also debated, whether to use the Sadovoye Koltso avenue that encircles the centre or a wider circumference. In the end it was decided to partially align the southern path along the Sadovoye Koltso, and let the northern part deviate to connect most of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
's rail terminals. This solved an important logistical problem, because, due to the layout of Russia's railroads, it would be impossible to travel from a region on one side of Moscow to another without having to make a manual transfer from one terminal to another.
Construction began shortly after the end of the war, and the first stage was opened in 1950 from Park Kultury
Park Kultury-Koltsevaya
Park Kultury is a Moscow Metro station in the Khamovniki District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Oktyabrskaya and Kiyevskaya stations. Park Kultury opened on 1 January 1950.-Design:...
to Kurskaya
Kurskaya-Koltsevaya
Kurskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Basmanny District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Komsomolskaya and Taganskaya stations.Kurskaya opened on 1 January 1950.-Design:...
, in 1952 a second segment completed the northern deviation up to Belorusskaya
Belorusskaya-Koltsevaya
Belorusskaya is a station on the Moscow Metro's Koltsevaya Line. It is named after the nearby Belorussky Rail Terminal. It opened in 1952, serving briefly as the terminus of the line before the circle was completed in 1954...
and in 1954 the circumference linked up.
The construction of the ring allowed for massive changes in the passenger flow patterns around Moscow, and allowed a systematic development platform for many future lines. A total of seven radial lines began at the ring, four of which later linked up in the centre to become diameters.
Timeline
| Segment | Date opened | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Park Kultury-Kurskaya | 1 January 1950 | 6.5 km |
| Kurskaya-Belorusskaya | 30 January 1952 | 7.0 km |
| Belorusskaya-Park Kultury | 14 March 1954 | 5.9 km |
| Total: | 12 Stations | 19.4 km |
Name changes
| Station | Previous name(s) | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Park Kultury | Tsentralnyi Park Kultury i Otdykha Imeni Gorkogo | 1950-1980 |
| Oktyabrskaya | Kaluzhskaya | 1950-1961 |
| Dobryninskaya Dobryninskaya Dobryninskaya is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Opened on 1 January 1950 it was part of the first segment of the fourth stage of the system. Originally named Serpukhovskaya , after the Serpukhovskaya square.... |
Serpukhovskaya | 1950-1961 |
| Prospekt Mira | Botanicheskiy Sad | 1952-1966 |
Transfers
The Koltsevaya line, unlike other lines of Moscow Metro, does not service any stations that belong to that line exclusively; rather, all its stations are transfer stations, linking to other lines, as shown below:| Transfer to | At | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Sokolnicheskaya Line Sokolnicheskaya Line The Sokolnicheskaya Line is the first line of the Moscow Metro, dating back to 1935 when the system opened. Presently the line has 19 stations with a total of of track... |
Park Kultury, Komsomolskaya |
 |
Zamoskvoretskaya Line Zamoskvoretskaya Line Zamoskvoretskaya Line , formerly Gorkovsko-Zamoskvoretskaya , is a line of the Moscow Metro. Opened in 1938, chronologically it became the third line. There are twenty stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya line, and it spans , roughly crossing Moscow in a north-south direction. A normal trip along the... |
Paveletskaya, Belorusskaya |
 |
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line The Arbatsko–Pokrovskaya Line is a line of the Moscow Metro. Chronologically the second to open, now it connects with the district of Mitino and town of Krasnogorsk to the northwest of Moscow with the east of the Russian capital passing through the city centre... |
Kurskaya, Kiyevskaya |
 |
Filyovskaya Line Filyovskaya Line Filyovskaya Line , or Line 4, is a line of the Moscow Metro. Chronologically the sixth to open, it connects the major eastern districts of Dorogomilovo and Fili along with the Moscow City with the city centre... |
Kiyevskaya |
 |
Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line The Kaluzhsko–Rizhskaya Line is a line of the Moscow Metro, that originally existed as two separate radial lines, Rizhskaya and Kaluzhskaya opened in 1958 and 1962, respectively. Only in 1971 were they united into a single line as the central section connecting the stations Oktyabrskaya to Prospekt... |
Oktyabrskaya, Prospekt Mira |
 |
Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line The Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya is the busiest line of the Moscow Metro... |
Taganskaya, Barrikadnaya Barrikadnaya Barrikadnaya is a station on the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. It is named after the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905 when it was a site for barricades on Krasnaya Presnya street... |
 |
Kalininskaya Line Kalininskaya Line The Kalininskaya Line is a line of the Moscow Metro. It was opened as the eastwards Perovo radius lines in 1979 and presently has 7 stations.-History:... |
Marksistskaya |
 |
Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line Serpukhovsko–Timiryazevskaya Line , sometimes colloquially referred to as Grey Line , is a line of the Moscow Metro. Originally opened in 1983, it was extended throughout the 1980s and early 90s and again in the early 2000s... |
Serpukhovskaya Serpukhovskaya Serpukhovskaya is a station on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line of the Moscow Metro subway system. The station opened on 8 November 1983. Serpukhovskaya is 43 metres underground. Its name originates from the namesake street, which in turn originates from the historic town of... , Mendeleyevskaya Mendeleyevskaya Mendeleyevskaya is a station of the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. It was opened on 31 December 1988. Its depth is . The transfer to the Novoslobodskaya station of the Koltsevaya Line is available.... |
 |
Lyublinskaya Line Lyublinskaya Line Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line is the line of the Moscow Metro. First opened in 1995 as a semi-chordial radius it is at present in process of being extended through the centre and northwards... |
Chkalovskaya |
Rolling stock
The line is serviced by the Krasnaya Presnya depot (No.4) and was the first one to adopt the 81-717/71481-717/714
81-717/714 is a metro car designed for rapid transit systems of the Soviet Union in the middle 1970s....
model trains in 1978. There have also been four 81-740.4/81-741.4 carriages in service since the beginning of 2010. Presently 36 six-carriage trains are assigned to it.
Recent developments and future plans
Today the line is one of busiest, and the ever-rising passenger flows during rush hours are noticeably felt as most of the stations are over half a century old. In 1998 a second entrance was opened at Belorusskaya and there are plans to equip Park Kultury and Komsomolskaya with similar ones.Many restoration works are carried out to improve the old line, recently Novoslobodskaya
Novoslobodskaya
Novoslobodskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Tverskoy District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Belorusskaya and Prospekt Mira stations...
had major restoration work carried out, including replacement of lighting and retouching on the stained glass masterpieces by Pavel Korin
Pavel Korin
Pavel Dmitriyevich Korin was a Russian painter and art restorer. He is famous for his preparational work for the unimplemented painting Farewell to Rus.-Life and career:...
. The vestibule of Taganskaya
Taganskaya-Koltsevaya
Taganskaya is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Opened on 1 January 1950 it was part of the first segment of the fourth stage of the system...
was closed in 2005 to replace old escalators and upgrade with new turnstiles and also cosmetically renovate it, this was re-opened in 2006, and shortly afterwards Dobryninskaya
Dobryninskaya
Dobryninskaya is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Opened on 1 January 1950 it was part of the first segment of the fourth stage of the system. Originally named Serpukhovskaya , after the Serpukhovskaya square....
followed suit for a similar upgrade.
Despite the fact that when opened, there were six stations left for future transfer provisions, this turned out to be too small for the growing system. Two stations are planned to be opened on the Koltsevaya Line to provide transfer points to two future radii. The first one, Suvorovskaya (also referred to as Ploshchad Suvorova) located between Prospekt Mira
Prospekt Mira-Koltsevaya
Prospekt Mira is a station of the Moscow Metro's Koltsevaya Line. Opened on 30 January 1952 as part of the second stage of the line, it is a pylon design by architects Vladimir Gelfreykh and Mikhail Minkus....
and Novoslobodskaya will provide a transfer to Dostoyevskaya of the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line
Lyublinskaya Line
Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line is the line of the Moscow Metro. First opened in 1995 as a semi-chordial radius it is at present in process of being extended through the centre and northwards...
. However, though construction has begun on Suvorovskaya it is currently frozen for financial reasons and the station will not be complete in time for the opening of the Dmitrovsky radius.
The other planned station, presently dubbed Rossiyskaya, is to be built between Krasnopresnenskaya
Krasnopresnenskaya
Krasnopresnenskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Presnensky District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Kiyevskaya and Belorusskaya stations. Krasnopresnenskaya was designed by V. Yegerev, M. Konstantinov, Felix Novikov, and I. Pokrovsky and opened on...
and Kievskaya
Kievskaya-Koltsevaya
Kiyevskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Dorogomilovo District, Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Park Kultury and Krasnopresnenskaya stations. It is named for the nearby Kiyevsky Rail Terminal. The design for the station was chosen in an open...
to become a transfer point to the Kalininskaya Line
Kalininskaya Line
The Kalininskaya Line is a line of the Moscow Metro. It was opened as the eastwards Perovo radius lines in 1979 and presently has 7 stations.-History:...
when eventually begins its westward extension. However construction is not expected to begin until 2015 at least and this means an opening of no earlier than 2020.
Links
- Photos of the Koltcevaya line on Virtual photogallery Metro (RU)