50 interesting facts about the Moscow metro that even Muscovites don’t know

The Moscow metro is the largest in Europe in terms of line length. It was launched almost 100 years ago and has undergone significant changes since then.

This is the main public transport in Moscow, used by millions of people every day.

We have collected 50 facts about the Moscow metro, many of which may surprise you.

1. When did the metro open?

The Moscow metro opened on May 15, 1935 at 7 am. At the time of launch, it read 13 measurements and had a size of 11.2 km.

2. When did the idea of ​​a metro in Moscow appear?

People first started talking about building a metro in 1875. Engineer Vasily Titov proposed laying an underground railway from the Kursk station through Lubyanskaya and Trubnaya squares to Maryina Roshcha.

3. When did construction of the metro begin?

The metro project was completed in 1931, and construction of the first station began on December 10.

4. First station

Sokolniki is the first station of the Moscow metro. With it, the construction of the metro began, and by the time the Sokolnicheskaya line opened, there were 13 procedures.

5. Stalin wanted an underground metro.

Initially, the metro was conceived as ground transport, and small sections of roads in the city center had to be located underground. Metrostroy management engineer Veniamin Makovsky proposed making the metro completely underground in 1932. No one supported his idea except Stalin. This was enough to make the metro completely underground.

6. How construction began

At the first stages of work there were only picks and shovels. In 1934, the USSR bought a tunnel boring shield from Great Britain for drilling tunnels underground. A few months later, Soviet engineers created an analogue of this device.

7. When the first train was launched

The first test train arrived at Komsomolskaya station on October 15, 1934. It consisted of two cars: motor car No. 1 and trailer car No. 1001.

8. The deepest station.

“Park Pobedy” is the deepest station (73 meters) of the Moscow metro. The longest escalators (126 meters) are also located here.

9. The first turnstiles

In 1952, rotary turnstiles appeared at the Krasnye Vorota station. But they did not take root due to their low capacity, and by 1959 they were replaced with swing turnstiles.

10. The shallowest station.

Pechatniki is the shallowest metro station in Moscow. Its depth is only 5 meters.

11. The narrowest station.

The narrowest station is Volgogradsky Prospekt. The width of its platform is 4 meters.

12. The longest station.

Vorobyovy Gory is the longest station (284 meters). It is also the first station in the world to be located on a bridge over a river.

13. The most “crooked” station.

“Alexandrovsky Sad” is the most crooked station. The radius of curvature of the platform is 750 meters, because of this the driver did not see the last cars of the train.

14. The station that changed its name most often.

Okhotny Ryad station changed its name three times. At first it was called “Okhotny Ryad”, then “Name of Kaganovich”, “Marx Avenue”, and now again “Okhotny Ryad”.

15. The station that took the longest to build

40 years – that’s how long it took to build the Spartak station. Its construction began in 1975, then the construction was frozen, and its frame was covered with earth. Work resumed only in the 21st century, the station opened in 2014.

16. Busiest station.

The busiest station is Komsomolskaya. About 180 thousand people pass through its turnstile every day.

17. Longest line

The Big Circle Line is the longest line of the Moscow Metro, with a length of 62.5 km. It is also the longest metro line in the world.

18. The shortest line

The Kakhovskaya line is the shortest in the Moscow metro. Its length is only 3.3 km, there are three stations on it: Kakhovskaya, Varshavskaya and Kashirskaya.

19. Lines that are mainly located on the surface

The Filevskaya and Butovskaya lines are thin, most of which are located on the surface.

20. Station with tracks in the middle

“Alexandrovsky Garden” is the basis of a station in the Moscow metro with side platforms and tracks in the middle.

21. The longest distance between stations

The longest stretch is located on the section from Krylatskoye station to Strogino, its length is 6625 meters.

22. Shortest distance between stations

The shortest stretch is between the Arbatskaya and Aleksandrovsky Sad stations, the length of which is only 328 meters.

23. The quietest station.

The Prazhskaya metro station is very quiet. This is due to the fact that its track walls are covered with special ceramic tiles, which generate sound due to air flow.

24. Private station

“Myakinino” is the first and main station in the entire Russian metro (not only the Moscow one), which was built with the attraction of foreign investment.

25. Record year for the number of new samples

In 2018, 18 new methods were introduced, which is still a record.

26. How many works in total?

There are 263 stations in the Moscow Metro, excluding the monorail and the Moscow Central Circle.

27. Normal passenger flow.

In 2022, the average daily passenger traffic was 5,649 million people. The greatest number of people in the metro is observed from 8:00 to 9:00 and from 18:00 to 19:00.

28. How many cars are there in the subway?

The Moscow metro has more than 6,000 carriages.

29. The oldest carriages

Electric cars 81-717/714 are currently the strongest among all live trains. They were produced from 1976 to 2021.

30. First carriage

Car A No. 1 was the first electric car in the Moscow metro.

31. Where are subway cars produced?

Cars for the Moscow metro are always produced at Metrovagonmash (Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant).

32. When did the first escalators appear?

The first escalators were launched simultaneously with the opening of the metro in 1935. Models E-10 and N-30 were produced in one year at the Krasny Metalist plant.

33. How many depots are there in the metro?

There are currently 22 electric depots operating in the Moscow metro. Three of them – Zamoskvoretskoye, Nizhegorodskoye, Aminevskoye – operate as part of the Big Circle Line.

34. How many people work in the subway

By the end of 2020, more than 66 thousand people worked in the Moscow metro in 200 different specialties.

35. How was the travel paid?

At first, the metro used paper tickets that were valid for 35 minutes. By the late 1950s, metal tokens appeared. In 1961, they were replaced by five-kopeck coins, and in 1991, tokens were resumed and were used until 1999.

36. What the first diagram looked like

The first Moscow metro scheme appeared in 1935. Then it depicted one red branch.

37. The main difference between the metro 89 years ago

The metro ride from Sokolniki to Park Kultury lasted 21.5 minutes at the time of opening. The same tram route took more than two hours.

38. Construction during the war

During the Great Patriotic War, more than 13 kilometers of lines were provided in the capital and seven inspections were opened.

39. Bomb shelter in the subway.

Also during the war, the metro was often used as a bomb shelter. The main station “Mayakovskaya” numbered up to 50 thousand people.

40. Last stations

“Fiztekh”, “Lianozovo” and “Yakhromskaya” are experimental laboratories. They opened on September 7, 2023.

41. Internet presence speed

The average download speed on the Big Ring Line is 358 Mbit/s for MegaFon, 321 Mbit/s for MTS, 285 Mbit/s for Beeline and 58 Mbit/s for Tele2. These are the results of our own large-scale test we ran last year.

42. Train speed

The average train speed is 41 km/h, the train interval is 90 seconds, and the average travel distance is 15 km.

43. Why are there no trash cans?

Until the 1990s, there were trash cans in the subway, but then they were removed to protect against terrorism.

44. Metro “Secret”.

In Moscow it is assumed that there is a second metro located under the main metro at 50-250 meters. In fact, it is a network of underground tunnels that were built under Stalin.

45. Why are the branches colored?

The first metro scheme with colored lines appeared in 1957. Different colors began to be used to leave immigrants during the World Festival of Youth and Students.

46. ​​Stations that have closed

During the entire existence of the metro, two stations were closed: Pervomaiskaya and Kaluzhskaya. They were both finite, but after the extension of the borders and the development of new requirements, the need for “Pervomaiskaya” and “Kaluzhskaya” disappeared. Pervomaiskaya closed in 1961, and Kaluzhskaya in 1974. New similar stations were opened in the same direction, which are still operating, but are located in other places.

47. Plans for new stations

By 2033, they are planning to build 39 more studies in Moscow. According to Andrei Bochkarev, deputy mayor of the capital for urban planning policy and construction, in 10 years almost every Moscow resident will have a metro station within walking distance.

48. Subway logo

The red letter M has been used from the very beginning as the logo of the Moscow metro. The last time the logo was slightly redesigned was in 2014.

49. Announcement of metro stops.

When moving in the city center, the metro station announces a male voice, and from the center – a female one.

50. Record passenger traffic.

On September 6, 1997, record passenger traffic was recorded. During this day, 14 million passengers used the metro. The record was achieved during the celebration of the 850th anniversary of Moscow.

What else to read about the metro

The metro is certainly an interesting mode of transport, with many interesting things to do. We have several interesting articles on the topic: