Surface metro framework: Sergei Sobyanin speaks on Moscow Central Diameters

Over the three years, Moscow Central Diameters (MCDs) have become the city’s daily reality. That’s what Sergei Sobyanin wrote in his blog.

“More than 580,000 passengers use D1 and D2 every day. In cooperation with Russian Railways, we continue to implement this ambitious project. In 2022, we have reconstructed or built nine suburban rail terminals,” the Moscow Mayor noted.

Today, D4 Minskaya station serves about 1,000 passengers per day, with the daily passenger flow to grow up to 3,200 by 2025. In May 2022, we reconstructed Tolstopaltsevo station of the future D4 line. Before the reconstruction, the station was used by no more than 800 people per day, today the passenger flow is already as great as 1,200 people.

D2 Pechatniki station, which was launched in June, quickly gained popularity among locals and is now used by 4,600 passengers every day.

The former Kalanchyovskaya station was renamed Three Stations Square; it receives D2 trains and will be available to D4 passengers as well in the future. So far, we have completed only the first reconstruction stage, but the daily passenger flow through the station has already reached 11,000 people.

At D1 Okruzhnaya station, a northern lobby was opened in November 2022 to connect the diameter with the Moscow Central Circle. As a result, the station’s popularity increased by 18 per cent, with 16,700 passengers using it every day.

Approx. 1,000 residents travel daily through the new Meshcherskaya terminal, which is to become part of D4, while the newly-reconstructed D4 Peredelkino station services 2,600 passengers.

The northern terminal complex at Sheremetyevo Airport now has an Aeroexpress stop to enable traveling from Moscow to Terminals B and C without transfers.

Sergei Sobyanin said that substantive work to overhaul railway infrastructure was almost invisible for prying eyes. This included construction of additional backbones and a tunnel between the Kazan direction of the Moscow railroad and Oktyabrskaya railroad as required to enable D3 launch; reconstruction of Kryukovo and Ramenskoye being the future D3 terminal stations; construction of the auxiliary third and fourth backbones and connecting branch on the upcoming D4; and reconstruction of the Moscow-Passazhirskaya-Kurskaya — Moscow-Three Stations Square section.

“Each of these projects is as complex as what we did during reconstruction of the future Moscow Central Circle. In addition, we have to work in conditions of dense urban areas and ensure continuous traffic. Still, the surface metro network will double as soon as 2023,” emphasized the Moscow Mayor.

Future D3 and D4 will provide another 171 kilometers of tracks with 80 stations, including 32 transfer points for passengers to take other rail transport means.

The 85-kilometer D3 line will connect Zelenograd and Ramenskoye, improve the transport situation in 24 districts in Moscow and four cities in the Moscow region. It will have 41 stations, and the daily passenger flow is expected to reach 577,000 people.

86-kilometer-long D4 will span from Aprelevka to Zheleznodorozhny through Moscow’s central railway terminals, including Kursky, Yaroslavsky, Kazansky, Leningradsky, Savyolovsky, Rizhsky, and Belorussky terminals, with the total route of 39 stations, and to be used by 455,000 passengers daily.

Plans for 2023 also include reconstruction and construction of another 14 suburban and intra-city terminals. Infrastructure will be upgraded at Lesnoy Gorodok, Ochakovo, Three Stations Square (Stage 2) (D4), Timiryazevskaya and Lianozovo (Stage 1) (D1), D3 Kryukovo, D1/D4 Belorusskaya and D2/D4 Kurskaya.

New rail terminals will be opened at D1 Petrovsko-Razumovskaya, D2/D4 Maryina Roshcha, D4 Olgino, Poklonnaya, Testovskaya and Kutuzovskaya.

“Thus, by the end of 2023, we’ll have a framework of surface metro, a new type of transport for our city,” added Sergei Sobyanin.

Fast, comfortable and safe trips around Moscow and the Moscow region still require several dozen new stations, modern trains and better services, he said.