Going down in history. New metro stations, diameters, and medical centers of 2023
Moscow is not only having its glow-up moment but is breaking records, testing new technologies, and setting trends for megacities across the globe. Year by year, the capital keeps improving on city transportation, modern medical facilities, and historical area development. 2023 was not an exception. We are ready to recount events for Muscovites to remember the past year.
New heart of Moscow and first metro station in airport
The launch of train traffic on the entire Big Circle Line (BCL) of the Moscow metro has become one of the most anticipated events in 2023. Plans for constructing a giant circle underground line date back to the Soviet era, and they finally became the reality. On March 1, the world’s longest metro circle line closed on itself; the last nine stations of the northeastern, eastern, and southern lines were opened.
BCL is the largest metro construction project. It includes 70 kilometers of tracks and 31 stations. All the radial metro lines, Moscow Central Diameters (MDC), and the Moscow Central Circle converge into a united transport system right in the new heart of the capital.
Radial lines are in development, too. In September, five metro stations opened one after another. The Solntsevskaya line was extended to Pykhtino and Vnukovo Airport For the first time in Russian history, the metro got a station close to the airfield. Now, a travel from Business Center to the airport will take only 40 minutes. Those who live and work in Vnukovo and environs, as well as residents of Vnukovsky, Marushkinsky, Filimonkovsky settlements can also save their time.
The Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line has become almost twice as long since 2011; in September 2023, Yakhromskaya, Lianozovo, and Fiztekh stations were included. They have improved transport service for more than 500,000 people-residents of Beskudnikovsky, Vostochnoye Degunino, Dmitrovsky, Lianozovo, Severny districts, as well as the city of Dolgoprudny in the Moscow Region. A total of 14 new metro stations opened in 2023.
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Light rail, revival of river transport, and the expressway
Historical events in the field of transportation do not end here. The past year has presented residents with two light rail Moscow Central Diameters. In August, Leningradsko-Kazansky MCD-3 was opened. It helps over three million people living in over 20 districts of Moscow, Zelenograd, Khimki, Ramenskoye, Lyubertsy, and Zhukovsky to get to their destinations faster.
Kaluzhsko-Nizhegorodsky MCD-4 launched in September received the title of the longest diameter (its length is 86 kilometers). It covered the Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod directions, as well as connected seven central railway stations: Kursky, Yaroslavsky, Kazansky, Leningradsky, Savyolovsky, Rizhsky, and Belorussky.
2023 was the year of the revival of river transport in the capital. In April, the renovated Southern River Station opened its doors once more. Like the Northern Station in 2020, it has been completely restored, including sculptures symbolizing the five seas that Moscow is related to. The water area has been cleaned and the embankment has been landscaped. In June, the first regular route of river electric boats was launched on the Moskva River, from the Kievsky railway station to the Heart of the Capital pier near the Shelepikhinskaya embankment. In September, the second one launched, this time coursing from ZIL to Pechatniki.
The boats on the river transport line are unique; it is the world’s first year-round, cutting-edge electric water transport. The river banks were equipped with 12 floating docks. Some of them can charge the boats during passengers boarding and disembarking. The innovative solution is peerless in the whole world. Even now, in the season of snow and ice, electric boats continue to run the river.
Last year, car traffic launched on the Moscow High-Speed Diameter (MHSD) within the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD). The 40-kilometer main section, from the Businovskaya interchange to the Kosinskaya overpass, was launched in 2022. In September last year, it merged with the federal M-12 Vostok highway; the new feature was its southern direction from Entuziastov Highway to Varshavskoye Highway of MKAD. Today, MHSD is the longest high-speed diameter in the country; its length in a straight line is 68 kilometers; if we include exits, it goes up to 219 kilometers. The highway runs from north to south (from the St. Petersburg M-11 Neva highway to Crimea M-2 and Vostok M-12). In total, over 100 kilometers of roads were built in 2023.
Flagship centers and 200 renovated polyclinics
Moscow is at the forefront of Russian medicine. The main achievement in the field of healthcare over the past year was the introduction of a new standard for emergency aid. In 2023, four flagship centers started receiving patients: in January, at the Veresaev State Clinical Hospital; in March, at the N. V. Sklifosofsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine; in September, at Filatov City Clinical Hospital No. 15; in December, at the Botkin Hospital. Those are designed as hospitals with admission departments, operating rooms (including hybrid ones), and intensive care units, all equipped with advanced technology. Patients can spend up to 24 hours there. Next, they are categorized into specialized departments for outpatient follow-up care or discharged home.
The Triage digital assistant helps medical staff to manage the flow of patients in the flagships centers. Depending on how urgent help is needed, patients are referred to the red, yellow or green zone. In the new centers, all examinations are carried out at the patient’s bed. That is how the “doctor-to-patient” principle works.
Another milestone project is the large-scale outpatient care renewal program. In September, its first stage was completed, which covered 200 polyclinics. The program started in 2020. Polyclinics that have been opened after major renovation provide healthcare according to the new Moscow standard; they use high-tech equipment and digital services. The number of doctors of the most in-demand medical specialties have increased. The buildings are zoned in such a way that it is comfortable for both patients and staff to navigate.
As part of the second and final stage, 140 more polyclinics are to be modernized. The plan states, by the end of 2025, Moscow’s outpatient fund will have been completely updated.
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Modern giant hospitals
Two important medical facilities started working in 2023. In late August, diagnosis and treatment complex at the Loginov Moscow Clinical Scientific Center, one of Moscow’s key oncological in-patient hospitals, started accepting patients. It offers diagnostic services, radiotherapy, surgeries (including minimally invasive), as well as life-long regular medical check-ups on demand. With opening of the Loginov Moscow Clinical Scientific Center, the new base of the oncological aid has entered the home stretch.
In December, Russia’s largest and most modern Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital (CIDH) No. 1 opened its doors for the first patients. Its three buildings occupy over 100,000 square meters. They are equipped with 546 Meltzer boxes (individual wards with a sleeping area, lavatory, bathroom, and individual entrance), a treatment center for cases of chronic viral hepatitis with a day hospital, an efficient intensive care block, field-specific departments of medical institutes, as well as an obstetrical block with a neonatology unit. CT, MRI, and ultrasound scans, as well as mobile X-ray units are perfect for diagnostics and treatment of practically any possible infectious diseases.
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Moscow dream factory
Everyone knows that creating decorations might be quite taxing for a production crew. Sometimes different movies might need similar background, like historical films, for instance. To support film makers, the Moscow government made a decision to build a world-class film cluster, unrivaled in the whole country.
In August, the Moskino Cinema Park opened its first film sets located in the Krasnaya Pakhra village, Troitsky and Novomoskovsky Administrative Districts. A deserted wasteland in the past, the park is now livelier than ever: there are sets for location shootings of historical and contemporary films, studios, and warehouses. The first-order sets are already available for shootings; meanwhile, the construction crew is starting with the second-order sets.
Troitsky and Novomoskovsky Administrative Districts will become home of the world’s biggest film set for location shootings of about 320 hectares. The 12 th-century Kremlin, Moscow streets and street of various European cities from different historical eras, medieval buildings, airport terminals, and railway stations are available for shooting films of various genres.
The METMASH film cluster is currently under construction; it will occupy the site of the former VNIIMETMASH factory on Ryazansky Prospekt. It will be a unique set for full-cycle film production, 210 thousand square meters in total, including modern filming pavilions, studios, offices, a multimedia center, scenery- and costume-making workshops, a café, and a co-working area. METMASH has already produced 14 film projects.
The great cinema project planned by the Moscow government also includes the Maxim Gorky Film Studio. In addition to modern filming pavilions, it will get an educational cinema campus.
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