On the first day of spring, nine new stations of the Big Circle Line of the Moscow Metro were officially opened. These are Maryina Roshcha, Sokolniki, Rizhskaya, Printers, Tekstilshchiki, Klenovy Boulevard, Nagatinsky Backwater, Varshavskaya and Kashirskaya. The start of the movement of trains along the BKL in the video mode was given by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, the Bolshaya Koltsevaya Line, or “Third Interchange Circuit” (TPK), will help relieve other subway lines by 20-25 percent. In addition, passengers will be able to save up to 45 minutes of time. The opening will have a positive impact on the situation in the Moscow region, as there are 11 transfers on the railway line in the BCL.
The new circle line includes 31 stations. Of these, 28 are built from scratch, and three are completely reconstructed. The deepest stations of the LCL – “Maryina Roshcha”, “Savelovskaya” and “Rizhskaya” – have become a kind of underground museums. During the trip, passengers will be able to see special cast-iron structures of the tunnel frame – tubing, which are used to protect structures from soil and groundwater pressure.
The total length of the BCL is 70 kilometers. And now it is the longest circular metro line in the world. She overtook the previous leader – the Beijing subway – by 13 kilometers. By the way, the TPK is also 3.5 times larger than the “old” ring of the Moscow metro: its length is 19.4 kilometers.
Each station on the Big Circle Line has its own unique look; seven of them have been selected at international architectural competitions.
It took 11 years to build the BCL. New stations were built in record time: on average, work on each of them was carried out for 2-3 years, while 20 thousand people were involved.
Interestingly, according to the General Plan of 1971, the construction of the second ring line of the Moscow Metro was envisaged. However, the project was postponed indefinitely due to the fact that there was a primary need to create transport links between the new microdistricts and the city center. Therefore, all forces were thrown into the construction of radial lines.
But back to the BCL. For several decades, various projects for the modernization of the Moscow Metro have been considered: options have been proposed both with the construction of a ring and chord lines.
On May 4, 2012, the Moscow government approved a new program for the development of the Moscow Metro for the period up to 2020. This document included, among other things, provisions on the WPK.
As the designers of the LCL facilities said, their work required the use of non-standard technical solutions. Unlike radial lines, the stations of the Big Ring are located close to the city center, their tunnels cross the railway, other lines and rivers.
During the design, information modeling technologies were actively used, for example, for the Terekhovo and Kuntsevskaya stations. During the construction of complex engineering structures, especially underground, it is important to take into account the smallest details. One change can cause inconsistencies elsewhere. The use of the TIM model just made it possible to determine all possible consequences and minimize risks in a short time.
The first passenger traffic along the BCL was launched in the north-west of Moscow in February 2018. Five stations operated on a 10.51 km section: Delovoy Tsentr, Shelepikha, Khoroshevskaya, Polezhaevskaya and Petrovsky Park. At present, all TPK stations are open to passengers. The big ring is closed.*
*Information prepared from open sources.
Photo: Sergey Bobylev / TASS
