Comparative characteristics of the Great Ring Line of the Moscow Metro and the Moscow Central Ring

Shulgina Ol'ga Professor, Chair of the Department of Geography and Tourism at Moscow City Teachers’ Training University 129226, Russia, Moscow, 2nd agricultural str., 4 olga_shulgina@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Golovko Gleb Glebovich Student of the Department of Geography and Tourism, Moscow City Pedagogical University 129226, Russia, Moscow, 2nd agricultural str., 4 GolovkoGG320@mgpu.ru

Introduction

One of the key problems of the spatial development of the Moscow agglomeration is the improvement of the transport system in order to optimize the movement of ever-increasing passenger flows. By the beginning of the second decade of the XXI century. Moscow had a fairly extensive metro network, but most transfers had to be made in the city center or through a single ring line. The central metro stations and the ring line were overloaded. Passengers, traveling from one area to another through the city center, lost a significant amount of time. To solve this problem, it was decided to build two new ring metro lines. The first line is the Moscow Central Ring (MCC) commuter train line, the second line is the Bolshaya Koltsevaya Line (BCL), a completely underground metro line. The MCC was implemented through the reconstruction of the Small Ring of the Moscow Railway, and the BCL is the construction of a completely new metro line. The length of the BCL is 62.5 km, the length of the MCC is 54 km. Both rings have 31 stations each.

The MCC was opened in 2016, and all stations are open with an interval of several months. The movement along the ring was launched immediately with the first stage of the opening of the MCC. The MCC has unloaded a number of radial metro lines and a ring metro line. The MCC has a number of disadvantages. The main one is a significant number of inconvenient long metro transfers.

In 2018, the first section of the BCL with five stations was opened. Over the next five years, new sections of the BCL were opened. On March 1, 2023, the BCL completely closed. On this day, the third ring and a full-fledged second ring metro line appeared, which made it possible to unload the radial lines and reduce the passenger load on the ring line and metro stations in the center of Moscow.

It should be noted that if various aspects of the development of the MCC are fairly covered in scientific research, then there is a clear shortage of work on the study of BCL. This is quite understandable due to the different deadlines for the completion of the construction of these lines – in 2016 and in 2023, respectively, that is, with a seven-year difference.

The pros and cons, problems and prospects of the MCC's functioning are reflected in the works of specialists in various fields: economists, transport engineers, sociologists, urban architects, geographers, historians. The works of these specialists highlight the following aspects: the history of the MCC, including in the historical and economic aspect and in the aspect of the development of the Moscow agglomeration ^{[2, 6, 8, 14]}, landscaping of the territory adjacent to the MCC and its specifics ^{[11, 16]}, the consequences of the introduction of the MCC for the city's transport system ^[30], assessment of the impact of the launch of the MCC on the cost of renting housing ^[33], assessment of the capacity of the infrastructure of the MCC transport hubs ^[27], features of the organization of passenger transportation ^[26], a methodology for studying the perception of the urban landscape when driving along the MCC ^[13], the impact of the MCC on the mobility of residents ^{[4, 17]}, innovative solutions on the MCC ^[31], the dynamics of the day and night population as an indicator of structural and functional changes in the city territory in the area of influence of the MCC ^[18], the principles of architectural and planning solutions for transfers between MCC stations and other modes of transport ^[3], social adaptation of metro-MCC pedestrian bridges ^[32], the value of the MCC in comparison with international experience ^[15].

Over time, many problems were solved, in particular, at first passengers noted the presence of construction debris, contaminated glass in the passages, and the absence of thermal curtains at stations [19: p. 3]. But of course there were more advantages: This is primarily the unloading of the ring metro line by more than 15%, reducing travel time on many routes in Moscow, but also from nearby cities, comfort and speed. In addition, the Moscow Central Ring is a very informative sightseeing route through two eras of the Moscow railway ring – the early twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Recently, it has been possible to combine a trip around the MCC with an excursion of the Moscow Museum "The History of Moscow from the windows of the MCC" ^[9].

Unfortunately, according to the analysis of the BKL, such works have not yet appeared.

The relevance of the study is due to the insufficient study of the features and social consequences of the construction of the Moscow Central Ring (MCC) and the Great Ring Line (BCL) in their comparison.

The source base of the research is open statistical data, literary, sociological and cartographic sources.

The object of the study is the development of the Moscow Metro transport system in the context of the inclusion of two new elements in its structure: The Bolshaya Koltsevaya Line and the Moscow Central Ring.

The subject of the study is the process of optimizing the passenger flow of the Moscow Metro, which is revealed by comparing the Bolshaya Koltsevaya Line and the Moscow Central Ring.

The purpose of the study is a comparative analysis of two implemented projects (MCC and BCL) with the identification of the pros and cons of these projects both individually and in comparison.

The main research methods are statistical, comparative geographical, analytical, cartographic.

The novelty of the research lies in the first attempt at a comparative analysis of these large-scale Moscow projects. The study showed that the ob ring lines allowed to reduce the travel time of passengers, unloaded the ring and radial metro lines. A significant number of Moscow residents received metro stations within walking distance. At the same time, the Big Ring Metro Line is a more successfully implemented project than the Moscow Central Ring. The Bolshaya Koltsevaya Metro Line is used daily by more passengers than the Moscow Central Ring. However, in addition to its direct transport functions, the MCC also has great educational significance, being at the same time an excursion route through two epochs of the Moscow railway ring – the early twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Comparative characteristics of the history of the development of BCL and MCC

The construction of the MCC took place through the reconstruction of the Small Ring of the Moscow Railway. The reconstruction and construction of new bus stops lasted from 2012 to 2016. The project took almost 5 years to complete (Table 1).

Table 1.

Stages of the opening of the BCL and MCC sections ^{[21; 23; 24]}

The MCC was opened on September 10, 2016. Traffic opened up all over the ring at once. At further stages of the opening, previously undiscovered stations on the existing ring were added. Less than two months have passed between the first and the final fifth stage of commissioning of the MCC stations. At the first stage, 26 stations were put into operation, and traffic was opened along the entire 54 km long ring. At the second stage, two stations were opened: Sokolinaya Gora and Dubrovka. At the third stage, the Koptevo station was opened. At the fourth stage, the Sorge station was put into operation. At the final fifth stage, the Panfilovskaya station was opened.

Such a small difference between all the stages of commissioning is due to several factors. Firstly, it was the reconstruction of the existing railway infrastructure, not the construction of a new line. Secondly, the reconstruction of the line and the construction of new stations were carried out on the entire ring at the same time. The different stages of the opening of the MCC occurred due to minor delays in the construction of five bus stops. Thirdly, it was the reconstruction and construction of an above-ground line, not an underground line, where during the construction of various sections there may be significant delays in opening due to construction difficulties. In many ways, the construction of 31 new bus stops was similar to each other, except for five stations: Business Center, Gagarin Square, Luzhniki, Nizhny Novgorod and Panfilovskaya. During the construction of these five stations, a greater amount of constructive work was planned than the fairly standard work on the construction of platforms and/or an underpass.

The construction of the BCL was a much more difficult project to implement than the MCC. Construction of the first section began in November 2011, and its opening took place 6 years and 3 months later on February 26, 2018. The construction work from the start of work on the first section until the closure of the ring completely lasted from November 2011 to March 1, 2023, that is, 11 years and 4 months.

The construction of the BCL was divided into several stages. Construction of the first section began in November 2011. The site included five stations: Petrovsky Park, CSKA, Khoroshevskaya, Shelepikha and the Business Center. In 2012, the construction of the Savelovskaya station began. In 2016, construction began on a section consisting of four stations: Elektrozavodskaya, Lefortovo, Aviamotornaya and Nizhny Novgorod. 2017 was the year of the most active construction of BCL sections. In 2017, 13 stations began to be built: Marina Grove, Rizhskaya, Sokolniki, Aminevskaya, Michurinsky Prospekt, Vernadsky Avenue, Innovatorskaya, Vorontsovskaya, Zyuzino, Textile workers, Printers, Nagatinsky Zaton, Maple Boulevard. In 2018, the construction of the last five stations began: Narodnoye Opolchenie, Mnevniki, Terekhovo, Kuntsevskaya and Davydkovo. In 2019, the Kakhovskaya line was closed for reconstruction for its further integration into the BCL.

Unlike the MCC, the construction of the BCL sections was gradual, which is due to several factors. Firstly, the BCL was the complete construction of a new underground line, with the exception of the reconstruction of the Kakhovskaya line with three stations. Secondly, the construction of all the sites at the same time was too expensive. Thirdly, the construction of the entire line at the same time meant that all the equipment and all the skilled workers would be involved in one project, with the inability to implement other projects in the field of metro construction, which are no less important than BCL.

It is worth noting that for the fastest possible construction of the BCL, while simultaneously implementing other projects, not only all companies in Russia involved in the construction of the metro, but also Chinese ones were involved. The Chinese company China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) was building a section of the BCL from Aminevskaya station to Prospekt Vernadskogo station.

The first stage of the opening of the BCL took place on February 26, 2018. 5 stations were opened: Petrovsky Park, CSKA, Khoroshevskaya, Shelepikha and the Business Center. At the second stage, Savelovskaya station opened on December 30, 2018. The third stage included the opening of three stations on March 27, 2020: Nizhny Novgorod, Aviamotornaya and Lefortovo. On December 31, 2020, the fourth stage of the BCL implementation ended with the opening of the Elektrozavodskaya station. At the fifth stage, on April 1, 2021, two stations were opened: the People's Militia and Mnevniki. At the sixth stage, on December 7, 2021, a record number of stations in the history of the Moscow Metro opened. 10 stations were opened simultaneously: Terekhovo, Kuntsevskaya, Davydkovo, Aminevskaya, Michurinsky Prospekt, Vernadsky Avenue, Innovatorskaya, Vorontsovskaya, Zyuzino and Kakhovskaya station, which was opened after reconstruction. At the final seventh stage, on March 1, 2023, the BCL was completely closed. 9 stations were opened: Marina Grove, Rizhskaya, Skolniki, Textile Workers, Printers, Nagatinsky Zaton, Maple Boulevard and Kashirskaya and Varshavskaya stations opened after reconstruction ^[21].

It can be seen that the start of construction of different sections does not correspond to the order of opening, which is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the construction of each station involves various difficulties, so the completion dates of the stations vary. Secondly, three BCL stations (Savelovskaya, Maryina Roscha and Rizhskaya) were built using the mining method, which initially took longer than the open-pit construction. Thirdly, construction often depended on the coordination of various companies building different sites.

As a result, significant differences are visible in the implementation of BCL and MCC. BCL is the construction of a completely underground metro line from scratch, and the MCC was the reconstruction of existing infrastructure and the construction of ground stations, which greatly influenced the timing of these projects. The construction of the BCL lasted more than 11 years, the MCC was built in 5 years. The BCL was built in several stages, at the MCC, work was carried out on the entire line simultaneously. It took 5 stages with a difference of less than 2 months to open the MCC. It took 7 stages to open the BCL, 5 years passed between the opening of the first and last stages. Traffic on the entire MCC was opened immediately, on the BCL five years after the opening of the first section.

Comparative characteristics of the main parameters of BCL and MCC

BCL and MCC are two ring lines encircling the city. The BCL is a completely underground line, and the MCC is almost completely a surface metro line, with the exception of a small section of the Gagarin Tunnel 900 meters long, located under the tunnel of the Third Transport Ring (TTK). The only underground station of the MCC Gagarin Square is located in the tunnel.

The length of the BCL is 62.5 km, and the length of the MCC is 54 km. The BCL is 8.5 km longer than the MCC, taking into account the branch to the Business Center and 3.5 km longer than the MCC, excluding the branch to the Business Center. The length of all BCL tracks is 70 km, taking into account the service and connecting branches (CER), which is 15.5 km longer than the length of the MCC.

The number of stations at MCC and BCL is the same, with 31 stations on each of the lines. The average length of the runs on the BCL is 2020 meters, and on the MCC is 1740 meters. The average length of the stage at the MCC is 280 meters less than at the BCL. If we count without taking into account the branch to the Business Center, then the average length of the stage at the MCC is less than 240 meters.

The travel time along the entire line on the BCL is 87.5 minutes, on the MCC 88 minutes, that is, almost the same: on the BCL 30 seconds less than on the MCC. Although the MCC is shorter in length than the BCL, but the average speed there is lower, so the travel time is even slightly longer than on the BCL. The intervals during peak hours on the BCL are 1.5 minutes, and on the MCC 4 minutes. The working hours at the BCL and MCC are the same from 5:45 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. ^{[8; 10]}.

The average daily passenger traffic on the BCL is several times more than on the MCC. BCL is used by more than 1 million people per day, and MCC is used by 439,000 people per day. The projected average daily passenger traffic at BCL is 2.2 million people, and at MCC 650 thousand people. The difference is 3.4 times.

The rolling stock and the number of wagons are different. The BKL operates 8-car trains of the Moscow 2020 type, and the MCC operates 5-car trains of the Swallow type ^{[8; 10]}.

After the closure of the BCL ring, on average, more than 1 million people use it per day ^[1]. The MCC is used by 439 thousand people on average per day as of February 2023. The maximum passenger traffic at the MCC will be reached on February 22, 2023. On this day, 640.4 thousand people were transported ^[12]. BCL is used by more passengers than MCC. It is predicted that in the future, 2.2 million people will use BCL on average per day, and 650 thousand people will use MCC ^[5]. The difference is 3.4 times. Several factors are the reason for such a significant difference in daily passenger traffic, both current and projected. Firstly, on the BCL, all transfers between metro lines are short and organized according to the "dry legs" type, unlike the MCC. Secondly, BCL stations cover a larger number of people living within walking distance than MCC stations ^[13].

BCL is operated by SUE Moscow Metro. The MCC is jointly operated by SUE Moscow Metro and JSC Russian Railways. The fare payment system and the cost of a trip to the MCC and BCL are the same.

A comparative analysis of the main parameters of BCL and MCC is given in Table 2.

Table 2.

The main characteristics of BCL and MCC ^{[1; 7; 20 21; 22; 23; 25; 29]}

Comparative characteristics of the location of BCL and MCC on the territory of Moscow

BCL and MCC serve 52 districts out of 143 districts of Moscow. BCL stations are located in 28 districts of the city, and MCC stations are located in 30 districts. There are BCL stations and MCC stations in 7 districts of Moscow: Presnensky, Khoroshevsky, Khoroshevo-Mnevniki, Nagorny, Pechatniki, Nizhegorodsky and Sokolinaya Gora.

Most of the BCL and MCC stations are located in semi-peripheral areas, but some of the stations are located in central areas (Fig. 1) ^[3].

Fig. 1. Location of BCL and MCC stations on the administrative-territorial map of Moscow

The population of the districts where the BCL stations are located is 2,772,096 people or 21.3% of the population of Moscow (Table 3).

Table 3.

Location of BCL stations in Moscow districts ^[2]

The population of the districts in which the MCC stations are located is 2,711,529 people. This is 20.8% of the city's population. The population of the districts where the BCL and MCC stations are located is 567,420 people or 4.4% of the population of Moscow (Table 4).

Table 4.

Location of MCC stations in Moscow districts ^[2]

BCL stations were originally designed in densely populated buildings and in places with convenient transfers to other metro lines. Therefore, BCL stations are mostly surrounded by residential buildings and a significant number of people living in these areas have metro stations within walking distance. The MCC stations were built on the existing railway, and some of the MCC stations are located even in industrial areas, away from residential buildings.

BCL and MCC are not located at an equal distance from the ring line of the metro. The BCL is as close as possible to the metro ring line in the north and northeast of the city, where there is only one stage between the ring line and the BCL. This is the situation in the north of Moscow on three metro lines: Zamoskvoretskaya, Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya and Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya, and in the future on four lines (with the opening of Suvorovskaya station on the ring line, where there will be a transfer to Dostoevskaya station of the Lublin-Dmitrov line). In the west, southwest, south and southeast, it is as far away from the ring line as possible.

The MCC is as close as possible to the ring metro line in the south-west, south and south-east of Moscow. On the Zamoskvoretskaya metro line, the minimum distance between the ring line and the MCC is only one stage. In the north of the city, the maximum distance between the ring metro line and the MCC is 4 intermediate stations on two lines: Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya and Lublinsko-Dmitrovskaya lines.

As a result, two ring lines were implemented, which are popular and complement each other. BCL and MCC unload both other metro lines and each other.

Comparative characteristics of transfer hubs at BCL and MCC

The BCL is a completely underground line, which is immediately built with transfers to radial metro lines. A number of transfers to the BCL are open later than the metro stations themselves. At the MCC, not all transfers to other metro lines have a "dry feet" type of transition. According to the "dry feet" type, you can switch to other metro lines via concourse or underpass at the stations Okruzhnaya, Vladykino, Lokomotiv, Nizhegorodskaya, Gagarin Square, Kutuzovskaya, Business Center, Shelepikha. The other two transplants are considered conditional on the type of "dry legs". This:

- The Botanical Garden, where the transition between the MCC exit and the entrance to the metro is located under the Moscow High-Speed Diameter (MSD) overpass,

- Partizanskaya, where a 260-meter-long canopy was built between the exit from the MCC and the entrance to the subway. But the canopy is not connected to the entrance to the subway, about 20 meters remains in the open air.

Mutually, MCC and BCL have three transfers to each other. Two transfers via an underpass at Shelepikha and Nizhegorodskaya stations and one land transfer at Khoroshevo station.

The number of transfers to the MCC from the BCL is almost twice as much as from the MCC. There are 18 transfers from the BCL to the MCC, 10 transfers from the MCC to the MCC (only diameters D1, D2, D3, D4 put into operation are taken into account).

BCL has one transfer to other railways. This is Varshavskaya station, where there is a transfer to the Paveletsky railway station of the same name. There are two similar transfers from the MCC, one transfer from the Verkhniye Kotly MCC station to the Paveletsky railway station of the same name, the other from the Rostokino MCC station to the Yaroslavl railway station of the same name. All three transplants are organized according to the "dry legs" type.

A summary comparative characteristic of the transfer hubs of the two new Moscow ring lines is shown in Table 5.

Table 5.

The number of transfers to other types of off-street transport from BCL and MCC ^{[7; 8; 10]}

Conclusion

By the beginning of the 21st century, Moscow had received a fairly extensive network of metro lines and stations. But since most transfers had to be made in the city center or through a single ring line, the central metro stations and the ring line were overloaded. As part of the new project of the city's transport development, two ring lines (BCL and MCC) were built and put into operation, which are popular and complement each other. Both of these lines unload both other subway lines and each other.

The BCL is a completely underground metro line built from scratch, with the exception of the reconstructed Kakhovskaya metro line, which became part of the BCL, and the MCC is an overground commuter train line implemented through the reconstruction of the existing railway infrastructure. Construction of the BCL began earlier, in November 2011, but the line itself was under construction for 11 years and 4 months from the start of construction of the first section until the closure of the ring on March 1, 2023. The MCC has been under construction for almost 5 years since the beginning of the reconstruction of the Small Ring of the Moscow Railway in 2012 and before the commissioning of the last stations at the MCC on November 8, 2016. The construction of the BCL lasted longer than the construction of the MCC, since the BCL is a more difficult project to implement.

Most BCL stations pass through dense residential development, and a number of MCC stations are surrounded by industrial facilities and removed from residential development. The reason for this is that the MCC is a reconstruction of a previously existing railway.

As a result, two new ring metro lines were opened, which unloaded the ring metro line, metro stations in the city center, and radial lines. The new ring lines redistributed passenger flows in the Moscow Metro. Passengers began to spend less time bypassing the city center. The time savings are up to 40 minutes per day. A significant number of residents have received new metro stations within walking distance.

BCL and MCC are two successfully implemented projects that do not duplicate, but complement each other, although it should be noted that BCL stations are more embedded in residential buildings and are convenient for the population in terms of organizing transfers to other metro lines.