The Zamoskvoretskaya line (russian: link=no, Замоскворе́цкая ли́ния, ), formerly Gorkovsko–Zamoskvoretskaya () (Line 2), is a line of the
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first unde ...
. Opened in 1938, chronologically it became the third line. There are 24 stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya line, and it spans , roughly crossing Moscow in a north–south direction. A normal trip along the entire line takes 55 minutes, with the trains on the line averaging . While most of the line is underground, there are some pockets of surface-level or above-ground track, mainly at the point where the line crosses the
Moskva River
The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centra ...
. The line contains many examples of original Moscow Metro architecture, and contains arguably the most photographed station on the entire network:
Mayakovskaya.
History
The first stage of the line followed Moscow's busiest transport artery the
Leningradsky Prospekt
Leningradsky Prospekt (russian: Ленингра́дский проспе́кт), or Leningrad Avenue, is a major arterial avenue in Moscow, Russia. It continues the path of Tverskaya Street and 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street north-west from Be ...
or as it moves into the centre the
Tverskaya Street
Tverskaya Street ( rus, Тверская улица, p=tvʲɪrˈskajə ˈulʲɪt͡sə), known between 1935 and 1990 as Gorky Street (russian: улица Горького), is the main radial street in Moscow. The street runs Northwest from th ...
(formally Gorkovskaya hence the original name), and connected the northwestern districts of Aeroport and Begovoy along with the
Belorussky Rail Terminal with the city centre in 1938.
The second stage, construction of which was uninterrupted during the war, opened in 1943 and followed the
Red Square
Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...
south under the
Moskva River
The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centra ...
into the dense district of
Zamoskvorechye
Zamoskvorechye District (russian: райо́н Замоскворе́чье) is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population:
The district contains the eastern half of historical Zamoskvorechye ...
(hence the name) and then onto the
Paveletsky Rail Terminal
Paveletsky station (russian: Павелецкий вокзал) is one of Moscow's nine main railway stations. Originally called Saratovsky Railway Station, it was named after the settlement of Pavelets, when the railroad heading south-east from M ...
and more significantly the
Stalin Factory (ZiS) in the Southeast of Moscow.
Several more extensions were to take place including the northern one following the
Leningrad Highway
Leningradskoye Highway (russian: Ленинградское шоссе) is a part of M10 highway (Russia), M10 federal highway Moscow – Saint Petersburg inside Moscow. One of the major thruways of Russia's capital, it connects Moscow with seve ...
and the
Moscow Canal
The Moscow Canal (russian: Кана́л и́мени Москвы́), named the Moskva–Volga Canal until 1947, is a canal in Russia that connects the Moskva River with the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow ...
into the Northern River Port in 1964. A southern one in 1969 passed the Nagatino industrial district and the
Kolomenskoye
Kolomenskoye (russian: Коло́менское) is a former royal estate situated several kilometers to the southeast of the city center of Moscow, Russia, on the ancient road leading to the town of Kolomna (hence the name). The 390 hectare ...
park, the rest of the extension went into the future
Kakhovskaya line
The Kakhovskaya line (, ) (Line 11A, formerly Line 11) was an abolished line of the Moscow Metro. Although the line was formed in 1995, all of the stations date to 1969 when they opened as part of the Zamoskvoretskaya line. The Kakhovskaya line w ...
. In 1984 a third extension commenced in two stages to the southeast past the
Tsaritsyno park
Tsaritsyno ( rus, Царицыно, p=tsɐˈrʲitsɨnə, literal meaning "Tsaritsa's property") is a palace museum and park reserve in the south of Moscow.
It was founded in the 1775 as the summer residence of Empress Catherine II, but the const ...
and into the Orekhovo-Borisovo housing massifs. A flooded tunnel, however forced the new branch to close a day after and for the next two and a half months. In late 1985 the second stage was completed, reaching a length of 36.9 kilometres with 20 stations and a daily passenger traffic of 1.8 million people.
The line's complex and inspiring history is mirrored in its architectural ensemble, particularly as it is one of the few places that it is possible to see the best of Soviet pre-war
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
architecture. In the spotlight before all other stations is
Mayakovskaya, a station that is not only most-photographed in the network but is also common sight on covers of brochures and tour guides into Moscow's underground realm.
When the line first opened in 1938, to distinguish the simultaneous formation of the three lines instead of one, colour-coding was introduced. The first one, the Sokolnicheskaya being Red, for mostly political reasons. However chronologically the Arbatsko–Pokrovskaya line would have been second and was coloured blue, whilst the third one Zamoskvoretskaya was given green. However as part of the Arbatsko–Pokrovskaya line was already in operation from the first stage, the significance of the Zamoskvoretskaya line was far greater. As a result the line was listed second. This tradition has since been passed on in all ex-Soviet cities with the first line being red and the second/third being either blue or green. However some metros, notably
Minsk Metro
The Minsk Metro ( be, Мінскі метрапалітэн, russian: Минский метрополитен) is a rapid transit system that serves Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Opened in 1984, it presently consists of 3 lines and 33 stations, ...
chose to deliberately reverse the trend.
Timeline
Name changes
Transfers
The Kashirskaya transfer is a cross-platform one.
Rolling stock
The line is served by the Sokol (No 2) and Zamoskvoretskoe (No 7) depots to which, respectively, 39 and 36 eight-carriage are assigned. The line began receiving 81-714/717 trains in 1980, replacing older E types in a programme which was finished in 1987. Some of these were upgraded to the .5 standard. When the Kakhovskaya branch separated from the main line, seven six-carriage trains were formed for it at the Zamoskvoretskoe depot.
Subway car types used on the line over the years:
- Series A, B: 1938 - 1951
- Series V: 1949 - 1954
- Series G: 1947 - 8th of December, 1965
- Series E: 1963 - 1989
- Series Ezh, Em-508 and Em-509: 1970 - 1989
- Series Ezh3/Em-508T: 1978 - 1983
- Series 81-717: 1979 - present
- Series 81-717.5: 1988 - present
- Series 81-717.5M: 2008 - present
Recent events and future plans
Today the line features a combination of stations that were built during different periods and some rebuilt since. Also it is one of the busiest in the system and for some stations, that are almost 70 years old clearly show their age. Improvement works have been carried out several times throughout history, but in recent times their emphasis has grown.
Belorusskaya was recently subjected to an extensive facelift reconstruction on replacement of its old ceramic walls with new marble ones. The world famous Mayakovskaya station following the opening of the second exit in 2005 had its original vestibule closed for replacement of escalators. It is expected that additional reconstruction will be done on 1960s "centipede" stations including the replacement of old ceramic tiles with aluminium planes.
When the line was built several areas were left with a straight tunnel provision for potential future built in of new stations. One of which was Gorkovskaya (now
Tverskaya) between Mayakovskaya and Teatralnaya, which was opened in 1979. However several more remain: Sovetskaya between Tverskaya and Teatralnaya, Bega between Dinamo and Belorusskaya, Vishnyakovsky Pereulok between Novokuznetskaya and Paveletskaya and Moskvorechye (also referred to as Vasilyevsky Spusk) between Teatralnaya and Novokuznetskaya. The latter provision stands the highest chance of being developed as the vacant space caused by demolition of the
Rossiya Hotel
The Rossiya Hotel (russian: Гостиница «Россия») was a five-star international hotel in Moscow. It was the largest hotel in the world from 1967 to 1980. Until its closure in 2006, it remained the second largest hotel in Europe, ...
is likely to be filled with new office buildings and hotels.
In addition to the provisions, another station was recently approved to be built on the surface level track between Avtozavodskaya and Kolomenskaya. The provisional names were Nagatinsky Zaton or Prospekt Andropova, although the name
Tekhnopark was selected. The station opened in late 2014.
The Metro completed the northern extension to Khovrino in 2017, making that station the northern terminus of the line.
Belomorskaya, an intermediate station, opened on December 20, 2018. The extension creates the potential to further extend the line into the adjacent
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...
town of
Khimki
Khimki ( rus, Химки, p=ˈxʲimkʲɪ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, 18.25 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, and immediately beyond the Moscow city boundary.
History Origins and formation
Khimki was initially a railway station tha ...
.
References
External links
Zamoskvoretskaya Line photos & info on the Robert Schwandl's UrbanRail siteZamoskvoretskaya Line gallery on the Urban Electric Transit
{{Moscow Metro, line2=yes
Moscow Metro lines
Railway lines opened in 1938