Until what time does the Moscow Central Circle run? Metro stations under construction. Scheme of the second ring line. MCC! Distinctive features of metro stations
Reconstruction of the Moscow Central Circle (MCC)- a unique project not only for Moscow, but also for Russia as a whole. The MCC has become a full-fledged light metro, integrated into the metro system.
The MCC map is included in the capital's metro map. It shows the approximate time of ground transfers from the MCC.
In addition, the diagram indicates possible transfers from the MCC to ground urban transport, traffic intervals, etc.
Traffic around the ring was launched on September 10, 2016. This gave a new impetus to the development of abandoned industrial areas of the capital, and also made it possible to cut the Gordian knot of transport problems hanging over the capital.
The Moscow Central Circle is the road to the future. Thanks to the ring, trips around the capital take an average of 20 minutes. Another unique feature of the MCC was that it connected the capital’s garden and park ensembles: the Mikhalkovo estate, the Botanical Garden, the territories of VDNKh and the Elk Island National Park, the Vorobyovy Gory nature reserve and others.
MCC is a new life for industrial zones of Moscow
Since 1908, the Moscow Central Circle served industrial zones and mainly performed the function of transporting goods. However, over time, many industrial areas around this ring fell into disrepair, and some industries closed. A number of industrial zones were, at best, used for warehouses. Now these territories are being actively reorganized, housing with social facilities, sports complexes, etc. are being built here. And developing territories require convenient transport connections.
The launch of passenger traffic along the MCC resolves the issue of transport support for industrial zones. In addition, the ring connected suburban trains and electric trains that go to the city center with MCC stations. Passengers can, before reaching the city center, transfer to MCC trains and move further throughout almost the entire territory of Moscow.
All MCC stations were built as transport hubs (TPU). They will include offices, shopping malls, shops and cafes. This concept meets both the interests of investors, for whom it is important to recoup investments in construction, and the needs of citizens.
The Moscow Central Circle (MCC) is an abbreviation that has been in use quite recently; the ring itself is used even less for passengers. On metro maps, the ring is indicated by line 14, although it looks a little different.
Metro or train
Circular railway, Small ring of the Moscow railway, Moscow ring railway, Moscow central ring - all these definitions in one form or another refer to the same object.
The first train at the Luzhniki station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website/Andrey Perechitsky
In the new name - MCC - the mention of the railway has been removed, on metro maps it is indicated as line 14, transfers with the metro are free (even in the "metro - MCC - metro" option), a separate page for the MCC has been created on the metro website... So everything can be... Is the MCC a metro?
The MCC infrastructure itself (tracks, stations, etc.) belongs to Russian Railways. The ring is physically connected to other sections of the railways; the use of the ring for freight traffic is not canceled and is quite possible. The rolling stock, "Swallows", has been traveling on other sections of Russian railways for several years now. At MCC stations you can find workers in gray Russian Railways uniforms, information boards and part of the navigation at the MCC stations themselves - according to the brand book and Russian Railways standards. Even the turnstiles are like those at many suburban stations (albeit equipped with metro validators). So, is the MCC an electric train?
Navigation in the transition between platforms of the Khoroshevo station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website/Andrey Perechitsky
If we approach the issue formally, then the MCC is a real railway, however, in the mass consciousness, the use of the railway for movement within one city is still of little use, moreover, the MCC is integrated mainly with the metro, and the ring is precisely urban transport, and not suburban, which includes the green electric trains familiar to city dwellers. This is also why navigation and tariffs are designed in such a way that the passenger feels that he is on the 14th metro line, although in fact the MCC, of course, is not a metro.
Turnstiles at Luzhniki station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website/Andrey Perechitsky
In relation to the MCC, it is appropriate to use the term “urban train” - a type of transport in Russia that is not very common.
Abroad, this type of transport is widespread and quite popular. For example, in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland there is S-bahn, which occupies an intermediate position between urban public transport and classic commuter trains.
The MCC itself breaks the mold of many definitions, and similar debates have been going on on thematic forums for many months - “What is the new ring anyway?”
MCC, metro, monorail and ground transport are all elements of the city’s unified transport system, so asking the question “is the MCC part of the metro?” not entirely true. To the question “Does the MCC belong to the Moscow transport system?”, it is certainly correct and correct to answer “Yes”, as well as to a similar question regarding the metro or monorail.
The Lastochka train arrives at the Khoroshevo station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website/Andrey Perechitsky
The main flow to the MCC should still be a transfer from the metro; there will be fewer “pure” independent trips around the ring. At the same time, such stations as Sorge (formerly Novopeschanaya), Krymskaya (formerly Sevastopolsky Prospekt), Streshnevo (formerly Volokolamskaya) have created (in the case of Sorge, they will create) new transport hubs. Residents of nearby houses and those who work nearby will definitely appreciate the appearance of these stations. Following this, new travel routes will appear.
Due to its specific nature, part of the MCC route passes through industrial zones. But is this really important, because a new transport corridor has appeared in the city. And industrial zones will not always flash through the Swallow window. Novodevichy Convent, Moscow City, Losiny Island, Moscow River - the landscapes are more than diverse.
View from the MCC train window. Photo: website/Andrey Perechitsky
From the point of view of formal definitions, the MCC is more of an electric train than a metro; in fact, it is a new full-fledged element of the transport system. How relevant it is is a question for each individual passenger. In any case, new connections that reduce travel time are always good, especially for a metropolis like Moscow.
Impressions of the first passengers
Andrey Perechitsky
This coming Sunday, September 10, the Moscow Central Circle (MCC) will celebrate one year since the launch of the first trains. During this time, more than 93 million passengers used the line against the original plan of 75 million. The project has already cost Russian Railways (RZD), the federal and Moscow budgets approximately 140 billion rubles. And within 15 years, costs will reach 200 billion rubles. Investments in the project will never pay off, experts say. Why will this happen and should an infrastructure project of this scale necessarily pay off?
How much does MCC cost?
The return of passenger trains to the Moscow Circular Railway, which was canceled back in the 1930s, was dreamed of by ex-Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov for many years, but his successor Sergei Sobyanin managed to implement the project. Urban planning documentation and feasibility studies for the construction of a passenger railway and its accompanying infrastructure were ready back in the 2000s, recalls Sergei Tkachenko, former head of the Research and Development Institute for General Planning. And in 2008, the Moscow government and Russian Railways signed an agreement on the reconstruction of the freight railway into a passenger one.
However, the lack of funds delayed the start of work for three years, Tkachenko continues. The issue of financing was resolved only in 2011, after the appointment of a new mayor; for this, Sobyanin had to make such a request to the President of Russia, Moscow and federal officials told Vedomosti at the time.
The government contributed 72 billion rubles from the budget to the authorized capital of JSC Russian Railways. for the arrangement of the railway part of the MCC infrastructure. Moscow spent 20 billion rubles. for the construction of infrastructure of transport hubs and more than 25 billion rubles. for the reconstruction of the road network, overpasses and the liberation of territories around the MCC, says Roman Latypov, first deputy head for strategic development and client work of the Moscow Metro State Unitary Enterprise. This enterprise oversees the work of the MCC on behalf of the Moscow authorities, it provides all the service personnel (except for train drivers) for the ring and provides a unified ticket program with the metro.
The Metro also acts as a customer for passenger transportation services. A 15-year contract with Russian Railways will cost the capital 57.7 billion rubles, says Latypov.
To organize traffic on the MCC, Russian Railways purchased 33 Lastochka electric trains from Ural Locomotives (a joint venture between Siemens and Dmitry Pumpyansky’s Sinary). The Russian Railways representative refused to disclose the amount of investment and its return on investment. Based on the contract, one Lastochka train of five cars cost 8.7 million euros. Consequently, 33 trains could cost Russian Railways 19.2 billion rubles. (at the weighted average exchange rate for 2016 of 67 rubles). From May 1, 2017, the train interval on the MCC was reduced from 6 to 5 minutes during peak hours and from 12 to 10 minutes at other times. Therefore, Russian Railways had to buy nine more trains with an estimated cost of 5.25 billion rubles.
Russian Railways did not calculate the return on investment in the project, assures a person close to the state-owned company. The contract turned out to be unprofitable, one of the Russian Railways consultants knows. The investment may never pay off, he adds.
The amount that Russian Railways receives under the contract with the Moscow government for servicing the MCC is 3.8 billion rubles. per year – not tied to passenger traffic. The company must provide a certain traffic interval, says Vladimir Savchuk, Deputy General Director of the Institute for Problems of Natural Monopolies (IPEM). The amount of payments includes the tariff for transportation on commuter trains in Moscow, which does not depend on the size of the investment, but is calculated based on the cost of infrastructure and currently amounts to 0.1% of it. According to PwC partner Dmitry Kovalev, in order to recoup the project in at least 10–15 years, the tariff must be at least 1.5 times higher.
Russian Railways received money for the project from the budget, the company does not need to return these investments, the city hall official objects. Direct costs of Russian Railways are the purchase of trains and their operation. Therefore, the profitability of transportation on the MCC is 8%, says a city hall official.
Return on investment does not come first, because this is a large infrastructure project, as follows from Latypov’s words. The main task of the MCC is to provide a transport alternative for citizens, and without subsidies for transportation there is not a single metro in the world, he says. Such transport projects have “a much more important effect - comfort of movement, saving travel time (on the MCC passengers save 9-11 minutes compared to traveling on other types of public transport) and the effect on the development of territories,” Latypov believes. Today, an MCC passenger costs the city 40% less than a metro passenger, a source in the mayor’s office points out, due to the new infrastructure and the ground location of the tracks. In addition, currently the MCC is only loaded at half its capacity; over time, its occupancy will increase.
It’s hardly possible to talk about the MCC’s payback in the foreseeable period of time, Tkachenko agrees: “Such projects provide exclusively indirect payback, transforming urban areas from secondary, degrading ones into investment-attractive ones. This is why budget funds exist - to contribute to the capitalization of the city, to increase the tax base.” Such projects cannot be assessed only from the point of view of the return of funds, agrees Savchuk. Like any infrastructure project, the MCC is aimed at developing the city and surrounding areas and increasing business activity. “The project is very large-scale, analogues in the world are not of urban, but of national significance,” explains Savchuk. “The implementation of the project provided orders for industry, designers, and created the opportunity for the implementation of modern and innovative solutions, for example, in the field of transportation automation.”
Who needs a ring
Before the launch of passenger traffic, the entire length of the MCC (54 km) became double-track; a third track for freight and technological traffic was built along 31 km. From each MCC station, passengers can transfer to ground urban transport; for this purpose, access roads, turning areas for buses and stops for passengers are organized on both sides of the railway. From the MCC you can make 14 transfers to metro stations and six to commuter trains. The new ring passes through 26 districts of Moscow with a population of 1.9 million people, says a representative of the Moscow Department of Transport. Residents of six of them (Metrogorodok, Beskudnikovsky, Koptevo, Kotlovka, Khoroshevo-Mnevniki and Nizhegorodsky) - about 500,000 people - previously had virtually no access to the metro, he adds.
Integration with the metro (the MCC and the metro have a single ticket system) has ensured explosive growth in traffic on the MCC, says Savchuk from IPEM. If there are questions about the return on investment in the MCC, then from the point of view of passenger traffic this is not just a successful, but an extremely successful project, the Russian Railways consultant is sure. It was planned that in the first year of operation the MCC would transport 75 million people, in 2020 – 170 million, and in 2030 – 300 million. The plan has already been exceeded. In less than a year, according to the Moscow Department of Transport, about 93 million people used the MCC.
How many new passengers were attracted to Moscow transport due to the MCC? Neither the mayor’s office nor the metro gives an answer to this question. Most likely we are talking about not very large quantities. The MCC absorbed some of the passengers from the metro and trains. Although, obviously, some car owners preferred “Swallows” to their own cars, a source in the mayor’s office believes.
New lines “almost do not add passenger traffic, they only redistribute it,” Tkachenko believes. But this is also good, since in general the level of comfort on the old lines, where some of the passengers leave, is increasing, he points out.
61% of MCC passengers transferred from the metro, 26% from commuter trains, another 13% are residents of adjacent areas who get to the station on foot or by ground public transport. The final point of travel for approximately 30% of MCC passengers is areas near stations, the rest use Lastochkas instead of the Circle Line of the metro, says a representative of the Moscow Department of Transport.
There are a lot of so-called tourists on the MCC, Latypov notes. He also includes among them passengers who choose a longer journey compared to a shorter one by metro. For example, when a passenger travels from Luzhniki to Lokomotiv, instead of taking the metro from Sportivnaya to Cherkizovskaya. “The MCC offers a new level of service: stations with charging stations for mobile phones and other amenities; there are toilets in two cars of each train; the trip itself became more comfortable due to the silence and fewer people. The MCC is also more convenient for cyclists - they can enter the carriages without unhooking the front wheel, as in the metro,” explains Latypov.
Unloading was successful
Moscow authorities are pleased that the MCC has reduced the load on overloaded metro stations and city train stations. Thanks to the MCC, passengers do not have to go to ring metro stations to make a transfer, notes Latypov. According to him, the new transport route reduced the load on the busiest sections of the Circle Line metro by 15%, Sokolnicheskaya by 20%, Lyublinskaya by 14%, Filevskaya by 12%, Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya by 5%. This is very important for the metro, because it increases the comfort of travel, notes Latypov.
At some previously unpopular metro stations, passenger traffic, on the contrary, has increased, unloading other stations. With the advent of the MCC, passenger traffic at the station. m. "Kutuzovskaya" grew 3.5 times from 8,000 to 29,000 people per day. Previously, according to the Moscow Metro, it was one of the 30 most unpopular metro stations in Moscow, but now it is unloading the Kievskaya station.
The load at Kazansky and Rizhsky stations has decreased by 30%, at Kursky - by 40%, at Yaroslavsky and Leningradsky - by 20%, says a representative of the transport department. Now MCC passengers can transfer to electric trains of the Oktyabrsky, Savelovsky, Yaroslavl, Kazan and Smolensky directions; integration with four more directions out of the remaining five is planned to be carried out before the end of 2018, promises a representative of Russian Railways. It is also planned to move a number of platforms of radial directions closer to the MCC stations (Okruzhnaya in the Savelovsk direction, Severyanin in the Yaroslavl direction and Leningradskaya in the Riga direction), as well as to build new stops and stations (Novokhokhlovskaya in the Kursk direction, Varshavskaya in the Pavelets direction, Karacharovo in the Gorky direction).
One of the main advantages of the MCC is that passengers do not have to go to train stations in the center and then transfer to the metro, says Latypov. He estimates there were 25 million such trips per year.
The development of the MCC should convince citizens to give up private cars. A study by the Research and Development Institute of the general plan, conducted in the 2000s, showed that when a metro station appears, the coefficient of use of public transport in the areas adjacent to it increases. In Moscow, only the metro and the Moscow Railways could solve this problem; the periodically proposed alternatives are not capable of this: bicycles, monorails, cable cars, balloons, etc., says Tkachenko. A representative of the Moscow Department of Transport gives the following example: four MCC stations (Botanical Garden, Lokomotiv, Luzhniki, Rokossovsky Boulevard) have parking lots with a total capacity of more than 650 parking spaces. Since the stations opened, more than 48,000 motorists have left their cars at these park-and-ride stations and transferred to the MCC, thus preventing these cars from reaching the city center.
Compared to the Moscow Metro, the MCC's share in traffic is negligible: in 2016, about 2.4 billion people used the metro, the MCC - 25 times less. The comparison is incorrect, because the MCC is just one of the metro lines, points out a representative of the Moscow Department of Transport. And in terms of daily passenger traffic, the MCC has already overtaken some branches.
Tkachenko is confident that over time the load on the MCC will increase. Any highway that has just been put into operation does not fill up immediately, he says, recalling the free Third Transport Ring in the first year of its launch. Latypov cites the example of the London DLR (Docklands Light Railway), a light metro that, among other things, connected the Docklands area with the city center. The DLR currently has 45 stations and the network length is 34 km. In 1987, the first year after its launch, 17 million people used the line. Now more than 101.5 million passengers use it, says Latypov. Docklands was a port area, and today it is the business center of London.
Housing prices are also rising. The cost of new buildings within walking distance from MCC stations is growing faster than the market - by 14% per year compared to 8% in other residential complexes, CIAN calculated. But the appearance of the MCC did not significantly affect the construction of offices due to the low activity of developers in this segment, says Margarita Kabalkina from CBRE.
So far, more than a third of the territories around the MCC stations are inefficiently used industrial zones, according to data from the Research and Development Institute of the General Plan. About a quarter of the residential buildings within walking distance from the stations are five-story buildings, half of which are included in the Moscow renovation program. The adjacent territory will be developed through the construction of office and business facilities, residential areas and other points of attraction, Deputy Mayor Marat Khusnullin said earlier. According to him, in the future, abandoned industrial areas around the ring will receive a new round of development, which will lead to the emergence of tens of thousands of new jobs.
About 26 million square meters can be built in areas around the MCC. m of real estate, says a representative of the Moscow construction complex. Including about 10 million sq. m residential and about 16 million sq. m of non-residential buildings. Industrial zones located near the Moscow River are being reorganized the fastest, continues Vedomosti’s interlocutor.
However, you should not expect quick changes. When we are talking about a project that can significantly change the transport infrastructure of the city, you should not expect a quick revival of nearby industrial zones or the emergence of new residential areas, explains Olga Shirokova, director of the consulting and analytics department at Knight Frank. In general, the MCC can become an additional factor for the decision to start construction, but it is not the only or the main one. Obviously, there should be a lot of housing around the MCC - in fact, this is why transport projects are being developed, so that people can live comfortably and get to work and home, Shirokova notes. Accordingly, the building density there may be higher than the Moscow average. The main thing is that new projects in the MCC areas do not lead to the building density exceeding 25,000 sq. m. m per 1 hectare, so that again problems with overloading the transport infrastructure do not arise, she warns.
What is known about one of the largest transport projects in Russia
On September 10, City Day, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin launched traffic on the Moscow Central Circle (MCC). More than 100 billion rubles have been invested in one of the most ambitious Russian transport projects, but much has not yet been completed. RBC presents a dossier on MCC
High-speed electric train "Lastochka" at a test run along the MCC, September 2, 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
1. What we launched
On City Day, the Moscow Central Circle, a 54 km long urban railway, accepted passengers for the first time. In total, there will be 31 stations on the MCC (the exact name is a transport hub, TPU). 17 of them will be connected to metro stations, including at 11 stations covered galleries will be built from the MCC to the metro; The mayor's office calls such crossings “dry feet.” There will be nine transfer points from the MCC to commuter trains (without integration with the ring, only the Kiev commuter line will remain). During rush hour, trains will appear at stations every six minutes, at normal times - once every 11-15 minutes; The train will make a full circle in an hour and a half. The boards on the platforms will show the arrival time of the next train. They promise to install ports for charging gadgets at the stations.
After the launch of the Russian Railways project, the entire railway infrastructure will be transferred, and the city will delegate the ownership of platforms and transport hubs (TPU) to the State Unitary Enterprise "Moscow Metro". In the first month of operation of the MCC, travel on it will be free, then it will be possible to enter the MCC station using cards common to Moscow public transport.
Construction of an indoor gallery from the MCC to the Vladykino metro station; at the mayor’s office such crossings are called “dry feet”, July 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
2. Who came up with it?
The Moscow Circular Railway, connecting industrial zones on the outskirts of Moscow, began to be built in 1902. It was launched in 1908, later than planned, since there were interruptions in funding due to the Russo-Japanese War. Freight transport was mainly carried out along the Moscow Railway. There were also passenger trains, but in 1934, with the development of tram traffic in the city and the start of construction of the metro, the ring was closed to people.
With the transfer of most factories outside of Moscow, this freight route became unnecessary. At the end of 2007, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin signed an agreement to work on a project to repurpose the freight ring into a passenger line. It was planned that all work would be completed in 2010-2011. The deadlines were postponed several times. Construction actually began in 2012.
3. What will the trains be like?
About 30 trains will run along the MCC. The “city trains” used are “Swallows”, developed by Siemens at the request of Russian Railways to transport passengers during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. The current head of the Moscow Metro, Dmitry Pegov, led the project to launch Lastochka in Sochi when he worked for Russian Railways.
The train has five carriages (with the possibility of expanding to ten). All “Swallows” for the capital’s ring will be equipped with Wi-Fi and air conditioning; there will be special places for bicycles, which, unlike the metro along the MCC, can be transported unassembled. Each “Swallow” will have two toilets.
High-speed electric train "Lastochka" in the operational depot, November 2015 (Photo: Sergey Gusev)
4. How much did you spend?
By the time the MCC was launched, more than 100 billion rubles had been spent on the project. The main investor was JSC Russian Railways: the state-owned company invested 74 billion rubles in the construction of railway infrastructure. (they planned to spend 54 billion rubles, but the demolition of facilities and the transfer of communications was unexpectedly expensive, a source well familiar with the construction of the MCC told RBC).
The Moscow government spent 19 billion rubles. for the construction of 31 ring stations and their integration with metro stations. Another 10.6 billion rubles. spent on the reconstruction of overpasses (the most expensive was the Volokolamsk overpass, it cost 5 billion rubles - the authorities had to, among other things, replace the windows in the residential buildings closest to the overpass with noise-proof ones).
The city will pay Russian Railways 3.8 billion rubles annually. for transport services for passengers on the new ring. The parties have already entered into a 15-year contract.
Luzhniki station, July 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
In the approved project, commercial facilities - shopping and business centers, hotels - were to be built near 11 transport hubs using investors' funds. The management company OJSC Moscow Ring Railway, owned by the Moscow government, must register property rights to land plots for commercial construction in its own subsidiaries and then sell it at auction to investors.
By the time traffic around the ring was launched, only one such section went under the hammer: for 1.14 billion rubles. GC "Pioneer" received a 100 percent stake in LLC "Botanical Garden" and the right to develop the territory near the transport hub "Botanical Garden". The company that is implementing the residential project “LIFE - Botanical Garden” nearby is planning to build a shopping and office center and an apart-hotel there.
“All other sites for the construction of transport hubs will be implemented during 2016-2017. We expect to earn at these auctions a minimum of 14 billion rubles, a maximum of 19 billion rubles, depending on the market situation. That is, we will return almost all the funds that the city invested in the construction of the technological part of the stations,” says RBC’s interlocutor at the Moscow City Hall, adding that the construction of the transport hub will give impetus to the development of the territories around the MCC by developers. According to RBC's interlocutor, by the end of 2016 it is planned to put up for auction four or five objects, the rest - next year.
Construction of the Botanical Garden station, July 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
6. What will a new ring give?
“By 2020, when all projects for integration with the metro and trains are completed, projects for shopping and office centers are implemented, we plan that passenger traffic will amount to 300 million people a year,” a source told RBC in the Moscow mayor’s office, adding that the same number of passengers per year carried by the existing Circle Line of the metro. In the meantime, the new ring will transport about 75 million people a year, the mayor’s office calculated.
The launch of the MCC will relieve congestion on the metro, especially in the center, and will increase accessibility to a number of areas where there were no metro stations until now, the mayor’s office is confident. The head of the capital's Construction Complex, Marat Khusnullin, shared estimates that the busy Circle metro line will become 15% freer - people will not have to travel from the outskirts to the center to change to the Circle line. The MCC website provides calculations: the trip for the average metro passenger will be 20 minutes shorter.
Researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Egor Muleyev emphasizes the ambiguity of such calculations: according to him, the benefits of launching the MCC are like bicycle paths in Moscow: for some it will really make it easier to travel, but for many it will not change anything.
“The ring is inserted without full-fledged transfer nodes. I strongly doubt that even in the coming years it will be in demand by passengers to the extent that the authorities are counting on,” says Pavel Zyuzin, a senior researcher at the Center for Research on Transport Problems in Megacities at the Higher School of Economics. — There are questions regarding transfers on many radii. They are located at a distance of 500-700 m from the MCC stations.”
Ride-and-ride parking will appear near four MCC stations this year (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
However, according to the expert, the new ring will be very useful for residents of certain areas of Moscow. “On the Yaroslavskoe highway in the direction of Bogorodskoye and Lefortovo, it will ease the situation. It will relieve some of the northwestern sectors, Koptevo and other areas,” the expert lists. “But as for the south, the MCC is very close to the Circle Line of the metro, and the difference between them is small.” Also, the launch of the MCC, in his opinion, will make routes easier for residents of certain cities in the Moscow region, especially for passengers traveling from Mytishchi and Korolev.
What we didn't have time to do
By the day of the official launch of the MCC, the builders did not have time to prepare seven stations for operation. Their list was published by TASS, citing a source in the Moscow government. The first trains of the ring will pass without stopping “Koptevo”, “Panfilovskaya”, “Sorge”, “Khoroshevo”, “Izmailovo”, “Andronovka” and “Dubrovka”. This information was confirmed to RBC by its own source in the project management company OJSC Moscow Ring Railway.
A month and a half before City Day, a high-ranking RBC source in the Moscow government claimed that “at launch, all infrastructure will be ready, all platforms at 31 stopping points.” “This is a must-have, and there is no doubt that it will be ready for launch,” RBC’s interlocutor assured. However, on September 2, First Deputy Head of the Department of Transport Gamid Bulatov told reporters that the opening of seven MCC stations on the day of the start of traffic on the ring “is in question,” promising that a week before the grand opening the full list of stations that will begin operating immediately will be announced.
But the official list of completed stations was not announced on Thursday, when less than two days remained before the ceremony. RBC's source at the Moscow Circle Railway OJSC reported that the final decision on the number of stations that will be available to passengers on the first day of operation of the MCC will be made only a day before the opening of the ring. At the same time, the interlocutor said that seven out of 31 stations “definitely will not open,” and about two more “there are doubts.” “We didn’t have time, not all the necessary equipment has been installed everywhere yet. Maybe we’ll open 24 stations at once, and then close two for a while for finishing touches,” a RBC source at the Moscow Circle Railway told RBC, adding that by the end of the year, “all MCC stations will definitely be accessible to passengers.”
Most of the indoor galleries are not ready for transition to platforms for metro trains and three transfer points from the MCC to the metro. But these facilities, unlike the stations themselves, were initially planned to be built after the launch of traffic on the MCC.
Which trains won't go?
Initially, other trains with a bird's name - "Orioles" - were supposed to run on the MCC. Tender for organizing the movement of electric trains along the Moscow Circle for 15 years for 57 billion rubles. The winner was the company TsPPK, an operator of commuter trains, co-owned by the vice-mayor of Moscow and head of the transport department Maxim Liksutov. In an interview with RBC, Liksutov stated that CPPC won the tender due to a more favorable offer for Moscow, and insisted that he himself, after moving to the civil service, did not monitor the business of his former companies. “Three companies took part in the competition, including Russian Railways themselves, which offered less favorable conditions for the city and therefore lost,” Liksutov explained to RBC in February 2015.
The TsPPK company planned to conclude a contract with Transmashholding (the company’s co-owners are Iskander Makhmudov and Andrey Bokarev; until 2011, Liksutov was also a co-owner of this company) for the production of Ivolga electric trains. The trains were positioned as competitors to the “Swallows”, while being entirely made from domestic materials and 40-50% cheaper.
But Ivolga was unable to pass certification, and without it it was impossible to deliver trains of this model to the MCC. A representative of JSC VNIIZhT, which is testing the prototype Ivolga, refused to tell RBC why the train was not certified.
In January 2016 - a few months after Oleg Belozerov became the head of Russian Railways instead of Vladimir Yakunin - it turned out that the rights to service passengers and the 56 billion contract would also go to Russian Railways. As a source in Russian Railways explains, Oleg Belozerov considered the situation unfair for Russian Railways: “It turned out that the state built with its own money the entire infrastructure on which Liksutov’s business partners would earn money, who would supply trains and receive money for transportation. In mid-January 2016, TsPPK unexpectedly decided to assign the contract for transport services to Russian Railways.”
City electric train EG2TV "Ivolga" (Photo: Sergey Fadeichev/TASS)
General Director of CPPC Mikhail Khromov said that the initiators of the assignment of the agreement were Russian Railways and city authorities - “they were convincing enough for us to agree.” Officially, Russian Railways also admit that they received the contract after “multilateral consultations with the participation of the Moscow government.” Now Russian Railways will carry MCC passengers on their Lastochkas.
RBC's source in the Moscow government, however, claims that the Orioles can still return to the project. “If the Ivolga passes certification, then Russian Railways will be able to replace the Lastochka with it,” says RBC’s interlocutor. — It is not stated in our contract that for all 15 years there will be only “Swallow”. In my opinion, this is a question of the efficiency of rolling stock, cost of maintenance, etc.”
In the end, TsPPK only received a contract for 2.1 billion rubles. to organize the sale of tickets and the work of controllers for a period of four years. However, the ticket system of the new ring will also be fully integrated into the system of urban, rather than suburban, transport, which is the specialty of the Center for Transport.
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No matter how trivial it may sound, the pace of human life is accelerating day by day. A person is constantly in a hurry to somewhere: to work, to school, to university. In addition to proper time management, a well-functioning transport system helps you get everything done. One of its parts is the MCC or Moscow Central Circle.
History and layout of the MCC
In the past, the ring had a different name - the Moscow Circular Railway. The first mentions of it date back to the end of the 19th century, a time when the industrial boom was actively developing. Back then, goods were transported using dray cabs. The process required a lot of effort and time. That is why tycoon F.I. Chizhov proposed the idea of building a ring road. On the one hand, it was just in time. But on the other hand, a number of problems arose.
As it turned out, the state owns only 5% of all railways. All others are private property. Each has its own rules and prices. It took a lot of time to resolve this issue. But by the end of the 19th century, most of the roads became state-owned.
The order for the construction of the Moscow Circular Railway was given by Emperor Nicholas II on November 7, 1897. The commencement ceremony took place on August 3, 1903.
Moscow MCC map of those times included several objects:
- 22 branches connecting to the main railway tracks;
- 14 stations;
- 2 stopping points;
- 3 telegraph posts;
- 72 bridges, including those that cross the Moscow River;
- 30 overpasses;
- 185 culvert structures;
- 19 buildings for passengers;
- 30 houses;
- 2 houses for employees;
- 2 baths;
- 2 reception rooms.
The work was carried out under the supervision of the best Russian engineers and architects. These include N. A. Belelyubsky, L. D. Proskuryakov, A. N. Pomerantsev.
Now MCC station map looks like that:
- 31 stations;
- 17 stations for transfer to other metro lines;
- 10 stations for transferring to trains.
More than 200,000,000,000 rubles were spent on the construction of the structure. The total length of roads is 54 km. The round trip will take 84 minutes. Each train running between stations can accommodate 1,200 passengers.
Moscow metro map with MCC, trips and statistics
In fact, the MCC is part of the Moscow metro. In the documents it is designated as the Second Ring Line of the metro. This transport system is inextricably linked with it in the form of fares and transfers. On metro maps, routes are indicated by a white line with a red border. Each of them has the signature of the MCC and a serial number.
Transportation is carried out by more than three dozen Lastochka trains. Each of them accommodates 1,200 people. The maximum speed reaches 120 km/h, but the operating speed will remain at 40-50 km/h. Train intervals range from 5 to 15 minutes. It all depends on the time of day. During rush hour they will travel more often.
All Lastochkas are equipped with soft seats and climate control systems. Passengers have the opportunity to connect to WI-FI and even charge their gadgets.
Trains do not have vestibules. However, their wide double doors make it easy to transport passengers with limited mobility.
MCC has a lot of features and nuances. The figures below will help you see how ambitious the idea for its construction was.
- The ring road, which later became the MCC, was built 111 years ago.
- 130 pairs of trains pass here every day.
- To establish regular traffic, the state had to spend more than 70 billion rubles.
- Thanks to the work of the MCC, the Koltsevaya metro line has been decongested by 15%.
- In the first year, 75 million people were transported by Lastochkas.
- MCC provided citizens with 40,000 jobs.
- There are car parks near most of the stations.
- According to the plan, trains will be able to transport more than 300,000,000 people within a year.
Thanks to the ring, it was possible to significantly relieve urban transport.
So, MCC is a good alternative to cars. This is the absence of traffic jams, affordable travel costs and the ability to be punctual. Metro map with MCC will show how and at which station you can transfer to a train in the desired direction, and the availability of parking lots and convenient transition to the station will save both time and effort.