Metro Moscow: New section of the Big Circle Line inaugurated

On December 7, 2021 Moscow’s long-planned, so-called “Big Circle Line” (BCL) moved a big step ahead: A 21 km long stretch of Metro Line 11 was officially inaugurated by President Vladimir Putin (via the videoconference) and Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin It runs in the South and West of the city. The section includes the following stations: Terekhovo, Kuntsevskaya, Davydkovo, Aminyevskaya, Michurinsky Prospekt, Prospekt Vernadskogo, Novatorskaya, Vorontsovskaya, Zyuzino and Kakhovskaya. Line 11 now connects to 10 other metro lines at different stops along its way. the original line 11 was taken out of service in 2019 in order to be integrated into the BCL.

This launch is a huge event for the city – for the first time since 1935, ten stations were opened in Moscow at once, and the same applies for the 21 new kilometers: it is the longest section in the history of the Moscow Metro launched for passengers at the same time.

10 new BCL stations will improve the accessibility of transport for residents of 11 districts of the city with 1.4 million residents. Almost 450 thousand people will have an BCL station near by their house. Thanks to the new metro section, passengers will daily save 35-45 minutes of travel time on average.

The new opening is part of the Big Circle Line which is the one of the largest infrastructure project in the Russian capital. The full launch of the BCL is planned for late 2022 or early 2023, the entire loop will have 31 stations. The full launch of the BCL will simplify the movement of 3.3 million Moscow citizens living in 34 districts. It will be the longest metro circle line in the world. Its length is 70 kilometers, which is 3.5 times longer than the existing Line 5 (the Circle Line) and a quarter longer than the Beijing loop line 10 – for the time being the global leader in terms of length.

A network scheme of Moscow’s metro is available at:
http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/ru/mos/moskva.htm