RUSSIA: Early September saw the opening of two extensions to the Moskva metro, improving access to the growing Novomoskovsky district southwest of the city centre.
On September 7, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin inaugurated Line 16 of the metro, also known as the Troitskaya Line. An initial 8·3 km section runs from Novatorskaya to Tyutchevskaya with intermediate stations at Universitet Druzhby Narodov and Generala Tyuleneva. Russian president Vladimir Putin joined the ceremony by video link.
Two days earlier, the Mayor had opened a 2·4 km southern extension of the Sokolnicheskaya Line 1 from Novomoskovskaya (known as Komunarka until July 3) to Potapovo. Alongside this section, a new depot is under construction at Stolbovo. This is due to open in 2025, servicing both lines 1 and 16.
Line 16 construction began in 2019, and when complete it will relieve pressure on adjacent south radial lines 1 and 6. The 9·5 km section now under construction runs northeast from Novatorskaya via interchanges with lines 6 and 9 to terminate at ZIL on Central Circle Line 14.
In the opposite direction Line 16 is being extended south for 7 km from Tyutchevskaya to an interchange with Line 1 at the renamed Novomoskovskaya. Together these will make the line 25 km long with 11 stations, with service headway due to be as little as 100 sec. Line 16 is projected to continue a further 14·5 km southeast from Novomoskovskaya to Troitsk with five intermediate stations.
Line 1’s extension continues along the centre of the Solntsevo-Butovo-Varshavskoye Shosse highway, with Potapovo station at grade and accessed by pedestrian bridges. The station is enclosed in a futuristic shell structure allowing it to be heated, and it is forecast to be used by up to 20 000 passengers per day.
