Zamoskvoretskaya Line

The Zamoskvoretskaya line (, ), formerly Gorkovsko–Zamoskvoretskaya () (Line 2; Green Line), is a line of the Moscow Metro in the Moscow Oblast of Russia. Opened in 1938, chronologically it became the third line in the metro system despite being labeled second. 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. Many of the line's stations are renowned for their grand interiors and intricate architectural features and have been classified as objects of cultural heritage.

History

The first stage of the line followed Moscow's busiest transport artery the Leningradsky Prospekt or as it moves into the centre the Tverskaya Street (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 continued uninterrupted during the World War II, opened in 1943 and followed the Red Square south under the Moskva River into the dense district of Zamoskvorechye (hence the current name) and then onto the Paveletsky Rail Terminal 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 and the Moscow Canal into the Northern River Port in 1964. In 1969, the line was extended south towards Nagatino industrial district and the Kolomenskoye park, ultimately reaching Chertanovo Severnoye. In 1979, Tverskaya station was opened on the central segment of Zamoskvoretskaya line, linking it to Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line and later Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya line via transfers to Pushkinskaya and Chekhovskaya stations, respectively.

In 1984, a third southeastern extension connected Kashirskaya station with Tsaritsyno park and into the Orekhovo-Borisovo housing massifs, while the previously built branch towards Chertanovo became a separate Kakhovskaya line. 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. Since the extension of 1984, the line has mostly remained intact throughout the years besides the construction of Alma-Atinskaya and Tekhnopark stations in the south in 2012–2014 as well as the construction of Khovrino and Belomorskaya stations in the north in 2017–2018.

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 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, colour-coding was introduced to distinguish between the three lines of the rapidly-growing Moscow Metro. The first line, Sokolnicheskaya, was colored red, for mostly political reasons. Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line, which was the second chronologically, was coloured blue, whilst the third one, Zamoskvoretskaya was given green. However, the significance of the Zamoskvoretskaya line was deemed greater, and it was thus awarded the lable of being "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 chose to deliberately reverse the trend.

From November 2022 to May 2023, the section of the Zamoskvoretskaya line between Avtozavodskaya and Orekhovo has been closed for the reconstruction of the tunnel.

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:

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 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 2015.

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 town of Khimki.

References

External links

Zamoskvoretskaya Line photos & info on the Robert Schwandl's UrbanRail siteZamoskvoretskaya Line gallery on the Urban Electric Transit

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Moscow Metro lines
Railway lines opened in 1938