September 10 marks the 5th anniversary of the opening of the Moscow Central Circle (MCC). During this time, many services have appeared that residents of the capital have gotten used to: yellow markings on platforms, vending machines, sockets for charging phones in Lastochki and others. The intervals of movement on the “ring” continue to be reduced, and the transitions to the metro and diameters are made even more convenient. The correspondent of Izvestia found out what the MCC lives on now and what the passengers say about it.
Coffee and navigation
– Daughter, I seem to have gone out in the wrong place.
An elderly man looks around in confusion at the Nizhegorodskaya MCC station.
– Where do you want?
– Lokomotiv. The signs said it was here.
I search for the pointer with my eyes and find it to my right. He has a woman standing and intently running her finger along the lines. I see the “Locomotive” point from afar and turn to the man:
– You got off right, take this train.
The train was already approaching, passengers began to slowly approach the markings on the platform: they show where the train doors will stop.
Yellow markings are one of the simple, but extremely necessary solutions at the MCC. They appeared at the request of passengers and were first tested on the “ring”. From them it is clear which carriage you can enter with a bicycle and where there are places for wheelchairs. Later, such lines on the platform began to be made in the metro.
The navigation system at the MCC has been gradually improved. Conventional paper stickers and signage have been phased out in favor of glow-in-the-dark lightboxes. They also suggest what to do in unforeseen situations: for example, if a passenger has forgotten things in the carriage or feels unwell.
I get on the same train. The car is quiet, three people are talking almost silently on the phone. I note to myself that in the subway they would have to shout. Izmailovsky Park and Losiny Ostrov sweep past the window. Here, in the Bogorodsky district, lives Maria Klim, a regular passenger of the MCC. She most often uses the “ring” to get to work – from Rokossovsky Boulevard to Streshnevo or Baltic.
Photo: Izvestia / Pavel Volkov
– The time to work is the same as on the subway, even a little longer, but without transfers and very comfortable – daylight, landscapes. But, say, in Izmailovo, which is considered our neighboring district, it used to be very difficult to travel on two trams, making a detour, for a long, long time. Now it’s easy and quick to get to Izmailovo. Or to the Botanical Garden for a walk – and even earlier, take the metro through the center! And so it became for us with many areas of the Eastern and Northern districts.
Maria likes “Swallow”: “an incredibly successful and cool train.” For the MCC, they chose modern trains for 1200 passengers with climate control systems, toilets, sockets and Wi-Fi. I agreed with her. Klim also appreciated the ubiquitous presence of elevators and escalators on the “ring” – “they take care of their knees.”
– I also like places for bicycles in carriages and elevators, I use them sometimes. I almost always use armchair tables, and hooks too – I hang clothes or a bag on them. I almost never use charging. I bought food from the vending machine once. It seems to me that it would be nice if there were cafes in the station buildings. On Streshnevo it was like that, I drank coffee there a couple of times with a cake, and in a covid year it was closed, it’s a pity.
On Streshnevo I went to the platform for coffee. Double vending machine: coffee on one side, snacks on the other. A middle-aged woman pokes a hundred ruble at him.
– I don’t understand why he doesn’t take it.
“They forgot to press this button,” I suggest.
– Oh, exactly! – laughs.
– Do you often buy coffee here?
– Yes, almost every day, – hastily picks up a glass and runs to the arriving train.
Photo: Izvestia / Pavel Volkov
I study the assortment of coffee: there is even my favorite raff, which I have not seen in vending machines before. The vending machine contains light snacks: popcorn, fruit bars, seeds, sandwiches, as well as juices and fruit drinks.
Vending machines began to appear at the MCC in 2018. Later, pharmacy displays were added with non-medicinal products – for example, masks and antiseptics. I saw this at the Luzhniki station. Moscow Central Diameters (MCD) are just trying on vending.
Intervals and transitions
The history of the MCC began long before its opening on September 10, 2016. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Moscow retained the status of a major commercial and industrial center, but the transport infrastructure was insufficient – the Moscow junction had to be unloaded as soon as possible.
The construction of the MCC began in 1903 and was completed five years later. Freight and passenger trains began to run along it, but there were few passengers, therefore, cargo was mainly transported by rail. Since 1934, ordinary residents of the capital have not traveled along the “ring”, but industrial enterprises also ceased to provide its load over time. In addition, an almost unused road ended up in the city center.
Ideas for the resumption of passenger traffic on the MCC were proposed in the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s. Another project for the reconstruction of the “ring” with transfers to the metro appeared in 2001. The initial agreement on the implementation of the project was signed by the Moscow government and the management of Russian Railways in 2008, and the MCC was launched in 2016. 26 stations were opened at once, then five more were added.
I drive to the “Business Center” and go out into a futuristic emerald light – the platform is covered with a translucent green vault. Here you can go to the Mezhdunarodnaya metro station without going outside. There are now nine such warm crossings on the MCC on the principle of “dry feet”. They can also be used for diameters – for example, at Streshnevo and Novokhokhlovskaya.
Photo: Izvestia / Pavel Volkov
The rest of the passages are open – special navigation is placed there so that passengers do not get confused on the way from one station to another. The design of the signs is the same as in the subway.
Repairs are underway at the Kutuzovskaya station. The southern lobby is closed – an escalator is being built there. It was possible to climb and descend only by stairs, which is inconvenient for passengers with limited mobility. The north lobby has both an escalator and an elevator. For people in wheelchairs, there are lifting platforms, ramps and wide-aisle turnstiles. We also took care of the visually impaired townspeople at the MCC – tactile tiles help them navigate.
Two young people on the platform are talking quietly while waiting for the train:
– Mmm, but what is this? Like a subway or not a subway?
– Well, like, yes.
– How often do they go? Same way?
– Should be the same.
One of them takes out a cigarette and, with a habitual gesture, brings a lighter to it.
“Young man, we don’t smoke here,” a station worker in a bright light green vest, passing by, says good-naturedly. He stops and puts the cigarette back.
– Like a subway, – his interlocutor grins. – There is a train.
The swallow arrived quickly – rush hour is approaching, and the intervals of movement are gradually decreasing. When the MCC was just launched, trains did not run often: once every 6 minutes at peak intervals and once every 11-15 minutes – the rest of the time. In the second year, the intervals were reduced to 5-10 minutes, in 2019 – to 4-8 minutes. These are not marginal indicators, they continue to be improved. MCC opening hours coincide with the metro schedule, which makes travel planning easier.
A car of silence stopped in front of me. Here, passengers are asked not to speak too loudly and to turn down the music on the headphones. There are sockets in front of the front seats. The girl who entered the “Kutuzovskaya” immediately rushed there, connected the phone and began hastily typing something on the screen.
Photo: Izvestia / Pavel Volkov
Vladimir Draskov often traveled along this part of the MCC – he began to use the “ring” from the first day of launch for daily commuting to work from “Streshnevo” to “Nizhegorodskaya”. After retirement, he began to travel around the “circle” to his mother in Vladykino, and on weekends – to the Botanical Garden with his grandson and to the Museum of the Moscow Metro at the “Business Center”.
“I used to use the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line, which was completely clogged,” he notes. – I traveled from Tushino to all other districts of Moscow by metro – it was long and crowded. Now time is spent less by 13.8%.
I ask where such an exact figure comes from. It turned out that Vladimir has a technical education – by specialty he is a mechanical engineer of nuclear power.
– Moscow transport is a part of my life, the life of a passenger. During my life I spent about 3 thousand days in Moscow transport. That is about 8 years of work. By the way, he took part in testing the payment system at the MCC. But this is already volunteering. I use the “ring” just as a transport – the main thing is to get there quickly and preferably sitting down. The most necessary service at the MCC, in my opinion, is convenient transfers to the metro and ground, and we need more and shorter ones.
Tests and new services
Many services on the MCC are really simple and do not require serious financial costs or technical innovations. The “Freer car” markings on the platform are enough to redistribute passenger flows, a light board informs about the arrival of a train with an accuracy of a minute, and you can wait for it on dozens of comfortable benches. Heated benches have appeared at the Ploschad Gagarina and Baltiyskaya stations. They are always warm and dry, and now this is just what you need.
For many residents of the capital, the MCC made it possible not to waste time traveling to the nearest metro. The stations were opened where there is no subway within walking distance – Metrogorodok, Beskudnikovsky and Nizhegorodsky districts, Koptevo and Horoshevo-Mnevniki. Cherkizovo even has a new suburban railway station – Vostochny – the most distant from the center.
Innovations are often tested on the “ring”, which are then introduced in the metro and on diameters – for example, here for the first time it was possible to use contactless payments within the Alipay payment system. In addition, a test double-decker train Stadler was launched at the MCC in August. It will run until September 8 inclusive, and then, if the passenger reviews are good, experts will think whether such a train is needed to the MCC or not. The launch of an unmanned train is also being discussed.
Photo: Izvestia / Pavel Volkov
My trip ends in the same place where it began – at Nizhegorodskaya, a few minutes from home. There are few parks in this area, so with the advent of the MCC within walking distance, I began to travel to Izmailovo more often – now this journey takes 10 minutes instead of 40. Now the Moscow Ring Railway (MKRD) can hardly be called a “rusty ring” – in the entire street infrastructure of the capital of the MCC seems to be one of the most modern and convenient means of transport.