A geographically accurate map of the route of the Koltsevaya line

The Koltsevaya Line (Russian: Кольцева́я ли́ния), is the ring line of the Moscow Metro. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Moscow Metro (Московское метро which spans almost the entire Russian capital, is the world's second most heavily used Rapid-transit The line was built in 1950-54 encircling the central Moscow, and became crucial to the transfer patterns of passengers.

Of all the lines, the ring remains the most famous, mostly due to its beautiful stations built at the height of Stalinist Architecture. Stalinist architecture (also referred to as Stalin 's Empire style Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism Each of the twelve stand out in their own right, but some, like Komsomolskaya, Novoslobodskaya and Kievskaya represent the whole system.

History

In the initial plans of the Metro's development there was no provision for the ring line. Instead it was planned for complete "diameters" to cross the city centre and with transfer stations at their intersections. However after the opening of the second stage in 1938 it was clear from the excessive loads on those junctions, that this plan would be insufficient to deal with the growing number of passengers as the system expanded. According to a rumour, Joseph Stalin himself suggested the ring when he placed a coffee cup on the original development map (with no ring) and then lifting it and leaving a circular stain around the centre of the city. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party It is believed that the brown colour of the Koltsevaya Line is attributed to this reason.

In principle the alignment of the ring was also debated, whether to use the Sadovoye Koltso avenue that encircles the centre or a more wider circumference. The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring (Садо́вое кольцо́ кольцо́ "Б" is a Circular Avenue around In the end it was decided to partially align the southern path along the Sadovoye Koltso, and let the northern part deviate to connect most of Moscow's rail terminals. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of This solved an important logistical problem, because, due to the layout of Russia's railroads, it would be impossible to travel from a region on one side of Moscow to another without having to make a manual transfer from one terminal to another.

Construction began shortly after the end of the war, and the first stage was opened in 1950 from Park Kultury to Kurskaya, in 1952 a second segment completed the norhern deviation up to Belorusskaya and in 1954 the circumference linked up. Park Kultury (Парк культу́ры is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. KurkayaJPG|thumb|left|200px|The transfer "ardour"]]Kurskaya2 Belorusskaya (Белору́сская is a station on the Moscow Metro 's Koltsevaya Line.

The construction of the ring allowed for massive changes in the passenger flow patterns around Moscow, and allowed a systematic development platform for many future lines. A total of seven radial lines began at the ring, four of which later linked up in the centre to become diameters.

Timeline

	Koltsevaya Line
								Park Kultury
								Oktyabrskaya
								Dobryninskaya
								Paveletskaya
								Taganskaya
								Kurskaya
								Komsomolskaya
								Prospekt Mira
								Novoslobodskaya
								Belorusskaya
								Krasnopresnenskaya
								Kiyevskaya
	edit

Name changes

Transfers

It should be noted that the Koltsevaya line, unlike other lines of Moscow Metro, does not service any stations that belong to that line exclusively; rather, all its stations are transfer stations, linking to other lines, as shown below:

Rolling stock

The line is serviced by the Krasnaya Presnya depot (No. Park Kultury (Парк культу́ры is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Oktyabrskaya (Октябрьская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Dobryninskaya2jpg|thumb|left|200px|Close-up of bas-relief of "Peoples of the USSR"]]DobrStalin Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Prospekt Mira (Проспект Мира is a station of the Moscow Metro 's Koltsevaya Line. Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. The Sokolnicheskaya Line (Соко́льническая ли́ния formerly Kirovsko-Frunzenskaya (Кировско-Фрунзенская is the first line of Park Kultury (Парк культу́ры is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. The Komsomolskaya (Комсомо́льская station of the Moscow Metro is the most famous of all those on the Koltsevaya Line and of the whole system The Zamoskvoretskaya Line (Замоскворе́цкая ли́ния formerly Gorkovsko-Zamoskvoretskaya (ru Го́рьковско-Замоскворе́цкая is a Paveletskaya (Павелецкая is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Belorusskaya (Белору́сская is a station on the Moscow Metro 's Koltsevaya Line. The Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line (Арба́тско-Покро́вская ли́ния is a line of the Moscow Metro. KurkayaJPG|thumb|left|200px|The transfer "ardour"]]Kurskaya2 Kiyevskaya (Киевская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Filyovskaya Line (Филёвская линия a line of the Moscow Metro. Kiyevskaya (Киевская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line (Калу́жско-Ри́жская ли́ния is a line of the Moscow Metro, that originally existed as two separate radial lines Rizhskaya Oktyabrskaya (Октябрьская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Prospekt Mira (Проспект Мира is a station of the Moscow Metro 's Koltsevaya Line. The Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya (Таганско-Краснопресненская линия (formerly Zhdanovsko-Krasnopresnenskaya Ждановско-Краснопресненская Taganskaya (Таганская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Krasnopresnenskaya (Краснопресненская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. The Kalininskaya Line is a line of the Moscow Metro. Today it is the only line to be named after a figurehead instead of the area that it serves Taganskaya (Таганская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line (Серпуховско-Тимиря́зевская ли́ния is a line of the Moscow Metro. Dobryninskaya2jpg|thumb|left|200px|Close-up of bas-relief of "Peoples of the USSR"]]DobrStalin Novoslobodskaya (Новослободская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Lyublinskaya Line (Люблинская линия is the newest line of the Moscow Metro. KurkayaJPG|thumb|left|200px|The transfer "ardour"]]Kurskaya2 4) and was the first one to adopt the 81-717/714 trains in 1978. Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) Presently 34 six-carriage trains are assigned to it.

Recent developments and future plans

Today the line is one of busiest, and the ever-rising passenger flows during rush hours are noticeably felt as most of the stations are over half a century old. In 1998 a second entrance was opened at Belorusskaya and there are plans to equip Park Kultury and Komsomolskaya with similar ones. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar)

Many restoration works are carried out to improve the old line, recently Novoslobodskaya had major restoration work carried out, including replacement of lighting and retouching on the stained glass masterpieces by Pavel Korin. Novoslobodskaya (Новослободская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Pavel Dmitriyevich Korin (Павел Дмитриевич Корин - November 22 1967) was a Russian painter and art restorer. The vestibule of Taganskaya was closed in 2005 to replace old escalators and upgrade with new turnciles and also cosmetically renovate it, this was re-opened in 2006, and shotly afterwards Dobryninskaya followed suit for a similar upgrade. Taganskaya (Таганская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Dobryninskaya2jpg|thumb|left|200px|Close-up of bas-relief of "Peoples of the USSR"]]DobrStalin

Despite the fact that when opened, there were six stations left for future transfer provisions, this turned out to be too small for the growing system. Two stations are planned to be opened on the Koltsevaya Line to provide transfer points to two future radii. The first one, Suvorovskaya (also referred to as Ploshchad Suvorova) located between Prospekt Mira and Novoslobodskaya will provide a transfer to Dostoyevskaya of the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line. Prospekt Mira (Проспект Мира is a station of the Moscow Metro 's Koltsevaya Line. Lyublinskaya Line (Люблинская линия is the newest line of the Moscow Metro. However, though construction has begun on Suvorovskaya it is currently frozen for financial reasons and the station will not be complete in time for the opening of the Dmitrovsky radius in 2008/2009.

The other planned station, presently dubbed Rossiyskaya, is to be built between Krasnopresnenskaya and Kievskaya to become a transfer point to the Kalininskaya Line when eventually begins its westward extension. Krasnopresnenskaya (Краснопресненская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Kiyevskaya (Киевская is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. The Kalininskaya Line is a line of the Moscow Metro. Today it is the only line to be named after a figurehead instead of the area that it serves However construction is not expected to begin until 2015 at least and this means an opening of 2020 and not earlier.