ANNA MERKULOVA | INTERVIEW
adding 27 new stations to the existing ones. While that was happening, five new radial lines were begun, with 60 new stations on them. Twenty of them have already been completed. “An important goal of the programme is to give
increased flexibility in navigating the city. To achieve that goal, it was necessary to create additional lateral connections between the radial lines, with convenient interchange hubs. Such a line – the Moscow Central Circle, or MCC (Line 14) – already existed, but in Soviet times it was used for freight transport. In 2016 it was converted to passenger use, and from the moment it became operational, passenger traffic on it has been higher than even the most optimistic estimates. Currently, comfortable ‘Lastochka’ (in English, ‘Swallow’, as in the bird) trains operate on a scheduled basis, and stations are integrated into the suburban railroad system, the Moscow Central Diameters. “Most of the interchange hubs between the MCC and
the diameters were built by the Mosproekt-3 team. They have become additional points of growth for the city, zones of balanced homes and jobs. “A second circle project is now under construction.
This is the Big Circle Line, (BCL). It will have no fewer than 31 stations, and it is this that has become the real symbol of the Moscow metro planning programme. Once the circle is complete, it will be the longest in the world, at 70km, surpassing that of the Beijing underground. And it is on the BCL that Guinness World Records experts have documented 23 tunnel-boring machines working simultaneously to build the line – though in total we have more than 30 TBMs, including four 10m-diameter ones, in use on the tunnels. “As of today, the tunnels of the BCL are 97%
complete. Most of the work was done by 6m-diameter TBMs, but around 15km of tunnels were bored using the 10-meter machines, to allow double rail tracks. With the launching of yet another section of the BCL this year, more than 17km of the new line will become available for passengers. The circle is expected to be completed in 2023. “All this of course has required an immense
concentration of technological resources and expertise. Specialists from Europeans and Asian countries have taken part in some stages of implementing the programme. In particular, our team cooperated with Spanish project designers; it was they who suggested the idea of double-track tunnel boring using TBMs. We also worked on a section of the BCL with Chinese construction specialists who brought to Moscow six tunnelling shields. “Although Russian specialists have vast experience
in the construction of deep metro networks in both rock and unstable soil, we increased the pace of the programme by placing most of the new sections close to the surface rather than deep down. For the same reason, to increase speed of construction, we are using standard designs for the stations. “Some sections required the classic approach used for boring tunnels through mountains. The geology
of the Moscow region sometimes provides difficult working conditions: we often encounter water sands which can liquefy under pressure, fissured rocky soil, and high- and low-plasticity clay. We also have to deal with overburden pressure and hydrostatic pressure. Among the technologies that our engineers used were dry- and brine-freezing, soil cement stabilisation, drill-and-blast tunnelling with sprayed- concrete lining (SCL), as well as boring with cutter- loader machines. “New Moscow is a new residential and industrial
urban district and there we have unique experience of building an overland section of the metro. The Mosproekt-3 team implemented the project within a record-setting period of two years. New Moscow is similar to the Grand Paris regeneration concept. Although the Russian project was launched later than the French one, it has achieved first results much earlier. Its overland rail section runs within an integrated framework beside a highway and has a fancy futuristic design of cover structures which protect it from precipitation and ensures the safety of the lane.” (Moscow has seen record-breaking snowfalls in recent winters). “Such solutions have never been used before
Top:
Moscow’s complex metro and rail map with new stations from 2011 to 2027. SOURCE: MOSCOW METRO
Above:
The almost completed Michurinskiy Prospekt station on the southwest section of the Big Circle Line
Opposite top: Anna Merkulova
Opposite bottom: More than 30 TBMs were used to mine the tunnels of the Big Circle Line
November 2021
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