The Moscow Central Ring (MCC) is an abbreviation in use quite recently, the ring itself is even less in work with passengers. On the metro maps, the ring is marked with the 14th line, even though it looks a little different.
Metro or train
The Okruzhnaya Railway, the Small Ring of the Moscow Railway, the Moscow Ring Railway, the Moscow Central Ring - all these definitions in one form or another refer to the same object.
The first train at the Luzhniki station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website / Andrey Perechitsky
In the new name - MCC - the mention of the railway was removed, on the metro maps it is marked with line 14, the transfer with the metro is free (even in the option "metro - MCC - metro"), a separate page for the MCC has been created on the website of the metro ... So it can be all- Is the MCC a subway?
The MCC infrastructure itself (tracks, stations, etc.) belongs to Russian Railways. The ring is physically connected to other sections of the railways, the use of the ring for freight traffic is not canceled and is quite possible. The rolling stock, "Lastochki", has been running on other sections of Russian railways for several years now. At the MCC stations, you can meet workers in the gray uniform of Russian Railways, information boards and part of the navigation at the MCC stations themselves - according to the brand book and Russian Railways standards. Even the turnstiles are the same as at many suburban stations (albeit equipped with metropolitan validators). So, is the MCC an electric train?
Navigation in the transition between the platforms of the Khoroshevo station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website / Andrey Perechitsky
If we approach the issue formally, then the MCC is a real railway, however, in the mass consciousness, the use of the railway for movement within one city is still of little use, moreover, the MCC is integrated mainly with the metro, and the ring is precisely urban transport, and non-suburban, which includes green trains familiar to citizens. This is also why navigation and fares are designed in such a way that the passenger feels that he is on the 14th metro line, although in fact the MCC, of course, is not a metro.
Turnstiles at the Luzhniki station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website / Andrey Perechitsky
With regard to the MCC, it is appropriate to use the term "urban train" - a mode of transport in Russia is not very common.
Abroad, this type of transport is common and quite popular. For example, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the S-bahn operates, which occupies an intermediate position between urban public transport and classic commuter trains.
The MCC itself breaks the patterns of many definitions, and for many months there have been such debates on thematic forums - "What is the new ring anyway?".
The MCC, metro, monorail and surface transport are all elements of the city's unified transport system, so asking the question "is the MCC part of the metro?" not quite right. To the question "Does the MCC belong to the Moscow transport system?", it is certainly correct and correct to answer "Yes", as well as to a similar question regarding the subway or monorail.
The Lastochka train arrives at the Khoroshevo station of the Moscow Central Circle. Photo: website / Andrey Perechitsky
The main flow to the MCC is still expected to be interchange with the metro, there will be fewer "clean" independent trips around the ring. At the same time, such stations as Zorge (formerly Novopeschannaya), Krymskaya (formerly Sevastopolsky Prospekt), Streshnevo (formerly Volokolamskaya) created (in the case of Sorge, they will create) new transport hubs. Residents of nearby houses and those who work nearby will definitely appreciate the appearance of these stations. Following this, new routes of movement will appear.
Due to specifics, part of the MCC route passes through industrial zones. But is it so important, because a new transport corridor has appeared in the city. And not always in the window "Swallows" industrial zones will flicker. Novodevichy Convent, Moscow City, Losiny Ostrov, Moskva River - the landscapes are more than diverse.
View from the MCC train window. Photo: website / Andrey Perechitsky
From the point of view of formal definitions, the MCC is more of an electric train than a metro; in fact, it is a new full-fledged element of the transport system. How relevant it is is a question for each individual passenger. In any case, new connections that reduce travel time are always good, especially for a metropolis like Moscow.
Impressions of the first passengers
Andrey Perechitsky
MOSCOW, 10 September. /TASS/. Passenger traffic has opened today on the Moscow Central Circle (MCC, formerly MKZHD): 26 stations are available to citizens, from 11 of which you can switch to metro lines, from 5 to commuter train stops.
Muscovites explored with interest a new, ground branch, the correspondent found out. TASS, having driven a full circle on the MCC.
"The ring passes through 26 districts of Moscow, where about 2 million people live. 30% of them live within walking distance of the MCC stations. Surface metro will come to six districts for the first time, about 600 thousand Muscovites live there," said the Deputy Mayor of Moscow on transport issues Maxim Liksutov on the eve of the start of train traffic on the ring.
The swallows flew
At 14:00, the first train, the red and gray Lastochka, arrives at the Luzhniki platform. The next station - "Kutuzovo" - is announced by the director of the People's Museum of the Moscow Metro Konstantin Cherkassky. "The beginning of traffic on the Moscow District Railway took place on July 19, 1908 at the Serebryany Bor station. Initially, the movement was passenger traffic, but then it did not take root," Cherkassky's voice takes you to the past, when Moscow still fit inside that road, and therefore it called district and no other.
After more than a century, passengers returned to the Moscow District Railway, now the Moscow Central Ring. Today, a full circle on the MCC took 82 minutes, the average travel time between stations is 3 minutes, and the interval between trains is 5-10 minutes. The trains have a comfortable temperature, the information boards indicate the current time, the air temperature inside the cabin, and the name of the station. Stations and transfers are announced in Russian and English, you can charge your phone on the train or read a special issue of the newspaper "My Metro" dedicated to the MCC.
It seems that everyone is comfortable in the carriage: families with strollers and dogs, pensioners, young people, passengers with scooters and bicycles. An hour after the opening of traffic on the ring in the car, there is literally nowhere for an apple to fall. Passengers exchange impressions, ask each other about tickets, transfer times, study small cards that are handed out at the entrance to the stations.
"Look, we live on Novokhokhlovskaya, and I'm going to work on Leninsky Prospekt. I'm going through the Third Transport Ring, the road takes about an hour, or even an hour and a half. And if you leave the car and go here to Gagarin Square, it's minutes 20 will only take,” the husband says to his wife. The couple decided to ride around the ring with their three daughters and a small dog called Button.
transplant transplant strife
The transition from the Ploshchad Gagarina MCC station to the Leninsky Prospekt station is warm: you don’t need to go outside from the platform, the entrance to the metro is located right there. There are four more such transfers according to the "dry feet" principle: at the Cherkizovskaya, Kutuzovskaya, Vladykino and Mezhdunarodnaya metro stations. They will only take a couple of minutes. But at other stations, transferring to the metro or commuter trains takes more time.
From the station "Shelepikha" you can transfer to the railway station "Testovskaya" of the Belarusian direction, the transition takes 7 minutes, by the way, 9 minutes are indicated on the MCC map. True, the signs are not visible, you have to ask the MCC employees for directions. Fans of skyscrapers will like the transition - MIBC "Moscow-City" is located very close and is perfectly visible.
There are no turnstiles at Testovskaya, you can buy a train ticket at the box office, but it is located on the opposite platform from the entrance. The way back to "Shelepikha" took only 5 minutes. Most likely, the lack of signs will not confuse local residents. And there is.
Five months have passed since the opening of traffic along the Moscow Central Ring. Comfortable red electric trains have already ceased to be perceived as exotic, but have become a familiar mode of transport for many. But still, not all Muscovites and guests of the capital managed to ride around the entire ring. I had some free time, and I decided to make a full circle.
2. The height of the working day, there are not very many people, but you can’t call empty platforms either. , transition to the metro station "Avtozavodskaya". 
3. "Swallows" go often. 
4. Who ordered a taxi to Dubrovka? Today we will go by train. 
5. Basically, the route of the MCC passes through industrial areas. There are unexpectedly many hypermarkets and shopping centers along the way. 
6. A new Zilart quarter is being built somewhere around here. 
7. Promised hack:
Previously, it was possible to travel around the MCC with a free tour. I'm sorry I never got around to getting out. For those who could not take a ride with a tour, the management of the Moscow Metro promised to launch an audio guide before the end of 2016, unfortunately, I did not find it. I suspect that the audio guide was never made.
But, having searched for information on the net, I found a page with a good amateur audio tour. The tour consists of 30 fragments, carefully divided into stages. It is very convenient to go and listen to what is outside the window.
The audio tour is a bit outdated, since several previously closed stations have opened since the recording, but the information is still useful and interesting. Thanks to the authors!
Link to audio tour of the MCC: https://vk.com/audios-129204178, make yourself comfortable by the window and enjoy. That's exactly what I did. 
8. Shopping complex "City". 
9. Do not forget that the MCC is the brainchild of not only the metro, but also Russian Railways. Therefore, lovers of diesel locomotives and other trainspotting will find a lot of interesting things for themselves. If only the windows were cleaner. 
10. Some more railway equipment. 
11. Hotel "Izmailovo", the MCC station of the same name is located very close. 
12. Note to non-residents. 
13. Izmailovsky Kremlin. There is a good view of it. 
14. Somewhere in the area of the former Cherkizon. 
15. It is interesting to observe not only the city, but also the people. 
16. "Moose Island". 
17. Another shopping center. 
18. 
19. "Swallow" rides very quietly and smoothly, you can take a nap. At the same time, at times the electric train accelerates to almost 100 kilometers per hour. 
20. Snow is removed. 
21. We arrived at Vladykino. 
22. 
23. 
24. We pass by the Botanical Garden. From here you can see perfectly. 
25. We pass the Swallow's Nest. 
26. Platform "Sorge", named after the famous Soviet intelligence officer. 
27. CSKA Stadium with a building in the shape of the UEFA Cup. 
28. We are approaching Moscow City. Station "Business Center". 
29. This station was nicknamed the "Emerald City". An amazing and absurd architectural solution. 
30. We drive away from the City. 
31. Moscow is always somewhere. 
32. 
33. We are moving. We see the center of Moscow, the Crimean bridge and the monument to Peter the Great. 
34. Moscow city graffiti. 
A little more and I get off at the same station where I landed. Travel time is approximately 80 minutes.
This is such a spontaneous tour. There is an idea to ride again when it gets warmer, you will need to prepare and wash the window in the train.
By the way, the Museum of Moscow conducts official tours of the MCC.
Ticket price - 300 rubles, the schedule is on the museum website.
If you go on your own, then the tour will be very cheap, remember that the transfer from the metro to the MCC is free, and the audio tour is available on the Internet. A great option for walking and exploring the city, even for those who live in it. You can start and end the tour anywhere, without depending on anyone.
What is known about one of the largest transport projects in Russia
On September 10, on City Day, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin launched traffic on the Moscow Central Circle (MCC). More than 100 billion rubles have been invested in one of the most ambitious Russian transport projects, but much has not yet been completed. RBC presents a dossier on the MCC
High-speed electric train "Lastochka" on a test run on the MCC, September 2, 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
1. What was launched
On the Day of the City, for the first time, the Moscow Central Ring, a city railway with a length of 54 km, accepted passengers. In total, the MCC will have 31 stations (the exact name is a transport interchange hub, TPU). 17 of them will be connected to metro stations, including covered galleries from the MCC to the metro at 11 stations; in the mayor's office, such transitions are called "dry feet". There will be nine transfer points from the MCC to commuter trains (only the Kyiv commuter line will remain without integration with the ring). During rush hour, trains will appear at the stations every six minutes, during normal times - once every 11-15 minutes; The train will make a full circle in an hour and a half. Boards on the platforms will show the arrival time of the next train. At the stations, they promise to install ports for recharging gadgets.
After the launch of the Russian Railways project, the entire railway infrastructure will depart, and the city delegates the ownership of the platforms and transport hubs (TPU) to the State Unitary Enterprise Moscow Metro. In the first month of the MCC's operation, travel on it will be free, then it will be possible to enter the MCC station using cards that are the same for Moscow public transport.
Construction of a covered gallery from the MCC to the Vladykino metro station; in the city hall such transitions are called “dry feet”, July 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
2. Who invented
The construction of the Moscow circular railway connecting the industrial zones on the outskirts of Moscow began in 1902. It was launched in 1908, later than planned, because there were interruptions in funding due to the Russo-Japanese War. Mostly freight traffic was carried along the MOZHD. Passenger trains also went, but in 1934, with the development of tram traffic in the city and the start of construction of the metro, the ring was closed for people.
With the withdrawal of most factories outside of Moscow, this cargo line became unnecessary. At the end of 2007, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin signed an agreement to work on a project to convert the freight ring into a passenger line. It was planned that all work will be completed in 2010-2011. The deadline has been pushed back several times. In fact, construction began in 2012.
3. What will the trains be like?
The MCC will run about 30 trains. As "city trains" use "Swallows", developed by Siemens on the order of the Russian Railways for the transport of passengers during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. The current head of the Moscow Metro, Dmitry Pegov, led the project to launch Lastochka in Sochi when he worked for Russian Railways.
The train has five cars (expandable to ten). All “Lastochka” for the metropolitan ring will be equipped with Wi-Fi and air conditioning, there will be special places for bicycles, which, unlike the metro, can be transported unassembled along the MCC. Each Lastochka will have two toilets.
High-speed electric train "Lastochka" in the operational depot, November 2015 (Photo: Sergey Gusev)
4. How much did you spend
By the time the MCC was launched, more than 100 billion rubles had been spent on the project. Russian Railways became the main investor: the state-owned company invested 74 billion rubles in the construction of railway infrastructure. (they planned to spend 54 billion rubles, but the demolition of facilities and the transfer of communications cost unexpectedly expensive, a source familiar with the construction of the MCC told RBC).
The Moscow government spent 19 billion rubles. for the construction of 31 ring stations and their integration with metro stations. Another 10.6 billion rubles. spent on the reconstruction of overpasses (the Volokolamsk overpass became the most expensive, it cost 5 billion rubles - the authorities had to change the windows in the residential buildings closest to the overpass for noise protection).
The city will pay RZD 3.8 billion rubles a year. for transport services for passengers on the new ring. The parties have already signed a 15-year contract.
Luzhniki station, July 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
In the approved project, near 11 transfer hubs, commercial facilities were to be built at the expense of investors - shopping and business centers, hotels. The management company OAO MKZhD, owned by the Moscow government, must issue property rights to land plots for commercial construction on its own subsidiaries and then sell them at auction to investors.
By the time the traffic on the ring was launched, only one such section had gone under the hammer: for 1.14 billion rubles. Pioneer Group received a 100% stake in Botanichesky Sad LLC and the right to develop the territory near the Botanichesky Sad transport hub. The company, which is implementing the LIFE Botanical Garden residential project nearby, is going to build a shopping and office center and an apart-hotel there.
“All other sites for the construction of the transfer hub will be implemented during 2016-2017. We expect to earn at these auctions at least 14 billion rubles, a maximum of 19 billion rubles, depending on the situation. That is, we will return almost all the funds that the city invested in the construction of the technological part of the stations, ”says RBC’s interlocutor in the Moscow City Hall, adding that the construction of the transfer hub will give impetus to the development of the territories around the MCC by developers. According to the interlocutor of RBC, by the end of 2016 it is planned to put up for auction four or five objects, the rest - next year.
Construction of the Botanical Garden station, July 2016 (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
6. What will give a new ring
“By 2020, when all projects for integration with the metro and electric trains are completed, projects for shopping and office centers are implemented, we plan that passenger traffic will amount to 300 million people a year,” a source in the Moscow City Hall told RBC, adding that the same the number of passengers per year is transported by the operating Metro Circle Line. In the meantime, the new ring will carry about 75 million people a year, the City Hall calculated.
The launch of the MCC will unload the metro, especially in the center, and increase the accessibility of a number of areas where there have been no metro stations so far, the mayor's office is sure. The head of the Moscow Construction Complex, Marat Khusnullin, shared estimates that the busy Koltsevaya metro line would become 15% freer - people would not have to travel from the outskirts to the center to change trains at Koltsevaya. The MCC website provides calculations: the trip for the average metro passenger will be 20 minutes shorter.
Egor Muleev, a researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, emphasizes the ambiguity of such calculations: according to him, the benefits of launching the MCC are like bike lanes in Moscow: for some this will really make it easier to move around, but for many it will not change anything.
“The ring is inserted without full-fledged transfer nodes. I strongly doubt that even in the coming years it will be in demand by passengers to the extent that the authorities are counting on,” says Pavel Zyuzin, senior researcher at the Center for Research on Transport Problems in Megacities at the Higher School of Economics. - There are questions about transfers at many radii. They are located at a distance of 500-700 m from the MCC stations.”
Parking-and-ride parking will appear near four MCC stations this year (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)
However, according to the expert, the new ring will be very useful for residents of certain areas of Moscow. “On the Yaroslavl highway in the direction of Bogorodskoye and Lefortovo, it will ease the situation. It will unload some northwestern sectors, Koptevo and other areas,” the expert lists. “But as for the south, here the MCC is very close to the Metro Circle Line, and the difference between them is small.” Also, the launch of the MCC, in his opinion, will make it easier for residents of certain cities in the Moscow region, especially for passengers traveling from Mytishchi and Korolev.
What didn't get done
By the day of the official launch of the MCC, the builders did not have time to prepare seven stations for operation. Their list was published by TASS, citing a source in the Moscow government. The first trains of the ring will pass Koptevo, Panfilovskaya, Zorge, Khoroshevo, Izmailovo, Andronovka and Dubrovka without stopping. This information was confirmed to RBC by its own source in the project management company OAO MKZhD.
A month and a half before the City Day, a high-ranking RBC source in the Moscow government claimed that “at the launch, the entire infrastructure, all platforms at 31 stopping points, will be ready.” “This is a must-have, and there is no doubt that it will be ready for launch,” RBC’s interlocutor assured. However, on September 2, Hamid Bulatov, First Deputy Head of the Department of Transport, told reporters that the opening of seven MCC stations on the day of the start of traffic along the ring "is in question", promising that a full list of stations that will start functioning immediately will be announced a week before the grand opening.
But the official list of finished stations was not announced on Thursday, when less than two days remained before the ceremony. RBC's source at Moscow Railways OJSC said that the final decision on the number of stations that will be available to passengers on the first day of the MCC will be made only a day before the opening of the ring. At the same time, the interlocutor said that seven of the 31 stations “will definitely not open”, and there are “doubts” about two more. “We didn’t have time, all the necessary equipment has not yet been installed everywhere. Maybe we will open 24 stations at once, and then we will close two for a short while for finishing work, ”a RBC source at the Moscow Ring Railway told RBC, adding that by the end of the year, “all MCC stations will definitely be available to passengers.”
Most of the covered galleries are not ready for transition to platforms for metro trains and three transfer points from the MCC to the metro. But these facilities, unlike the stations themselves, were originally planned to be built after the launch of traffic along the MCC.
Which trains will not run
Initially, other trains with a bird's name - Ivolgi - were supposed to run along the MCC. Tender for the organization of the movement of electric trains along the Moscow Ring Road for 15 years for 57 billion rubles. won the company TsPPK - an operator of commuter trains, co-owned by the vice-mayor of Moscow, head of the transport department Maxim Liksutov. In an interview with RBC, Liksutov stated that the TsPPK won the tender due to a more favorable offer for Moscow, and assured that after switching to the civil service, he himself did not follow the business of his former companies. “Three companies took part in the competition, including Russian Railways themselves, which offered less favorable conditions for the city and therefore lost,” Liksutov explained to RBC in February 2015.
The TsPPK company planned to conclude a contract with Transmashholding (the company's co-owners are Iskander Makhmudov and Andrei Bokarev, until 2011 Liksutov was also a co-owner of this company) for the production of Ivolga electric trains. The trains were positioned as competitors of the Lastochka, while being completely made of domestic materials and cheaper by 40-50%.
But Ivolga was unable to pass the certification, and without it, it was impossible to put trains of this model on the MCC. A representative of JSC VNIIZhT, which is testing the Ivolga prototype, refused to tell RBC why the train was not certified.
In January 2016, a few months after Oleg Belozerov replaced Vladimir Yakunin as head of Russian Railways, it turned out that the rights to serve passengers and the $56 billion contract would also go to Russian Railways. As a source in Russian Railways explains, Oleg Belozerov considered the situation unfair for Russian Railways: “It turned out that the state built the entire infrastructure with its own money, on which Liksutov’s business partners would earn money, who would supply trains and receive money for transportation. In mid-January 2016, the CPPK unexpectedly decided to assign the contract for transport services to Russian Railways.”
City electric train EG2Tv "Ivolga" (Photo: Sergey Fadeichev/TASS)
Mikhail Khromov, director general of the CPPK, said that Russian Railways and the city authorities were the initiators of the assignment of the agreement - "they were convincing enough for us to agree." Officially, Russian Railways also admits that they received the contract after "multilateral consultations with the participation of the Moscow government." Now Russian Railways will carry MCC passengers on their Lastochkas.
RBC's source in the Moscow government, however, claims that the Ivolga can still return to the project. “If Ivolga passes certification, then Russian Railways will be able to replace Lastochka with it,” says RBC’s interlocutor. - In our contract it is not fixed that all 15 years there will be only "Swallow". In my opinion, this is a question of the efficiency of the rolling stock, the cost of maintenance, etc.”
TsPPK eventually got only a contract for 2.1 billion rubles. to organize the sale of tickets and the work of controllers for a period of four years. However, the ticketing system of the new ring will also be fully integrated into the urban transport system, rather than the suburban transport, which is the focus of the CPPK.
SaveReconstruction of the Moscow Central Ring (MCC)- a unique project not only for Moscow, but for Russia as a whole. The MCC has become a full-fledged light metro, integrated into the metro system.
The MCC scheme is inscribed in the metropolitan metro map. It indicates the approximate time of ground transfers from the MCC.
In addition, the diagram shows possible transfers from the MCC to surface urban transport, the interval of traffic, etc.
The movement along the ring was launched on September 10, 2016. This gave a new impetus to the development of the abandoned industrial areas of the capital, and also made it possible to cut the Gordian knot of transport problems hanging over the capital.
The Moscow Central Ring is the road to the future. Thanks to the ring, trips around the capital take an average of 20 minutes. Another unique feature of the MCC was that it connected the garden and park ensembles of the capital: the Mikhalkovo estate, the Botanical Garden, the territories of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements and the Losiny Ostrov National Park, the Vorobyovy Gory nature reserve and others.
The MCC is a new life for the industrial zones of Moscow
Since 1908, the Moscow Central Ring served the industrial zones and mainly performed the function of transporting goods. However, over time, many industrial areas around this ring fell into disrepair, some industries closed. A number of industrial zones were used as warehouses at best. Now these territories are being actively reorganized, housing with social facilities, sports complexes, etc. are being built here. And developing territories require convenient transport links.
The launch of passenger traffic along the MCC solves the issue of transport support for industrial zones. In addition, the ring connected commuter trains and electric trains that go to the city center with MCC stations. Passengers can, before reaching the city center, transfer to the MCC trains and move on almost throughout the entire territory of Moscow.
All MCC stations were built in the form of transport interchange hubs (TPU). They will include offices, shopping malls, shops and cafes. This concept meets both the interests of investors, for whom it is important to recoup investments in construction, and the needs of citizens.
