Travel time on the Moscow Railway. I took a ride along the MCC: impressions

Reconstruction of the Moscow Central Circle (MCC)- a unique project not only for Moscow, but also for Russia as a whole. The MCC has become a full-fledged light metro, integrated into the metro system.

The MCC map is included in the capital's metro map. It shows the approximate time of ground transfers from the MCC.

In addition, the diagram indicates possible transfers from the MCC to ground urban transport, traffic intervals, etc.

Traffic around the ring was launched on September 10, 2016. This gave a new impetus to the development of 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 Circle 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 capital’s garden and park ensembles: the Mikhalkovo estate, the Botanical Garden, the territories of VDNKh and the Elk Island National Park, the Vorobyovy Gory nature reserve and others.

MCC is a new life for industrial zones of Moscow

Since 1908, the Moscow Central Circle served industrial zones and mainly performed the function of transporting goods. However, over time, many industrial areas around this ring fell into disrepair, and some industries closed. A number of industrial zones were, at best, used for warehouses. Now these territories are being actively reorganized, housing with social facilities, sports complexes, etc. are being built here. And developing territories require convenient transport connections.

The launch of passenger traffic along the MCC resolves the issue of transport support for industrial zones. In addition, the ring connected suburban trains and electric trains that go to the city center with MCC stations. Passengers can, before reaching the city center, transfer to MCC trains and move further throughout almost the entire territory of Moscow.

All MCC stations were built as transport 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.

You have probably already noticed the new scheme that appeared in the Moscow metro on December 21, 2015. The diagram now has a new ring with an abbreviation that is not quite usual for the metro. MKZD - Moscow Ring Railway - another ring in Moscow, which is designed to relieve the ever-growing passenger traffic of the capital.

Why is the railway line diagram present on the metro diagram?

This is explained simply. The Moscow Ring Railway, scheduled to be launched in the fall of 2016, will form a single transport hub with the Moscow Metro. Another type of ground transport will appear in Moscow - city ​​train, closely linked to the metro infrastructure and existing railway stations. This type of public transport is widely used in large cities around the world.

Of the 31 MKR stations, at 17 it will be possible to transfer to the metro, practically without going outside, since the passages connecting the railway stations and metro stations will be covered and form a single transport terminal - Transport Interchange Hubs (TPU). At 10 stations there will be transfers to other railway stations.

The fare will be the same as on the metro. You won't have to pay anything extra when transferring.

Trains of a new type from 5 to 10 cars with a convenient vestibuleless design will run on the Moscow Ring Railway. The estimated capacity will be at least 1,250 people. The head cars will be equipped with seats for people with disabilities and a system for boarding and disembarking people in wheelchairs.

The trains will also have WI-FI with free Internet, tinted windows, information boards in different languages, and a climate control system. The head car will have a toilet for passengers and the locomotive crew.

Parking lots will be created at the stations for motorists transferring to electric trains.

Well, in conclusion the best part - planned traffic interval is 6 minutes!

January 2016

The Moscow Central Circle MCC will be the official name of the new transport system opening today. Adjustments have been made to train intervals - 15 minutes, and during peak hours - 6 minutes. Of the 31 stations, 26 are opening today - Vladykino, Botanical Garden, Rostokino, Belokamennaya, Rokossovsky Boulevard, Lokomotiv, Izmailovo, Shosse Entuziastov, Andronovka, Nizhegorodskaya, Novokhokhlovskaya, Ugreshskaya, Avtozavodskaya, ZIL, Verkhniye Kotly, Krymskaya, Gagarin Square, Luzhniki, Kutuzovskaya, Business center, Shelepikha, Khoroshevo, Streshnevo, Baltiyskaya, Likhobory, Okruzhnaya. The remaining 5 - Dubrovka, Zorge, Sokolinaya Gora, Koptevo and Panfilovskaya - will open at the end of the year.

* On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_pashalena_/, where we inspire travel with photos and stories.
* On Telegram - https://t.me/iz_drugogo_testa, where we write about how people live in different cities and countries.
See you;)

While we were driving around the Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Iran, a miracle happened in Moscow - traffic and all stations of the Moscow Central Circle (MCC) opened. Yesterday we drove a full circle on a new type of transport and were shocked to the core. Below the cut, read why the MCC is a real miracle.

We decided to start the inspection of the new type of transport from the station closest to us, Baltiyskaya, which can be reached by walking down the street from the Voikovskaya metro station.

We left the metro, followed the signs and crossed the road and got a little lost.

We look back, are we going exactly where we need to go? In Moscow, as a rule, there are pronounced flows of people moving to the stations, but here, it seems, people are rushing to go shopping at Metropolis :) How do you like the New Year tree at the shopping center?

It’s good that Pasha knows where the railway runs. We go straight without signs. By the way, it turns out later that the main path lies through the shopping center.

We reached a pedestrian bridge across the road. To get to the bridge, you need to enter the shopping center through one of the entrances, where a sign greets us.

This is not an exit from the shopping center, it is the most popular entrance to the bridge leading to the MCC station. There is another one, but it is located inconspicuously and almost no one walks through it. We don’t know how we managed to lobby for this, but the traffic flow of the shopping center should now increase significantly.

It's nice to walk along a new clean passage.

We go through the turnstiles to the station, holding the Troika card that we used in the metro to the reader. Our trip counts as a transfer, and the trip to the MCC will be free.

The Moscow railway ring has existed since the 19th century, and until the 30s of the 20th century it was used not only for freight, but also for passenger transportation. But then the metro appeared, and the project was abandoned. In those years, the word “metro” was still masculine.

Look at the photo, a girl with bare legs at minus 10. Where are the parents looking? Previously, they only took off their hats when leaving the house, but now they also roll up their pants.

While Pasha was looking at the diagram in the center of the station, a woman approached and tried to understand how far one of the MCC stations in the south was from the metro station.

The long-awaited Swallow is a Siemens train, created by the Germans at the request of Russian Railways and adapted to the requirements of our roads. Russians have been riding Lastochka for a long time in Sochi, Nizhny Novgorod and, since last year, in Tver.

According to our observations, quite a lot of people use the MCC even in the middle of a weekday.

It’s great that we managed to purchase such modern trains for urban public transport. The train is warm, light, Wi-Fi works, it’s clean and comfortable to sit in, and there’s even a toilet in the first and last cars. Well, what a miracle!

Lastochka is a class of urban transport comfort never seen before in Russia. The carriage has excellent sound insulation, which adds a “luxury” feel. The train doesn't move, it flies!

We drive mainly through industrial zones.

And this station is named after the street of the same name in the west of Moscow.

The display indicates not only the time and temperature, but also the speed of movement. In some sections, the Swallow accelerates to 100 km/h. We choose the MCC, and you stand there :)

There is even a shelf like this. What would it be used for? :)

We pass Moscow City and the Moscow River. Correct endings? :)

The design of the stations is mostly standard, all have a scoreboard and a rain roof. The downside: you have to wait outside for the train, and the interval varies from about ten minutes in the early morning, afternoon and late evening to three minutes during rush hours. Ten minutes in the cold is not everyone's cup of tea.

Metro map at the station from Lebedev Studio.

Approximately half of the MCC stations have surface passages to the nearest metro or railway stations. At Baltiyskaya, where we boarded, the transfer took about ten minutes. The transition from Luzhniki station to Sportivnaya metro station will take only a couple of minutes, passengers are in luck here.

The towers of the “Business Center” are visible in the distance in the haze. There is also a ring station there.

The train has arrived, let's move on. The first and last carriages are equipped with places for transporting bicycles. We’ve already figured out how we’ll go for a ride in Moscow parks in the summer: Izmailovsky Park and Sokolniki are located in pleasant proximity to the MCC stations.

In the area of ​​the ZIL plant, a grand demolition of houses and the construction of new real estate are taking place.

It is very unusual to see a toilet on public transport in Moscow.

The inside of the toilet is no longer as fresh as it used to be, but it’s tolerable for now. We hope that the trains and stations will be constantly looked after, otherwise it will all get clogged up very quickly, literally and figuratively.

Toilet selfie from Lena. Our first report from Zlatoglavaya, by the way. We are thinking about what else to photograph in Moscow, write your recommendations.

We arrived at the Izmailovo station, decided to take a break and walk into the city. We leave the doors of the ring station.

Tickets can be bought from vending machines, just like in the subway.

We find ourselves in the station building, where there will soon be a shopping center.

Now the stores are closed, and this may continue for quite some time. Russian Railways has a talent for long-term construction; the installation of new pavilions at Leningradsky Station takes years.

The width of the escalator is such that only one person can fit in the width; you cannot run quickly on the left.

Entrance to the transition.

Russian realities: the hacks designed the passage in such a way that it would be impossible to open the outer door.

It’s cold in the passage, but it’s clear that heating the street is too expensive.

Nearby are the buildings of the Izmailovo Hotel and the Izmailovo Kremlin.

We come out of the passage, go straight, and there is some kind of homeless shopping center selling sausages in dough. Moscow, you are infinitely diverse :)

As an epilogue:

Never in our memory has a new type of transport been opened in Moscow (the monorail does not count). It will probably never open again; such miracles don’t happen very often.

We ourselves tried to come up with useful routes around Moscow for the MCC, but we couldn’t come up with anything other than transporting bikes to forest parks; all our routes will remain on the metro, minibuses and electric trains. We hope that Muscovites and guests of the capital will be able to adapt this type of transport to their needs, and this will at least slightly relieve the congestion on the Moscow metro and commuter trains.

What do you think about MCC?

Hello! This magazine will no longer be updated. If you are interested in our posts, please join us:
* On Instagram -

Vasily Povolnov (mostly his photos are used in the post) finally visited this and other stations, which Zelenograd residents could theoretically use to transfer to the MCC, to see how everything works there and tell our readers about it.

The MCC station "Likhobory" (until the summer of this year it was known as "Nikolaevskaya") is located in the line of sight from the NATI platform.

If you come by train from Zelenograd, you need to exit the platform on the right side in the direction of travel and follow the path along the railway towards the Leningradsky station.

The exit from the platform is located at the level of the third or fourth cars. If you want to save time on transfers, take them. There is also a sign towards the MCC. To the left of it you can see the buildings of the Likhobor station.

The distance from the exit from the NATI platform to the entrance to the overpass of the Likhobory station is just over 200 meters. However, keep in mind that the entrance to the passage is not yet the entrance to the station itself.

After 120 meters, the path along the ORR (in the photo the view is in the opposite direction - towards the NATI platform) turns right.

Around the corner of the fence, the view of the Likhobory station opens up again. The overpass is just a stone's throw away.

But this is the most unpleasant part of the short journey. In the vicinity of NATI and Likhobor, the North-Eastern Expressway (also known as the Northern Road) is being built, which by the end of 2018 must tie New Leningradka with Dmitrovskoe highway. Because of this, the asphalt is further covered with a layer of dirt, which is carried around the surrounding area by construction equipment. Apparently, in the future, an underground passage will be built here for commuter train passengers. But for now, that's it. Such a cool infrastructure project as the MCC is, of course, unbecoming.

Landscaping work continues around the Likhobory station itself. However, the area in front of the entrance to the passage is already paved with “ceremonial” tiles.

Now we have to climb to the height of a three-story house with high ceilings. There is an elevator in the passage, but so far it, like the metal detector frame at the entrance, is not working (all data in the material is given as of September 20). Therefore, you have to go on foot. At the same time, there are no channels (runners for strollers) on the stairs. One can only sympathize with anyone who happens to be here, for example, with a baby stroller.

From the top floor there is a view of the NATI platform and the construction site of the North-East Expressway.

And in the other direction - to the platforms of the Likhobory station.

To get to the platform, you need to travel along the passage over the railway. Just not to the end, but approximately to the middle.
Note that the transition (at least for now) is not an insulated structure. In design, it is similar to the overpass across Central Avenue near the Zelenograd Prefecture, and ventilation “holes in the floor” are hidden behind the railings on the sides. You won't be able to stay warm here in winter. Compared to transferring from train to metro at Leningradsky Station, this is, of course, a serious disadvantage.

After about 90 meters, there will be glass doors on the right in the passage leading to the station lobby.

Opposite you can admire the bridge at the intersection of the MCC and the Oktyabrskaya Railway.

With navigation, things are much better here than at the Butyrskaya metro station, which recently opened near the Ostankino platform (for transfers from the railway to the new stations of the Lyublino-Dmitrovskaya metro line, see separate post ). In any case, the way back to the NATI platform can be easily found. This is the sign that will greet you when you exit the glass doors. Then along the way there will be several more signs.

In the lobby, behind glass doors, there are turnstiles that are not yet working (let me remind you that travel on the MCC is free for the first month) and descents to two platforms (there are elevators, stairs, and escalators). Here you need to decide which platform you want to get on. If you are driving west (along the outer side of the ring) - towards "Koptevo", "Baltiyskaya", "Streshnevo" and so on - you go to the right. If you go east (on the inside) - to "Okruzhnaya", "Vladykino", "Botanical Garden" and then to the left.

MCC diagram to help you (clickable)

The most obvious option for getting down to the platform is an escalator. Unlike the elevators, they are running. Each platform is connected to the lobby by two escalators: one goes up, the other goes down.

Estimating travel time on foot is not an easy task, but according to our estimates, you can get from the door of the train on the NATI platform to the platform at the Likhobory station in 6-8 minutes. In the opposite direction, the journey will take a little longer, since you will still need to cross the bridge to the far platform at NATI.

While we are waiting for our “Swallow” to go on a trip along the MCC, let us remind you that in the future a large transport hub - with shops, parking lots and even a hockey rink. And, of course, ground public transport stops. The main volume of transport hub buildings will be located on the side of Cherepanov passage (that is, on the opposite side from the NATI platform). It is supposed to look like this (clickable image).

And this is what the place looks like now.

Road work is underway on Cherepanov Passage.

The transport hub is planned to be built approximately by 2025. As part of this project, it is planned to reconstruct and extend the NATI platform towards the center of Moscow. This means that trains in the Leningrad direction will stop even closer to the MCC, and the transfer from NATI to Likhobory will become even shorter and more convenient.
Now let’s return to the Likhobory station. Both platforms have canopies and a decent number of benches and bins. The surface is paved with tiles, and a strip of yellow tactile tiles is laid along the edge of the platform.

In general, everything is stylish, neat and, if we talk about platforms, and not about transitions, then, in my opinion, a little in a retro style.

All the design is in the corporate style of Russian Railways, which operates this road jointly with the Moscow Metro (let me remind you that you can pay for travel with metro tickets, and the transfer between the metro and the MCC will be free for one and a half hours).

Electronic boards show the direction of travel (by the name of the next station) and the time until the train arrives. Let us remind you that the stated intervals for trains on the MCC are 6 minutes during peak hours and 11-15 minutes during off-peak times. If necessary, these intervals are promised to be shortened. And it seems like they are already thinking about implementing such an opportunity.

The platform from which you can leave Likhobor towards Koptevo, that is, to the west, has paths on both sides. But trains come on the left side (in the direction of travel from the escalator). “External tracks” are apparently needed for service purposes and freight traffic, which will remain on the ring. View back towards the passage leading to NATI.

And here is our train. About 15 minutes have passed since the previous one left. True, three electric trains passed in the opposite direction during this time.

Lastochki are used as rolling stock on the Moscow Central Circle. I made a big post about how these trains work . Inside the Lastochka on the MCC, except for the posted diagrams and advertisements, they are no different from those that run to Kryukovo and Tver and are already well known to many Zelenograd residents.
Scheme of the MCC in the carriage:

MCC and metro map:

It is allowed to carry bicycles on the MCC, and there are corresponding stickers on the trains, but we did not find any special mounts for two-wheeled transport in the local Lastochki. As well as the intention to twist the “extra” third seats so that all cars have a 2+2 layout, has not yet been implemented.

It seems that trains to the MCC do not run empty. We were on the ring from about 17:00 to 18:30, that is, practically during the evening rush hour, and in all the “Swallows” we saw, some of the passengers rode standing.

The closest stop to Likhobory, if you go west, is Koptevo. However, it was among the five stations that did not manage to open even in draft form before the start of traffic on the MCC. Therefore, for now the next stop after “Likhobor” is “Baltiyskaya”. Until the summer of this year, it was called “Voikovskaya” - after the nearby metro station.
The transfer between Baltiyskaya and Voykovskaya is considered one of the longest on the MCC. The two station concourses are located more than 700 meters apart. In order for a metro passenger to transfer here to the Moscow Central Circle, he should exit the subway through exit No. 1 (from the last car when moving towards the center, then from the glass doors to the right) and go along the Leningradskoye Shosse towards the region - to the Metropolis shopping complex. .

"Baltiyskaya" is located at the intersection of the MCC with Leningradskoye Shosse. The station has two exits: one towards Admiral Makarov Street, the other towards Novopetrovsky Proezd, Metropolis and Voikovskaya metro station.

Moreover, the branch of the passage that leads from the MCC station towards Voykovskaya is connected to the Metropolis building. And although the signs point to the street for access to the metro, in fact, a significant part of the journey can be done in the warmth, passing through the entire building of the shopping center. Then you will only have to travel about 200 meters along the street to the entrance to the subway. Of course, this advice is also relevant for those who go from the metro to the MCC.

There is only one platform at Baltiyskaya and, accordingly, it is wider.

Escalators and stairs for descending/ascending between the platform and the passage are located in one place. There are also elevators, but, like at Likhobory, they are not yet working.

If you, having a baby stroller with you, decide to leave the Baltiyskaya in the direction opposite to the Metropolis, you will encounter the same problem as at the transfer at NATI - there is no alternative to descending the stairs without channels.

View from the MCC platform to the side façade of Metropolis.

If the Metrostroy website contains current sketches of transport hub projects on the Moscow Central Circle, then in its final form the Baltiyskaya station will look like this. Another passage will appear in both directions from the other edge of the platform.

The next station after Baltiyskaya is Streshnevo. Previously, it was called “Volokolamskaya”, because it is located at the intersection of the MCC with the Volokolamsk highway. Theoretically, some of the Zelenograd residents could come here by car and then set off on a further journey along the MCC. However, this option is unlikely to become widespread. Not only is it suitable for few people, but it is also unclear where to leave the car in this case - there is no semblance of intercept parking here.

Moreover, the passage at Streshnevo has not yet been completed, which could lead to the 1st Krasnogorsky passage - potentially the most convenient for accessing this station from Zelenograd.

As part of the creation of a transport hub here, the Streshnevo MCC station will be connected by a walkway to the Pokrovskoe-Streshnevo Riga platform, which will be moved several hundred meters for this purpose. However, this no longer has anything to do with trips to/from Zelenograd (only if it concerns trips to my dacha :)).
Visualization of the Streshnevo transport hub project (image from the MCC website)

Diagram of the Streshnevo transport hub (clickable image from the Metrostroy website)

In the meantime, the Streshnevo station looks almost like a twin of Likhobor: the same two platforms on either side of the main passage...

And a typical (but at the same time, in my opinion, stylish) lobby building with escalators, adjacent to the passage.

There are also combined “ring” maps of the metro and MCC posted everywhere. For some reason, there were no such schemes at Likhobory.

As in all other places, active construction and finishing work is still ongoing at Streshnevo station.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to drive around the entire ring yet, although it would be very interesting to do so. Well, I hope he still has time. However, from the point of view of Zelenograd residents, the stations visited are, of course, of greatest interest.

To conclude the story, I will summarize a few key points.
1. MCC went - and it’s wonderful. In essence, a new type of public transport has appeared in Moscow, which has significantly increased the connectivity of existing lines and routes. It is already obvious that, contrary to the gloomy forecasts of skeptics, the ring is in demand among the townspeople.
2. Many residents of Zelenograd have new options for constructing routes when traveling to Moscow. But a lot here depends on the number of trains stopping at NATI. For example, on September 20, it was impossible to leave Kryukovo for NATI from 8:56 to 16:05 - more than 7 hours! But in the coming days the situation should change: the number of electric trains stopping at NATI doubled .
3. The road was opened with a lot of minor imperfections - work is still underway almost everywhere. For most passengers this is not a big deal, but the MCC is still practically unsuitable for people with limited mobility. If for some reason you have difficulty moving, you should think very carefully about how you will climb the numerous stairs that do not even have runners for strollers.

This coming Sunday, September 10, the Moscow Central Circle (MCC) will celebrate one year since the launch of the first trains. During this time, more than 93 million passengers used the line against the original plan of 75 million. The project has already cost Russian Railways (RZD), the federal and Moscow budgets approximately 140 billion rubles. And within 15 years, costs will reach 200 billion rubles. Investments in the project will never pay off, experts say. Why will this happen and should an infrastructure project of this scale necessarily pay off?

How much does MCC cost?

The return of passenger trains to the Moscow Circular Railway, which was canceled back in the 1930s, was dreamed of by ex-Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov for many years, but his successor Sergei Sobyanin managed to implement the project. Urban planning documentation and feasibility studies for the construction of a passenger railway and its accompanying infrastructure were ready back in the 2000s, recalls Sergei Tkachenko, former head of the Research and Development Institute for General Planning. And in 2008, the Moscow government and Russian Railways signed an agreement on the reconstruction of the freight railway into a passenger one.

However, the lack of funds delayed the start of work for three years, Tkachenko continues. The issue of financing was resolved only in 2011, after the appointment of a new mayor; for this, Sobyanin had to make such a request to the President of Russia, Moscow and federal officials told Vedomosti at the time.

The government contributed 72 billion rubles from the budget to the authorized capital of JSC Russian Railways. for the arrangement of the railway part of the MCC infrastructure. Moscow spent 20 billion rubles. for the construction of infrastructure of transport hubs and more than 25 billion rubles. for the reconstruction of the road network, overpasses and the liberation of territories around the MCC, says Roman Latypov, first deputy head for strategic development and client work of the Moscow Metro State Unitary Enterprise. This enterprise oversees the work of the MCC on behalf of the Moscow authorities, it provides all the service personnel (except for train drivers) for the ring and provides a unified ticket program with the metro.

The Metro also acts as a customer for passenger transportation services. A 15-year contract with Russian Railways will cost the capital 57.7 billion rubles, says Latypov.

To organize traffic on the MCC, Russian Railways purchased 33 Lastochka electric trains from Ural Locomotives (a joint venture between Siemens and Dmitry Pumpyansky’s Sinary). The Russian Railways representative refused to disclose the amount of investment and its return on investment. Based on the contract, one Lastochka train of five cars cost 8.7 million euros. Consequently, 33 trains could cost Russian Railways 19.2 billion rubles. (at the weighted average exchange rate for 2016 of 67 rubles). From May 1, 2017, the train service interval on the MCC was reduced from 6 to 5 minutes during peak hours and from 12 to 10 minutes at other times. Therefore, Russian Railways had to buy nine more trains with an estimated cost of 5.25 billion rubles.

Russian Railways did not calculate the return on investment in the project, assures a person close to the state-owned company. The contract turned out to be unprofitable, one of the Russian Railways consultants knows. The investment may never pay off, he adds.

The amount that Russian Railways receives under the contract with the Moscow government for servicing the MCC is 3.8 billion rubles. per year – not tied to passenger traffic. The company must provide a certain traffic interval, says Vladimir Savchuk, Deputy General Director of the Institute for Problems of Natural Monopolies (IPEM). The amount of payments includes the tariff for transportation on commuter trains in Moscow, which does not depend on the size of the investment, but is calculated based on the cost of infrastructure and currently amounts to 0.1% of it. According to PwC partner Dmitry Kovalev, in order to recoup the project in at least 10–15 years, the tariff must be at least 1.5 times higher.

Russian Railways received money for the project from the budget, the company does not need to return these investments, the city hall official objects. Direct costs of Russian Railways are the purchase of trains and their operation. Therefore, the profitability of transportation on the MCC is 8%, says a city hall official.

Return on investment does not come first, because this is a large infrastructure project, as follows from Latypov’s words. The main task of the MCC is to provide a transport alternative for citizens, and without subsidies for transportation there is not a single metro in the world, he says. Such transport projects have “a much more important effect - comfort of movement, saving travel time (on the MCC passengers save 9-11 minutes compared to traveling on other types of public transport) and the effect on the development of territories,” Latypov believes. Today, an MCC passenger costs the city 40% less than a metro passenger, a source in the mayor’s office points out, due to the new infrastructure and ground location of the tracks. In addition, currently the MCC is only loaded at half its capacity; over time, its occupancy will increase.

It’s hardly possible to talk about the MCC’s payback in the foreseeable period of time, Tkachenko agrees: “Such projects provide exclusively indirect payback, transforming urban areas from secondary, degrading ones into investment-attractive ones. This is why budget funds exist - to contribute to the capitalization of the city, to increase the tax base.” Such projects cannot be assessed only from the point of view of the return of funds, agrees Savchuk. Like any infrastructure project, the MCC is aimed at developing the city and surrounding areas and increasing business activity. “The project is very large-scale, analogues in the world are not of urban, but of national significance,” explains Savchuk. “The implementation of the project provided orders for industry, designers, and created the opportunity for the implementation of modern and innovative solutions, for example, in the field of transportation automation.”

Who needs a ring

Before the launch of passenger traffic, the entire length of the MCC (54 km) became double-track; a third track for freight and technological traffic was built along 31 km. From each MCC station, passengers can transfer to ground urban transport; for this purpose, access roads, turning areas for buses and stops for passengers are organized on both sides of the railway. From the MCC you can make 14 transfers to metro stations and six to commuter trains. The new ring passes through 26 districts of Moscow with a population of 1.9 million people, says a representative of the Moscow Department of Transport. Residents of six of them (Metrogorodok, Beskudnikovsky, Koptevo, Kotlovka, Khoroshevo-Mnevniki and Nizhegorodsky) - about 500,000 people - previously had virtually no access to the metro, he adds.

Integration with the metro (the MCC and the metro have a single ticket system) has ensured explosive growth in traffic on the MCC, says Savchuk from IPEM. If there are questions about the return on investment in the MCC, then from the point of view of passenger traffic this is not just a successful, but an extremely successful project, the Russian Railways consultant is sure. It was planned that in the first year of operation the MCC would transport 75 million people, in 2020 – 170 million, and in 2030 – 300 million. The plan has already been exceeded. In less than a year, according to the Moscow Department of Transport, about 93 million people used the MCC.

How many new passengers were attracted to Moscow transport due to the MCC? Neither the mayor’s office nor the metro gives an answer to this question. Most likely we are talking about not very large quantities. The MCC absorbed some of the passengers from the metro and trains. Although, obviously, some car owners preferred “Swallows” to their own cars, a source in the mayor’s office believes.

New lines “almost do not add passenger traffic, they only redistribute it,” Tkachenko believes. But this is also good, since in general the level of comfort on the old lines, from where some passengers leave, is increasing, he points out.

61% of MCC passengers transferred from the metro, 26% from commuter trains, another 13% are residents of adjacent areas who get to the station on foot or by ground public transport. The final point of travel for approximately 30% of MCC passengers is areas near stations, the rest use Lastochkas instead of the Circle Line of the metro, says a representative of the Moscow Department of Transport.

There are a lot of so-called tourists on the MCC, Latypov notes. He also includes among them passengers who choose a longer journey compared to a shorter one by metro. For example, when a passenger travels from Luzhniki to Lokomotiv, instead of taking the metro from Sportivnaya to Cherkizovskaya. “The MCC offers a new level of service: stations with charging stations for mobile phones and other amenities; there are toilets in two cars of each train; the trip itself became more comfortable due to the silence and fewer people. The MCC is also more convenient for cyclists - they can enter the carriages without unhooking the front wheel, as in the metro,” explains Latypov.

Unloading was successful

Moscow authorities are pleased that the MCC has reduced the load on overloaded metro stations and city train stations. Thanks to the MCC, passengers do not have to go to ring metro stations to make a transfer, notes Latypov. According to him, the new transport route reduced the load on the busiest sections of the Circle Line metro by 15%, Sokolnicheskaya by 20%, Lyublinskaya by 14%, Filevskaya by 12%, Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya by 5%. This is very important for the metro, because it increases the comfort of travel, notes Latypov.

At some previously unpopular metro stations, passenger traffic, on the contrary, has increased, unloading other stations. With the advent of the MCC, passenger traffic at the station. m. "Kutuzovskaya" grew 3.5 times from 8,000 to 29,000 people per day. Previously, according to the Moscow Metro, it was one of the 30 most unpopular metro stations in Moscow, but now it is unloading the Kievskaya station.

The load at Kazansky and Rizhsky stations has decreased by 30%, at Kursky - by 40%, at Yaroslavsky and Leningradsky - by 20%, says a representative of the transport department. Now MCC passengers can transfer to electric trains of the Oktyabrsky, Savelovsky, Yaroslavl, Kazan and Smolensky directions; integration with four more directions out of the remaining five is planned to be carried out before the end of 2018, promises a representative of Russian Railways. It is also planned to move a number of platforms in radial directions closer to the stations of the MCC (Okruzhnaya in the Savelovsk direction, Severyanin in the Yaroslavl direction and Leningradskaya in the Riga direction), as well as to build new stops and stations (Novokhokhlovskaya in the Kursk direction, Varshavskaya in the Pavelets direction, Karacharovo in the Gorky direction).

One of the main advantages of the MCC is that passengers do not have to go to train stations in the center and then transfer to the metro, says Latypov. He estimates there were 25 million such trips per year.

The development of the MCC should convince citizens to give up private cars. A study by the Research and Development Institute of the general plan, conducted in the 2000s, showed that when a metro station appears, the coefficient of use of public transport in the areas adjacent to it increases. In Moscow, only the metro and the Moscow Railways could solve this problem; the periodically proposed alternatives are not capable of this: bicycles, monorails, cable cars, balloons, etc., says Tkachenko. A representative of the Moscow Department of Transport gives the following example: four MCC stations (Botanical Garden, Lokomotiv, Luzhniki, Rokossovsky Boulevard) have parking lots with a total capacity of more than 650 parking spaces. Since the stations opened, more than 48,000 motorists have left their cars at these park-and-ride stations and transferred to the MCC, thus preventing these cars from reaching the city center.

Compared to the Moscow Metro, the MCC's share in traffic is negligible: in 2016, about 2.4 billion people used the metro, the MCC - 25 times less. The comparison is incorrect, because the MCC is just one of the metro lines, points out a representative of the Moscow Department of Transport. And in terms of daily passenger traffic, the MCC has already overtaken some branches.

Tkachenko is confident that over time the load on the MCC will increase. Any highway that has just been put into operation does not fill up immediately, he says, recalling the free Third Transport Ring in the first year of its launch. Latypov cites the example of the London DLR (Docklands Light Railway), a light metro that, among other things, connected the Docklands area with the city center. The DLR currently has 45 stations and the network length is 34 km. In 1987, the first year after its launch, 17 million people used the line. Now more than 101.5 million passengers use it, says Latypov. Docklands was a port area and today it is the business center of London.

Housing prices are also rising. The cost of new buildings within walking distance from MCC stations is growing faster than the market - by 14% per year compared to 8% in other residential complexes, CIAN calculated. But the appearance of the MCC did not significantly affect the construction of offices due to the low activity of developers in this segment, says Margarita Kabalkina from CBRE.

So far, more than a third of the territories around the MCC stations are inefficiently used industrial zones, according to data from the Research and Development Institute of the General Plan. About a quarter of the residential buildings within walking distance from the stations are five-story buildings, half of which are included in the Moscow renovation program. The adjacent territory will be developed through the construction of office and business facilities, residential areas and other points of attraction, Deputy Mayor Marat Khusnullin said earlier. According to him, in the future, abandoned industrial areas around the ring will receive a new round of development, which will lead to the emergence of tens of thousands of new jobs.

About 26 million square meters can be built in areas around the MCC. m of real estate, says a representative of the Moscow construction complex. Including about 10 million sq. m residential and about 16 million sq. m of non-residential buildings. Industrial zones located near the Moscow River are being reorganized the fastest, continues Vedomosti’s interlocutor.

However, you should not expect quick changes. When we are talking about a project that can significantly change the transport infrastructure of the city, you should not expect a quick revival of nearby industrial zones or the emergence of new residential areas, explains Olga Shirokova, director of the consulting and analytics department at Knight Frank. In general, the MCC can become an additional factor for the decision to start construction, but it is not the only or the main one. Obviously, there should be a lot of housing around the MCC - in fact, this is why transport projects are being developed, so that people can live comfortably and get to work and home, Shirokova notes. Accordingly, the building density there may be higher than the Moscow average. The main thing is that new projects in the MCC areas do not lead to the building density exceeding 25,000 sq. m. m per 1 hectare, so that again problems with overloading the transport infrastructure do not arise, she warns.