Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line - History

History

The Kaluzhsko–Rizhskaya Line was the first one in Moscow to be built in the time of the new epoch, when contrary to the old time-consuming manual work that produced the most famous stations in the system the De-Stalinization policies of Nikita Khrushchev forced the modernisation and development of new saving techniques.

Nonetheless the overall layout of the Metro was completed in 1954 when the ring became fully operational. Moscow Metro planners immediately drew new areas of development which would come in radii starting at the ring. The first such radius became the Rizhsky, which would expand northwards from the Botanichesky Sad (now Prospekt Mira) station along the Mira avenue past the Rizhsky Rail Terminal and terminate at the newly built All-Russia Exhibition Centre. Construction began in the mid 1950s and in 1958 the first four stations of the new radius opened. Already the first stations show a clear transition away from the Stalinist elements in architecture, where it is obvious how the original project was altered to make it simpler and aesthetic. New construction methods, such as shortening the station vault diameters from 9.5 to 8.5 metres and new element junction methods dramatically reduced the building time.

On the opposite end of the ring, a second new radius was planned to be built – Kaluzhsky, which would follow on a southeast contour to the first newly built Cheryomushki bedroom districts made from Khrushchyovka houses. Like the cheap buildings it expanded into the Kaluzhsky radius was made completely of any decorative architecture whatsoever. For the first time a joint project for a sub-surface station – the Sorkonozhka (Centepede) was created. Consisting of an enclosed concrete prism, it featured two supporting rows of pillars for the ceiling. The original design was standardised to the point where stations differed only in the colour of marble on the pillars and the ceramic tiling patterns of the walls. However the method allowed for even further increase in construction methods. A rational combination of using deep-level shield tunnels and a sub-surface station pit allowed for this, and would become the most widely used technique in many ex-USSR metro systems. In 1962 the Kaluzhskaya Line was opened, and in 1964 it had its first extension to the new Kaluzhskoye depot where a temporary surface station was opened.

Originally it was thought that the two radii could exist on their own and terminate at the ring, however the dynamic passenger inflow immediately made the Metro planners realise the mistake. In an effort to correct this, it was decided to link the radii into a diameter and relieve the ring by allowing several transfer points inside the circumference. In 1970 the first extension northwards from Oktyabrskaya took place where the line met up with the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line at Kitay-gorod, for the first time, a combined cross-platform transfer was opened with both stations built simultaneously. Finally at the end of 1971 the lines linked up with the central section forming the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line. The two stations that formed the final junction, used a new method of mounting hydroisolation, which was made separately and then suspended instead of mounting it piece by piece. This allowed a three-month work to be finished in little more than a week.

After the joining of the radii the line became a full transport artery. Several more extension projects were carried out. A northern one opened in 1978 finally allowed the late Soviet decorative architecture to blossom, four stations long, it extended past the Russian Botanical Gardens into the new northern districts of Babushkinsky and Medvedkovo. The extensio also featured a new depot. Part of the track lies across Yauza River though passengers can not see it as the track bridge is a covered tunnel.

At the same time several projects on the southern radius took place. In 1974 the temporary depot station was closed and the line expanded into Belyayevo. In 1980 Shabolovskaya was opened between Oktyabrskaya and Leninsky Prospekt stations. The original stretch was built under very difficult geological conditions, with pressure as much as 2.3 bars. The planned deep-level station was abandoned due to difficulties in building an escalator tunnel. However in 1980 the continued development in engineering techniques allowed for this to finish and the station was opened without any disruption to the service.

In the late 1980s work began on the final section in the southwest, to the new suburbs of Konkovo and Yasenevo finally reaching the edge of the Bitsa Park in 1990.