Moscow is hoping to open two new stations on the Red Line—money permitting
This article originally appeared in The Moscow Times
The Moscow metro’s Red Line could get an extra two stations by 2017, a deputy mayor said, if City Hall can raise the money to fund the expansions amid Russia’s looming recession.
The two new stations would extend 4 kilometers out from the still-unbuilt Rumyantsevo and Salaryevo stops on the southwestern end of the Sokolnicheskaya line, universally known as the “red one,” city news agency Moskva quoted Deputy Mayor Marat Khusnullin as saying on Saturday.
Khusnullin said the blueprint for the extension was ready, but “the decision to build [the two stations] hasn’t been made yet. It all depends on budget revenues — if there’s money, then we’ll build it.”
Moscow faces an income squeeze as rising inflation, ruble devaluation and economic recession depress budget revenues and raise costs. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin last year announced plans to spend 2.9 trillion rubles ($45 billion) on city transport, including 78 new stations for the Moscow metro by 2020, but the spending goals may have to be trimmed. Even federal budget expenditure is being cut by 10 percent almost across the board.
The new section of the Red Line would run deep into New Moscow, a massive territory incorporated into the Russian capital in 2012 that still lacks easy transport options to the city center.
Khusnullin said the two stations might be built near the Indigo technology park and wholesale food distribution center Food City, Moskva reported.
Rumyantsevo and Salaryevo stations are currently under construction. Rumyantsevo is set to open in the first half of 2015, while Salaryevo is set to open in July, Moskva reported earlier.