Moscow Monorail
The Moscow Monorail was a monorail line located in the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia. It ran from the Timiryazevskaya via Fonvisinskaya and VDNHa metro stations to Sergeya Eisensteina street. The monorail line had six stations. Planning of the monorail in Moscow started in 1998. This was a unique project for Russian companies, which did not have prior experience in building monorails. were spent by the city of Moscow on the monorail construction.
On 20 November 2004, the monorail opened in "excursion mode." On 10 January 2008, the monorail's operation mode was changed to "transportation mode" with more frequent train service. Ticket prices were reduced from 50 rubles to 19 rubles, which was the standard fare for Moscow's rapid transport at that time; as of 2012, ticket prices still matched the standard fare, but multi-ride passes could not be used between systems. In April 2012, one of Moscow's transport officials announced that he believed that the system should be closed down and dismantled in the future. However, on 3 October 2012, the vice mayor of Moscow said that the Moscow Monorail would not be closed because of lack of alternative public transportation and very busy highways in that particular part of the city.
Since 1 January 2013, all metro tickets have been valid for the monorail. Interchange from the Metro to the Monorail and vice versa is free for 90 minutes after entering the Metro or Monorail.
The Moscow Metro operated the monorail, which in 2016 officially became Line 13 of the network.
On 27 June 2025, it was closed and will be reconstructed into an elevated park by 2027.
History
Planning
In the 1990s, Moscow's streets were suffering from traffic congestion by private cars, which significantly interfered with public transport. This situation renewed interest in the monorail which could unload ground public transport. Estimates were published in the media that showed that building monorails would be 5-7 times cheaper than building new underground metro lines.The decision to start monorail planning in Moscow was made by the Mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov after consultations with Yury Solomonov, the head of state-run Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology and Luzhkov's close associate. MITT previously developed military technology but had no prior experience in monorail design. At the end of the 1990s, MITT urgently needed funding and looked for contracts from the Government of Moscow.On 17 July 1998, Luzhkov tasked MITT, the Office of Transport and Communications and Moskomarchitechtura to draft the Moscow Monorail program and to prepare a preliminary technological and economical justification for the development of monorail routes in Moscow. These tasks were formulated in a short decree 777-RP "On the financing of project works on monorail transportation". MITT received 1.4 million rubles from the Moscow city budget. Deputy Premier of Moscow Government B.V. Nikolsky was assigned to supervise the project.
On 2 September 1998, Luzhkov signed a decree 996-RP "On the design and construction of new types of high-speed transportation in Moscow" which justified the development of monorail lines in Moscow. The decree stated that traditional public transportation could not handle the increasing passenger loads and that cardinal solution to that problem would be possible only through the development of new types of high-speed transportation that meet modern ecological and economical requirements, are comfortable and could be integrated with traditional transportation. The decree instructed the Office of Transport and Communications and the state-run Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering to continue work on the Moscow monorail transportation and to draft the layout of monorail lines by the first quarter of 1999. Luzhkov's decree proposed three monorail lines: from Novogireevo metro to Nikolo-Archangelskoe cemetery, from the metro Vykhino to Zhulebno district and from Krylatskoe to Krasnaya Presnya. However, these proposed lines were later canceled. Again, B.V. Nikolsky supervised the project.
On 16 February 1999, the decree 108-PP established an open joint-stock company Moscow Monorail. The company was co-founded by the Department of State and the municipal property of Moscow City which acted on behalf of the Government of Moscow and had a 25% + 1 share. The total starting capital of Moscow Monorail was 100 million rubles. Vladimir Grigorievich Sister, the prefect of the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, represented the Government of Moscow in the company. General supervision over the decree implementation was conducted by B.V. Nikolsky. On 3 August 1999, Luzhkov's decree 738-RP established a commission for the supervision of the monorail works in the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug. Sister became the commission head.
By the first quarter of 2000, an experimental monorail test set was built at the MITT campus. Several trains were purchased from the Swiss company Intamin. The decree 49-PP specified the rules, regulations and parameters for the construction of the Moscow Monorail.
Design
The monorail had been planned to run from the M8 highway overpass to Severyanin railway station, but later the project was changed to connect two nearby metro stations with the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. At that time, Moscow competed for hosting Expo 2010 and a modern monorail could improve the image of the exhibition site. This idea was finalized on 13 March 2001 in the Moscow Government decree 241-PP. On 21 June, tasks were assigned to the companies contracted to prepare the monorail project:| Contractor | Assignment |
| Open joint-stock company Moscow Monorails | Basic technical solutions of the first stage of the monorail, electric train construction |
| Limited liability company Selton-M | Dispatch control system |
| Federal unitary enterprise Semikhatov Scientific-Manufacturing Union of Automation | Electric traffic control system |
| Federal unitary enterprise Experimental Design Bureau Vympel | Railroad signs, parking devices, auxiliary equipment |
| Open joint-stock company Moscow Mechanical Engineering Plant Vympel | Major parts of the undercarriage of the train |
| Open joint-stock company Scientific-Manufacturing Enterprise Kvant | Development and installation of the train engine system |
| Federal unitary enterprise Research Institute of Tire Industry | Design and development of reinforced wheels R22.5 with an internal flange |
| Moscow Committee for Architecture and Urban Developmentn, Open joint-stock company Transstroy Corporation, Mosinzhproekt Institute, MosgortransNIIproekt Institute, Mosgortrans | Monorail track, construction equipment, electric power supply |
The development plan of the North-East Administrative Okrug prioritized the construction of the monorail linking metro stations Botanichesky Sad and Timiryazevskaya. This line was planned to be long and to have nine stations. On 25 December 2001, it was decided that the monorail construction would be accomplished in two stages. The first stage would be the construction of the route from the metro station Timiryazevskaya to the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. On 22 May 2001, the Government of Moscow announced that this line would open in the second quarter of 2003. The Government of Moscow also emphasized the uniqueness of the object and the lack of experience of Russian companies in such constructions. On 31 January 2002, it was decided that the monorail depot would be established at the territory of the Bauman tram depot where the Museum of Urban Passenger Transport had been located. To clear the space for the monorail subdivision of the depot, the museum exposition was first moved to a tram repair factory and then to a newly constructed building that opened in Strogino District on 10 September 1999.
Construction
In August 2001, the construction began at Fonvizina street. The area was prepared for the construction, trees cut on the path of the future monorail and test drilling conducted. On 22 September, a prototype frame was built for the first pillar. At that time, the exposition trains were moved from the Bauman tram depot to the tram repair factory. On 2 February 2002, the tram track between VVTs and Ostankino was closed and a temporary one-way reversal circle was built for tram routes 11 and 17.Monorail train design had to be refined because the trains acquired from Intamin showed unsatisfactory performance in winter conditions. The refinement consisted of the installation of a linear engine that was engineered by the scientific centre "TEMP". The Moscow Government documents called the monorail line being built "experimental".
By the end of June, the construction of the monorail line over Academician Korolev Street' tramway was finished and the station construction began. The station was to be named Ulitsa Akademika Korolyova. On 15 October, tram service was restored on the route from All-Russia Exhibition Centre to the Ostankino TV center. In December, supports were installed throughout the route and the construction sites of all stations were defined. In April 2003, construction of Timiryazevskaya station began with the installation of support beams and building a rail switch.
The decree 866-PP issued by the Moscow Government on 14 October 2003 described in detail the procedure of launching the monorail and provided the technical parameters. The deadline of 24 October was set to form the acceptance committee. On 11 November, the name of the MMTS Expocentre terminal was changed to "Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina". On 21 November, special construction codes were established that restricted digging trenches, laying utilities, construction of building foundations, tunnelling works and other interferences in the strip of land adjacent to the monorail. The borders of this strip were demarcated as from the monorail supports. Restrictions were also imposed on work that lowers the groundwater within from the monorail.
In November 2003, most stations were nearing completion, and the rail construction was almost completed. In December, the first test runs of rolling stock were conducted.
The monorail opening had been planned for the beginning of February 2004, but was delayed until 23 February. On 19 February, an acceptance certificate for the monorail was signed by the committee. On 21 February, during a trial run near Ulitsa of the Academic Koroleva, one of the trains ripped off of the third rail. Due to the accident, the monorail opening was delayed again.
On 20 April 2004, a decree "on the additional measures on the construction of the Moscow Monorail" 746-RP was issued. This decree rescheduled a number of construction deadlines from 2003 to 2004. In May, three trains were test run and the opening was delayed again for no given reason.
On 11 November, information surfaced that the only work that remained to be accomplished before the line could be launched in an excursion mode was the installation of the automated control system. On the same day, Dmitry Gayev, director of the Moscow Metro, presented the line to the media.