The 22.3km line now has 10 stations, with the opening adding 14.4km and six new stations: Southeast, Okskaya, Stakhanovskaya, Nizhegorodskaya, Aviamotornaya and Lefortovo (pictured above).
The new line will improve transit access for a million residents, Sobyanin said, and would relieve pressure on the overloaded Tagansko - Krasnopresnenskaya Line 7. Services are operated using Moscow-2019 metro trains supplied by Transmashholding (TMH) subsidiary Metrovagonmash.
Construction of the line began in 2012, with the 7.9km Nekrasovka - Kosino section and four stations opening in June 2019. Construction of the 11.7km Kosino - Aviamotornaya section was completed in December 2019, with the final 2.7km Aviamotornaya - Lefortovo section completed at the beginning of this year.
The Nizhegorodskaya - Lefortovo section will eventually connect to Elektrozavodskaya, forming part of the Great Ring Line (BKL). Line 15 will then terminate at Nizhegorodskaya.
The double-track line has been constructed in a 10m-diamater tunnel from Kosino to Nizhegorodskaya. Moscow Metro says this improves safety, as it takes 16 minutes to evacuate passengers through a double-track tunnel compared with 40 minutes in a single track tunnel.
A depot has been built at Rudnevo, which employs more than 320 staff. Following the commissioning at the second stage of the depot later this year, the facility will be able to stable 48 trains, maintain one train and clean 20 trains.
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