THE president of Russia, Mr Vladimir Putin, and the mayor of Moscow, Mr Sergey Sobyanin, officially launched Moscow Central Diameter Line 4 (MCD-4) on September 9. At 86km, the line is the longest of the new suburban lines to serve the Russian capital.
MCD-4 runs from Aprelevka in the west to Zheleznodorozhny in the east via Moscow city centre. The line has 38 stations, including connections with seven main line railway terminus stations in central Moscow and 18 stations with interchange to the Moscow Metro, Moscow Central Circle (MCC) and other Central Diameter lines. Up to 270,000 passengers are expected to use the new line every day by the end of 2023, eventually rising to around 450,000.
Work is continuing to add a further two stations at Begovaya and Rizhskaya as well as to introduce Ivolga 3.0 EMUs built by Transmashholding on the new line.
Services are currently operated with EP2D and EP2DM EMUs, which run at 5-minute to 5min 30sec headways at peak times. These train fleets will be replaced by 2025.
The new line is expected to offer an alternative route for 9% of Moscow Metro passengers.
MCD-3 opened in Moscow last month. The 85km line connects districts in the northwest with those in the southeast of the capital. MCD-1 and MCD-2 were both inaugurated on November 21 2019.
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