Jubilee train «70years of Moscow metro»
70-ieth anniversary of inauguration of the first 11,2 km section of Moscow metro with 13 stations was celebrated on May 15, 2005. Four-car trains used to run with the headway of 5 minutes at that time. That was sufficient because Muscovites used to visit metro like a museum in the first months.
Moscow metro stations were the first in the world to have beautiful architecture and it gave hopes of fine future to passengers. Metro became a convenient means of city transport by autumn of 1935. It took slightly more than 20 minutes to get from Sokol’niki to Park Kultury by metro whereas it took between 1,5 and 2 hours to cover the same distance by tram (it was the main means of transport at that time).
Hard work had been done before the first metro came into service. Special departments were created to prepare trains for exploitation, to examine equipment so as to ensure safe operation. At the same time training of the staff was organized: metro drivers, train chiefs, station duty managers, dispatchers and station chiefs were trained.
Regular trial runs on the first Moscow metro line which was still under construction began on February 16, 1935. A specially decorated jubilee train was introduced into service on Sokol’nicheskaya line on February 16, 2005 to commemorate this event.
Posters telling the history of metro cover the walls of the jubilee train. Passengers traveling on Sokol’nicheskaya line may therefore travel back in time.
The posters inform on how Moscow metro appeared, what was happening to it during the great Patriotic War and how it was developed and modernized.
Unique photos used for decoration of the train have never been published before. They show Muscovites sheltering in metro stations from air attacks of 1941-1942. Photos demonstrating metro technical development, including implementation of automatic train control system on Circle line in the 60-ies of the twentieth century are just as interesting.
One may also see metro maps of different times, Moscow metro tickets, the development of metro rolling stock and many other things in the posters.
The jubilee train “70-th anniversary of Moscow metro” is to run on Sokol’nicheskaya line for a year since February, 16.
|
