Moscow Monorail

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.

Experimental monorail railway in MITT

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 (MITT) and Luzhkov's close associate. (Luzhkov and Solomonov jointly patented 19 inventions, including patent RU 2180295 "Monorail transport system".[5] In 1999, Solomonov directed Luzhkov's mayoral election campaign.) 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 (NIiPI General Plan of Moscow) 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".[6] MITT received 1.4 million rubles from Moscow 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] The decree 49-PP specified the rules, regulations and parameters for the construction of the Moscow Monorail.[11]

Geographical location of Moscow Monorail (navy blue line) with other metro lines and Central Circle indicated with black lines.

The monorail had been planned to run from the M8 highway overpass to Severyanin railway station,[12] but later the project was changed to connect two nearby metro stations (Timiryazevskaya and Botanichesky Sad) 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.[13] On 21 June, tasks were assigned to the companies contracted to prepare the monorail project:[14]

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 8.6 km (5.3 mi) long and to have nine stations.[15] 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.[16] On 22 May 2001, the Government of Moscow announced that this line would open in the second quarter of 2003.[17] 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 of concrete poles (2002)

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" (electromagnetic passenger transport).[18] The Moscow Government documents called the monorail line being built "experimental".[19]

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.

Concrete works on station Ulitsa Akademika Koroleva (2002)

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.[20] 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 25 metres (82 ft) from the monorail supports. Restrictions were also imposed on work that lowers the groundwater within 100 metres (330 ft) 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.[21] On 21 February, during a trial run near Ulitsa of the Academic Koroleva, one of the trains ripped off 15 metres (49 ft) of the third rail.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24] On the same day, Dmitry Gayev, director of the Moscow Metro, presented the line to the media.[25]

On 20 November 2004, the monorail carried its first passengers. At that time the monorail was running two trains at 30-minute intervals while the only boarding and exiting station was Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina. The monorail ran from 10:00 to 16:00, by the suggestion of Moskovsky Metropoliten. On 29 November, Timiryazevskaya station was opened for boarding and exiting. The cost for one ride during the excursion period was 50 rubles for adults, 25 rubles for students (6 years of age or older) of universities, institutes and colleges and free rides for children under six years of age (later changed to seven).

At the beginning of 2005, a project for the continuation of the route was approved and the costs of that project were estimated. In July, the travel time from Timeryzevskaya to Ulitsa Sergei Eisensteina was cut down to about 22 minutes, the line's operating hours were extended to encompass 8:00 to 20:00 and the stations Vystavotchny Tsentr and Teletsentr were opened for passenger boarding and exiting. On 6 February, electrical equipment near Vystavochny Tsentr station caught fire, with no injuries. Based on previous experience, the monorail was closed until 11 February, due to concern of a possible high voltage leak near the accident area.

On 7 May and 1 June, two accidents involving damage of the third rail happened.[26] Repair work in both cases took several days. It was decided to perform additional monorail reliability checks which suspended its opening until Q2 2006.[27]

The last station was opened on 1 September 2006. On 19 and 20 October, the trial was conducted to assess the readiness of the line to have six trains en route simultaneously. According to the monorail staff, these trials showed the lack of sufficient reliability of the rolling stock. Because of this, the launch of the transportation mode is delayed to Q1 2007.[28]

During the off-hours of 26 December 2006, approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) of trolley cable was damaged between stations Vystavochny Tsentr and Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina. The damaged site was repaired quickly and, on 30 December, the line continued operation. Trolleys may have been damaged by an excavator or other heavy equipment. On 27 December, the repaired EPS 01 train was accepted for service and soon cannibalized for spare parts.

In the beginning of 2007, Alexander Lebedev filed claims with the prosecutor of Moscow in regards to his beliefs that the government was making inefficient choices on budget matters in regards to the monorail.[29] A deputy later published a large section of the complaint in a newspaper.

The period of time that the monorail was in excursion mode launched several complaints against the Moscow Government that were similar to Lebedev's. The highpoint of the complaints was on 20 August, when Dmitry Gayev, answering a question about expansion asked by journalists, said: "This line still does not have any expansion plans, but this does not mean we have to shut it down. This monorail is experimental in nature and is in an experimental regime. Monorails have the right to live, and anything on the territory of Moscow has the right to live, but there is no plan for expansion.".[30] The media took this to mean that the experiment with the monorail had ended, and that there would be no more plans to develop rapid monorail transit systems in the capital.[31][32]

In the first quarter of 2007, work was considered to be done on fixing minor problems encountered in the semi-automatic control system. Discussion about the transition began in December after the addition of bridges connecting the platforms at normal stations to ease emergency flow.[33] Also in December, a certificate was signed stating that the current owners of the monorail would be willing to transfer ownership to the Moscow government.

Stations opened for regular passenger service from 6:50 to 23:00 on 1 January 2008 and the line started working in transportation mode on 10 January. Transit time was 9 minutes to 22 minutes, with between two and five monorails simultaneously running. Crew sizes decreased to only the driver, the fare was ₽19 per trip and student tickets became available. The monorail carried 37,871 passengers in the first week of transportation mode, with daily use was of 5,700-6,200 passengers on weekdays and 7,000 on weekends.[34] and reaching 12,000 per day by February.[35] Daily monorail usage for 2008 averaged 9,600 passengers per day.[36]

In November 2008, the maximum number of operating trains on the line increased 20% from 5 to 6, and a new schedule came into effect from 1 December.

Average daily usage in 2009 reached 11,200 passengers per day, reflecting a 17.3% increase from the previous year,[36] and waiting times between trains that year fell by 20 seconds to 6:35 minutes. A round trip on the line was 39:40 minutes.

The Moscow City Government expanded in July 2008 the list of categories that entitled people to free use of the monorail services.[37]

Flat fare rose in 2010 to ₽26, the same as the Moscow Metro's, and tickets subsequently became valid on each transport mode from 1 January 2013. Transfers from the metro to the monorail and vice versa are free for 90 minutes upon entering either one.[4]

Moscow Metro boss Dmitry Pegov stated in December 2016, that the monorail would "operate essentially in excursion mode" from 2017; intervals between trains would increase to 15 minutes in peak hours, and to 20–25 minutes at other times.

Along with financial problems,[44] the closure of the Moscow Museum of Mass Transit for the construction of the monorail depot was criticized. The exhibits were moved into a tram repair station and are now not accessible to the public. Other residents complained about the change of the skyline after the construction of the Academica Koroleva Road station — they believe that the monorail track is not aesthetically pleasing and blocks the view across the street of the same name.[45]