Published on: 2026-10-02
Source: Moscow Government – Moscow Government –
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On Metro Builder’s Day, celebrated in Russia on October 2, the Moscow Transport Museum revealed the secrets of the underground floor of its permanent exhibition. The exhibition is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes of the capital’s subway and the people who have been creating it for nearly a century under complex engineering and geological conditions.
“In September
Sergey Sobyanin opened the Moscow Transport Museum. The underground floor of the permanent exhibition is entirely dedicated to the Moscow Metro — one of the largest and most technologically advanced transport systems in the world. Seven thematic sections, six metro cars, and an AGM motor carriage demonstrate how the capital’s metro was built, operates, and will develop in the future. On Metro Builder’s Day, we sincerely thank the highly skilled professionals thanks to whom the metro continues to grow, and we invite everyone to the museum to learn more about the capital’s metro, Maxim Liksutov.
The garage on Novoryazanskaya Street (building 27), built by Konstantin Melnikov a century ago, originally did not include any underground structures: trucks were parked and serviced here. During the restoration and adaptation of the building for museum purposes, for the part of the exhibition dedicated to the Moscow Metro, an underground floor was created. Before its construction, specialists strengthened the existing foundations. Then, stepping back from the inner boundaries of the historic walls, a sturdy underground structure was built. This protected the building from the slightest shifts. In 2023, while work was still ongoing below, a giant assembly opening over 22 meters long was cut into the ceiling of the first floor. Through it, construction cranes lowered multi-ton historic cars, having previously removed doors and windows to avoid damaging the artifacts. All meter-gauge cars were placed on real rails, which were produced at the Evrasa plant in the Kemerovo region.
“The metro is an underground reflection of the city, a symbol of its integrity, as well as the result of finding solutions in an equation with many variables. For us, it is a special place: here, what is usually considered and studied as separate topics is amazingly combined — precise engineering calculations and artistic conception, complex technologies and human courage, the scale of the city and the work of an individual. In the permanent exhibition, we tried not to separate these aspects but to connect them into a single formula — the metro formula. One part of it is the history of metro construction. Here you can not only learn how technologies have changed over almost 100 years but also hear the memories of the first metro builders in a special audio installation,” said Oksana Bondarenko, Director of the Moscow Transport Museum.
The underground part is divided into seven zones, or formulas, which represent the metro as a giant living organism.
Thus, the formula of subway construction tells about the creators of the capital’s subway and modern technologies: gigantic tunneling complexes and double-track tunnels. Here, visitors can find themselves inside a mirrored installation recreating a tunnel boring shield and feel its dimensions.
The interactive model located in the next hall demonstrates the station in cross-section. It turns out that the passenger platform is only a small part of the structure. Around it are hidden powerful traction substations, air ventilation shafts, escalator machine rooms, and massive anti-nuclear airtight seals. Here you can also see the first mechanical cash registers and turnstiles that accepted tokens.
The control panel recreates the atmosphere of a unified metro dispatch center. A visitor can stand at the console and see how emergency situations are handled: for example, how dispatchers maintain the schedule if a foreign object is found on the tracks.
A separate formula is dedicated to the technical evolution of metro cars. It brings engineering solutions, usually hidden from the passenger’s view — from Westinghouse air brakes to driverless movement systems — to the surface and turns them into interactive exhibits. Among the unique specimens are the pre-war Berlin Type B car, the postwar workhorse Type G car, the legendary Type Yezh-3 car, the iconic “Numbered” car, the futuristic “Yauza,” the flagship train “Moscow-2019,” and the AGM motor car. The preservation and restoration of parts of the historic rolling stock were made possible with the support of Transmashholding. Visitors can enter inside to study tactile models and examine the interior design elements of the last century.
The architectural formula contains hundreds of cells with sketches, rare drawings, archival photos, and fragments of station finishes. Visitors can find their own station among dozens of models.
In the development formula, the multimedia map shows how, since 1935, metro lines have united disparate districts of Moscow into a metropolis. The exhibition clearly explains why the emergence of a new line instantly changes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Here, visitors will see the very three-dimensional model of the capital’s metro that demonstrates the depth of station placement.
The navigation formula will introduce enamel plaques of the first order, archival station diagrams, and the first paper tickets. In the center is an installation, passing under which you can create your own Moscow metro melody through movement.
To visit the exhibition, you need to book tickets in advance on the official website Museum of Transport of Moscow.
The Moscow Transport Museum has long gone beyond the framework of a classical exhibition space. The team organizes guided tours of metro stations, and at the Northern River Terminal, there is a special project of the institution — an exhibition “The Lady with a Problem”, dedicated to outstanding women — engineers and designers, whose design innovations created the unique appearance of the capital’s metro. It can be visited for free any day from 08:00 to 20:00.
To find out how the capital has changed in recent years, what initiatives are currently being implemented to make the lives of city residents even more comfortable, and what awaits Moscow and its inhabitants in the near future, one can see in a large-scale special project on the portal mos.ru, dedicated to the development of key sectors of Moscow. Among them are transport, industry, healthcare, education, sports, and the construction industry.
Project “Transport” will be of interest to everyone who wants to learn about the main stages of development of this field, support for electric transport, and the development of the route network.
In recent years, Moscow’s public transportation has become more comfortable and environmentally friendly, travel time moving around the city has significantly decreased, and infrastructure for private electric vehicles has emerged.
Get the main news promptly on Moscow city’s official channels in messengers “Max” and “Telegram”.
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