Koltsevaya Line

5  Koltsevaya Line (Circle Line)
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Moscow Metro
Locale	Moscow
Stations	12
Operation
Opened	1 January 1950
Operator(s)	Moskovsky Metropoliten
Character	Underground
Rolling stock	81-740.4/741.4
Technical
Line length	19.4 km (12.1 mi)
Track gauge	1,520 mm (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in)
Electrification	Third rail
Route map  9  Novoslobodskaya Prospekt Mira  6   2  Belorusskaya Komsomolskaya  1  to Krasnaya Presnya yard Kurskaya  3   10   7  Krasnopresnenskaya Taganskaya  7   8  Moskva River Moskva River  3   4  Kiyevskaya Vodootvodny Canal Moskva River Paveletskaya  2   1  Park Kultury Dobryninskaya  9  Moskva River Oktyabrskaya  6  This diagram:

The Koltsevaya Line (Russian: Кольцева́я ли́ния, Circle Line,IPA: [kəlʲtsɨˈvajə ˈlʲinʲɪjə]), (Line 5), is a railway line of the Moscow Metro. The line was built in 1950-1954 as a circle route orbiting central Moscow, and became crucial to the transfer patterns of passengers.

Of all the lines, the Circle Line remains the most famous. It is notable for stations built at the height of Stalinist architecture. Notable stations on the Circle Line include Komsomolskaya, Novoslobodskaya and Kiyevskaya.

In the initial plans of the Metro's development there was no provision for the Circle Line. Instead it was planned for complete cross-city routes ("diameters") to cross the city centre with interchange stations at their intersections. However, after the opening of the second stage in 1938 it was clear from the excessive loads on those junctions, that this plan would be insufficient to deal with the growing number of passengers as the system expanded. An urban legend suggests that Joseph Stalin himself suggested the line when he placed a coffee cup on the original development map (with no ring) and then lifting it and leaving a circular stain around the centre of the city and said "It's your main fault, it should be built". It is thought this is the reason for the line's brown colour on all metro maps.

In principle the alignment of the ring was also debated, whether to use the Garden Ring avenue that encircles the centre or a wider circumference. In the end it was decided to partially align the southern path along the Sadovoye Koltso, and let the northern part deviate to connect most of Moscow's rail terminals. This solved an important logistical problem, because, due to the layout of Russia's railroads, it would be impossible to travel from a region on one side of Moscow to another without having to make a manual transfer from one terminal to another.

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Wikipedia