Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro, a state-owned enterprise, is a rapid transitsystem serving Moscow and the neighbouring towns. Opened in 1935, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2013, the Moscow Metro has 188 stations and its route length is 312.9 km. The system is mostly underground, with the deepest section 84 metres at the Park Pobedy station. The Moscow Metro is the world's fourth most heavily used rapid transit system after Tokyo subway, Seoul Metropolitan Subway and Beijing Metro. Almost 10 million people ride the Moscow Metro every day, which is more than the New York and London systems combined.

The Metro is impeccable, very clean and controlled, with trains running every minute, all day long. It is interesting to note that each line is identified according to a number, a name and a colour. Voice announcements refer to the lines by name. A male voice announces the next station when traveling towards the centre of the city, and a female voice when going away from it. On the circle line the clockwise direction has a male announcer for the stations, while the counter-clockwise direction has a female announcer. 

The Moscow Metro was one of the USSR’s most extravagant architectural projects. Stalin ordered the metro’s artists and architects to design a structure that embodied svet (radiance or brilliance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future). With their reflective marble walls, high ceilings and grandiose chandeliers, many Moscow Metro stations are actually sights to visit, characterized by an incredible architecture. The most beautiful stations are: Polshchad Revolyutsli, Mayakovskaya, Teatranaya, Komsomolskaya, Novoslobodskaya and the ones in the ring line.