Moscow announces massive metro building plan

Moscow announced Wednesday plans to extend its ornate but overcrowded metro system by half as much again in the next eight years at a cost of 100 billion rubles (ê3.4 billion) per year.

The city hall presented a plan to increase the network by 70 stations and 150 kilometres (93 miles) of track, which it said would see the metro "increase in size by 50 percent."

Deputy mayor in charge of town planning and construction, Marat Khusnullin, told a city government meeting that "no one has ever built a metro on such a scale in this country, even in the best Soviet years."

Currently the Moscow metro, opened since 1935 and famed for its elaborate Soviet-era mosaics and chandeliers on station platforms, has 185 stations and 305.5 kilometres (189 miles) of track.

Although the Stalin-era decorative touches are now dingy and in need of restoration, the system is largely efficient and cheap. A single ticket costs 28 rubles (ê0.96) and trains run as frequently as every 30 seconds at peak times.

The city has done little to modernise its overground services and has ripped up tramlines, forcing more passengers to use the metro, which carries nine million passengers on weekdays.

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