The southeastern section opens first
The first part of the Moscow Metro route now called the Tagansko–Krasnopresnenskaya Line entered service as the Zhdanovskaya Line. On 31 December 1966, a 12.9-kilometer, seven-station route opened between Taganskaya and Zhdanovskaya, later renamed Vykhino. It passed through Proletarskaya, Volgogradsky Prospekt, Tekstilshchiki, Kuzminki and Ryazansky Prospekt, bringing southeastern residential districts into the metro network. The Zhdanovskoye depot also opened that year, providing a base for stabling and maintaining trains.
At this point there was no connected metro route to the northwest. The southeastern section subsequently extended 2.9 kilometers toward the city center, to Ploshchad Nogina, later Kitay-Gorod, creating a starting point for further construction across central Moscow.
A second radial route takes shape in the northwest
On 30 December 1972, the 7.2-kilometer Krasnopresnenskaya Line opened from Barrikadnaya to Oktyabrskoye Pole. Its five stations were Barrikadnaya, Ulitsa 1905 Goda, Begovaya, Polezhayevskaya and Oktyabrskoye Pole. It operated separately from the southeastern section. Both radial routes approached the center, but the intervening section still had to be built before trains could cross the city.
Moscow’s metro construction organization and its specialist units divided the work. Construction and Installation Directorate No. 9 handled mechanized earthworks, pile driving and extraction, and lifting operations. In a 1973 report, its chief engineer, Zege, described a production base whose central dispatch office maintained radio contact with seven construction districts, monitoring daily tasks and resolving equipment problems.
Coordinating machinery and work crews
Crane operations changed during construction of the first Krasnopresnenskaya section. Instead of simply supplying equipment to another construction unit and settling the bill, the mechanization unit assigned crane operators to work directly with production crews. Maintenance also shifted gradually from lengthy repairs off site to scheduled preventive work at the base. Mobile repair teams dealt with vehicle faults between shifts.
Zege also reported that Directorate No. 9 worked with a research institute for construction and road machinery to develop pile-extraction equipment. At Begovaya station, it recovered about 80 tonnes of piling, including individual piles up to 17.5 meters long. This work linked the recovery of temporary support materials with construction of the station itself, showing how metro works depended on transport, equipment maintenance and reuse of steel.
References: [3]
Stabilizing sand beside existing buildings
Cut-and-cover stations required protection for neighboring buildings and underground utilities against ground movement. In 1971, workers tested a retaining wall of chemically stabilized soil beside a station excavation on the Krasnopresnenskaya radial route to protect a five-story building. Chief surveyor Bush, district manager Yerin and engineer Gorlov subsequently published a joint report on the trial.
The ground consisted of carbonate-bearing alluvial sand. Grouting created a continuous stabilized mass, which the team excavated afterward to inspect its integrity. Two weeks later, one side of the test wall had been exposed to a depth of five to six meters. No cracks appeared, and horizontal displacement at the top was no more than 20 millimeters. Exposure on the other side also showed continuous stabilization. These observations concerned the test retaining wall and supplied concrete evidence for choosing construction methods near existing buildings.
References: [4]
Joining the central section and crossing the canal
On 17 December 1975, the 4.1-kilometer section from Barrikadnaya to Ploshchad Nogina entered service. Pushkinskaya and Kuznetsky Most joined the eastern and western ends into the Zhdanovsko–Krasnopresnenskaya Line. On 28 December, the line extended another 8.1 kilometers northwest from Oktyabrskoye Pole through Shchukinskaya, Tushinskaya and Skhodnenskaya to Planernaya.
Yu. A. Koshelev, then head of Moscow’s metro construction organization, listed the division of work in his review. Directorates Nos. 7 and 6 built the two central stations; No. 5 constructed the tunnel under the Moscow Canal; No. 3 built the single-vault Skhodnenskaya station; and No. 10 completed Planernaya and its depot. Different teams advanced the central stations, canal tunnel and new northwestern stations, ultimately creating a continuous route between the northwestern and southeastern industrial districts and the city center.
Adjusting operations after the connection
Train-control equipment continued to expand in stages after civil construction. In 1974, Ezh-3 trains on the Barrikadnaya–Oktyabrskoye Pole section already used automatic speed control and automatic driving, with one driver operating each train. By 1977, this method had spread to the entire Zhdanovsko–Krasnopresnenskaya Line. The Planernoye depot entered service on 1 January 1976.
Power management changed as well. Following operational trials, the TEM-74 electronic remote-control system developed by the All-Union Railway Transport Research Institute was introduced on the line’s newly built sections in early 1977. The transition from two separate routes to through service across the city was accompanied by changes to depots, signaling and power control, forming a complete set of facilities for continuing operation.
References: [2]