И. А. Курбасова Е. И. Силантьева

II

(4) Nowadays one of the most highly developed under­ground systems in the world is that of Moscow. Its beauti­ful architecture and cleanliness are well known. All stations are finished in marble and granite with mosaic decoration.

(5) Work on the first section from "Sokolniki" to Central Park" was initiated in 1932.1 While the workers were building this line they encountered many engineering difficulties because of soil conditions: much soil was com­posed of running sand.² According to the project almost all lines were to be built close to the surface. However, "some sections had to be laid in deep tunnels because of geological conditions. More than 75,000 men and women took part in the construction of the Moscow Metro. On Sundays they were assisted by thousands of volunteers. The construction of this line was fully completed in 1935.

(6) The Moscow Metro consists of a circle line with twelve stations and other lines radiating from the centre to the countryside. The total length of metro lines in Moscow is now nearly 300 km. Construction work is still going on.

(7) The Moscow Metro handles several millions of passengers a day. At peak hours trains are to run with intervals of about 80 seconds. Stations are further apart³ than those in London so that trains run at a higher aver­age speed compared with that developed by underground trains abroad. For greater safety of travel all trains on the Moscow Metro are to be regularly examined.

(8) The Soviet Metro is equipped with the latest machin­ery and has a perfect air-conditioning system. Experiments are being carried out now on a large scale with an auto­matic driver, i. e. an electronic computer controlling all train movements. There is no doubt that the moderniza­tion of the Moscow Metro will continue and looking into the future we can see the time when a system of automa­tons will provide a more efficient public service on our Metro.