The Moscow Little Ring Railway (Russian: Малое кольцо Московской железной дороги) is a ring-shaped railway which encircles the center of the city of Moscow, Russia. It was built between 1902 and 1908 and is currently used for cargo traffic. The railroad is operated by the Moscow Railway, a subsidiary of the Russian Railways. Originally, the railroad has seventeen stations and was used for passenger connections. The station buildings are constructed in the same style and are referred to as typical samples of Russian industrial architecture of the beginning of the 20th century.[1] As of 2011, twelve railway stations operated at the railroad. The total length of the ring is 54 kilometres (34 mi).[2]
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In 1800, the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val became the outer border of Moscow. In 1879, some areas, including Sokolniki, were appended to the city, however, at the time Moscow was encircled by a number of settlements, which formed the agglomeration and had poor transport connections to each other. A number of proposals to build a ring railroad around the center were made in the 1860s and the 1870s. One such project was rejected in 1877 by the Moscow City Duma which cited inefficiency.[3] However, the transportation problems became more obvious, and in 1898 after Tsar Nicholas II sent a message declaring that it was desirable to built a railroad, a project competition was opened. The project by Pyotr Rashevsky, who proposed to build a ring of the total length of 54.4 kilometres (33.8 mi), won the competition.
The construction started in 1902, and the railway was completed in 1907. The first train run in July 1907. In 1908, the railroad was declared to be completed, and it became part of the Nikolayevskaya Railway, of which the main line run between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Passenger service was organized. There were four trains per day. The trains first stopped in Nikolayevsky Railway Station, got to the ring at the Presnya Station, and then separated into two, one train running clockwise, and the other one running counterclockwise.[3]
The Direction of the Nikolayevskaya Railway was located in Saint Petersburg, and thus it was inconvenient for decision making. In 1916, the ring railway was transferred to the Moscow-Kursk Railway. In 1934, it became a separate railroad, and in 1956 it was included to the Moscow Railway.[3]
In the clockwise direction, the following stations have been built,
The Little Ring Railway currently serves industrial enterprises located outside the center of Moscow. Many of these went bankrupt as the result of the economic crisis of the 1990s, or else were or are planned to be relocated outside of Moscow. Instead, there were plans to reopen passenger traffic, which would bypass the congested city center. There are thirteen Moscow metro stations located close to the Little Ring Railway, as well as eight passenger railway stations. In 2008, the plans were signed by the Moscow authorities and the Russian Railways. According to the plan, passenger service should have been opened in 2010 at the stretch between Presnya and Kanatchikovo stations. By 2015, the whole ring should have been made available for passenger service.[2] The plans were never realized and are currently shelved.