Moscow, the capital city of The Russian Federation is known for its beautiful and elaborate metro stations.

There are also some rather normal, clean and functional metro stations as well that were built in more recent times.

Here are the sights and sounds of one such station I had the opportunity to visit while in Moscow, Russia 🇷🇺

The Moscow Metro[a] is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one 11-kilometre (6.8 mi) line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union.

As of 2021, the Moscow Metro, excluding the Moscow Central Circle, the Moscow Central Diameters and the Moscow Monorail, has 250 stations (287 with Moscow Central Circle) and its route length is 435.7 km (270.7 mi), making it the fifth-longest in the world and the longest outside China. The system is mostly underground, with the deepest section 74 metres (243 ft) underground at the Park Pobedy station, one of the world's deepest underground stations. It is the busiest metro system in Europe, and is considered a tourist attraction in itself.

The Moscow Metro, a state-owned enterprise,[3] is 381 km (237 mi) long and consists of 15 lines and 250 stations[4] organized in a spoke-hub distribution paradigm, with the majority of rail lines running radially from the centre of Moscow to the outlying areas. The Koltsevaya Line (line 5) forms a 20-kilometre (12 mi) long circle which enables passenger travel between these diameters, and the new Moscow Central Circle (line 14) forms a 54-kilometre (34 mi) longer circle that serves a similar purpose on middle periphery. Most stations and lines are underground, but some lines have at-grade and elevated sections; the Filyovskaya Line, Butovskaya Line and the Central Circle Line are the three lines that are at grade or mostly at grade.

The Moscow Metro uses the Russian gauge of 1,520 millimetres (60 in), like other Russian railways, and an underrunning third rail with a supply of 825 Volt DC, except line 13 and 14. The average distance between stations is 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi); the shortest (502 metres (1,647 ft) long) section is between Vystavochnaya and Mezhdunarodnaya, and the longest (6.62 kilometres (4.11 mi) long) is between Krylatskoye and Strogino. Long distances between stations have the positive effect of a high cruising speed of 41.7 kilometres per hour (25.9 mph).

The Moscow Metro opens at 05:25 and closes at 01:00.[6] The exact opening time varies at different stations according to the arrival of the first train, but all stations simultaneously close their entrances at 01:00 for maintenance, and so do transfer corridors. The minimum interval between trains is 90 seconds during the morning and evening rush hours.

As of 2017, the system had an average daily ridership of 6.99 million passengers. Peak daily ridership of 9.71 million was recorded on 26 December 2014.

Free Wi-Fi has been available on all lines of the Moscow Metro since 2 December 2014.

Of the metro's 250 stations, 88 are deep underground, 123 are shallow, 12 are surface-level and 5 are elevated.

The deep stations comprise 55 triple-vaulted pylon stations, 19 triple-vaulted column stations, and one single-vault station. The shallow stations comprise 79 spanned column stations (a large portion of them following the "centipede" design), 33 single-vaulted stations (Kharkov technology), and three single-spanned stations. In addition, there are 12 ground-level stations, four elevated stations, and one station (Vorobyovy Gory) on a bridge. Two stations have three tracks, and one has double halls. Seven of the stations have side platforms (only one of which is subterranean). In addition, there were two temporary stations within rail yards. One station is reserved for future service (Delovoy Tsentr for the Kalininsko-Solntsevskaya line).

The stations being constructed under Stalin's regime, in the style of socialist classicism, were meant as underground "palaces of the people". Stations such as Komsomolskaya, Kiyevskaya or Mayakovskaya and others built after 1935 in the second phase of the evolution of the network are tourist landmarks: their photogenic architecture, large chandeliers and detailed decoration are unusual for an urban transport system of the twentieth century.

The stations opened in the 21st century are influenced by an international and more neutral style with improved technical quality.

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