The head engineer of Moscow's metro has denied Russian media reports that the city's Light Blue Line is set for a two-year closure while renovation work is carried out on the subway.
Local news site M24 on Monday quoted chief engineer Nikolai Babushkin as saying the Light Blue Line — also known as the Filyovksy — could be shut for two years while the renovation work took place.
Babushkin later cleared up his comments, telling the TASS news agency that the project had yet to be approved by the relevant parties and that station closures would only take place in the most extreme circumstances.
In his interview with M24, Babushkin said work desperately needed to be carried out on the Filyovsky line as it “cuts up [Moscow's northwestern] district like a dam.”
Proposals include raising the line above ground on elevated tracks, or leaving the rail line in place but fortifying its tunnel and renovating stations, Babushkin was quoted as saying by M24.
A stretch of the Light Blue Line currently runs on elevated tracks, and seven of its 13 stations are located above ground, according to the subway website.
Parts of the Light Blue Line also run close to the Dark Blue Line, which was the site of a devastating derailment this summer that killed 23 people and injured nearly 270 others.
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