The Moscow metro intends to buy wagons that are traversable along the entire length of the train’s interior, the metro’s chief said Thursday.
“We are developing new technical specifications for rolling stock with improved characteristics for 2014 to 2016. We want to make a train that has a continuous passage from head to tail,” metro head Ivan Besedin said at a news briefing, Interfax reported.
Besedin added that the new wagon design would allow passengers to be more evenly distributed and make their trip more comfortable.
He said that the new specifications would appear on the metro’s website within the next month and that they would also be sent to manufacturers for evaluation.
During the period from 2012 to 2013 the metro would acquire Rusich and 760-series wagon models, which have operated in the metro since 2003 and 2010, respectively, he added.
Besedin also said his company has dramatically increased its profit in 2012 without raising ticket prices.
“By reducing costs and optimizing performance in the first half of 2012, we have almost doubled our profit,” Besedin said at the news conference.
Besedin added that over this period, the number of passengers had increased by 3.7 percent to 1.2 billion. In addition, from January to June the number of passengers paying full fare prices had increased by 13.5 percent, while sales of discounted tickets had dropped by 13.9 percent.
He said the average distance per trip is 14.3 kilometers, with each passenger spending an average of 31 minutes and 47 seconds in the metro.
