St Petersburg has put the planning projects for the first two sections of its future Circle Line metro up for public discussion. The sections run from Lesnaya-2 to Ploshchad Kalinina and on to Ladozhskaya-2. The discussion started on 6 October and runs until 3 November; the drawings will be on display on the website of the city's Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture (KGA) from 14 to 23 October.
This is paperwork, not construction. A planning project reserves land for stations, entrances and tunnels; it sets no opening date. Governor Alexander Beglov has named 2040 as the target for the line.
Where the Circle Line would run
The Circle Line is part of the city's General Plan. It is meant to loop around the historic centre and link the districts that surround it, so that fewer passengers have to change trains at the crowded central interchanges. The current scheme has 20 stations, 14 of them with transfers to existing or planned lines.
The idea is almost 90 years old: the first ring appeared on paper in 1937. The only part built so far is Sportivnaya, opened in 1997 as a two-level station designed for a future cross-platform change to the ring.
Section one: Lesnaya-2 to Ploshchad Kalinina
The first section is 3.8 km long and designed for 30 pairs of trains per hour. Lesnaya-2 connects with Lesnaya on the red line. Two new deep-level stations with island platforms are planned:
- Arsenalnaya — two exits onto Marshala Blyukhera Avenue;
- Ploshchad Kalinina — two exits where Kondratyevsky and Polyustrovsky avenues cross.
