Moscow

Moscow (/ˈmɒskaʊ/ or /ˈmɒskoʊ/; Russian: Москва́, tr. Moskva; IPA: [mɐˈskva]) is the capital and the largest city of Russia, with 12.2 million residents within the city limits and 16.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a federal city in Russia.

Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. By broader definitions Moscow is among the world's largest cities, being the 14th largest metro area, the 17th largest agglomeration, the 16th largest urban area, and the 10th largest by population within city limits worldwide. According to Forbes 2013, Moscow has been ranked as the ninth most expensive city in the world by Mercer and has one of the world's largest urban economies, being ranked as an alpha global city according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and is also one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world according to the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth. It is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe; the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe; and the Moscow International Business Center. By its territorial expansion on July 1, 2012 southwest into the Moscow Oblast, the area of the capital more than doubled; from 1,091 square kilometers (421 sq mi) up to 2,511 square kilometers (970 sq mi), and gained an additional population of 233,000 people.

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro (Russian: Моско́вский метрополите́н, tr. Moskovsky metropoliten; IPA: [mɐˈskofskʲɪj mʲɪtrəpəlʲɪˈtɛn]) is a rapid transit system serving Moscow, Russia and the neighbouring Moscow Oblast towns of Krasnogorsk, Reutov and Kotelniki. 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 2016, the Moscow Metro has 200 stations and its route length is 333.3 km (207.1 mi). 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. As of 2016, the Moscow Metro is the busiest metro system outside of Asia and the 5th longest in the world.

Operation

The Moscow Metro, a state-owned enterprise, is 331.4 km (205.9 mi) long and consists of twelve lines and 199 stations. As of 2013 the system has an average daily ridership of 6.73 million passengers with the peak of 9.28 million. Each line is identified by a name, an alphanumeric index (usually consisting of just a number) and a colour. The upcoming station is announced by a male voice on inbound trains to the city center, and by a female voice on outbound trains. On the Circle line, the clockwise direction uses a male announcer, and the counter-clockwise direction, a female. The colour assigned to each line for display on maps and signs becomes the line's identifier colloquially except for the nondescript shades of green or blue assigned to the Kakhovskaya Line (route 11), the Zamoskvoretskaya Line (route 2), the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line (route 10), and the Butovskaya Line (route 12).

Train station

A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot (see below) is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight.

It generally consists of at least one track-side platform and a station building (depot) providing such ancillary services as ticket sales and waiting rooms. If a station is on a single-track line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as "stops" or, in some parts of the world, as "halts" (flag stops).

Stations may be at ground level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other transport modes such as buses, trams or other rapid transit systems.

Terminology

In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station. Railway station and railroad station are less frequent; also, American usage makes a distinction between the terms railroad and railway.

In Britain and other Commonwealth countries, traditional usage favours railway station or simply station, even though train station, which is often perceived as an Americanism, is now about as common as railway station in writing; railroad station is not used, railroad being obsolete there. In British usage, the word station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified.

Metro station

A metro station or subway station is a railway station for a rapid transit system, often known by names such as "metro", "underground" and "subway". Such a station can be elevated, underground, or about ground level depending on the level of the train tracks. At crossings of metro lines, they are multi-level. There are entrances/exits at ground/street level, often with stairs or sometimes ramps or escalators leading to any elevated or lowered track level area.

At street level the logo of the metro company marks the entrance of the station, along with the schematics of the services at the station. Some metro operators also post the station name at the station entrance. Often there are several entrances for one station, saving one from having to cross the street. In such a case, tunnels or overhead stations can often also be used just to cross the street.

In some cases metro stations are connected to important buildings by a direct enclosed hallway (see underground city).

Russia

Coordinates: 60°N 90°E / 60°N 90°E / 60; 90

Russia (ⁱ/ˈrʌʃə/; Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə]), is a sovereign state in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is the world's ninth most populous country with over 144 million people at the end of 2015.

Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.