Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal

Yaroslavsky station is the western terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railway in the world. Its name originates from the ancient city of Yaroslavl, the first large city along the railway, situated 284 km along the railway from Moscow. The first Yaroslavsky station was built on this site in 1862, next to the Moscow's first rail terminal.

The existing Neorussian revival building facing Komsomolskaya Square was built in 1902–1904 by Fyodor Shechtel. The main departure hall beneath the fairy-tale roof connected directly into the boarding concourse. In 1910, its platforms and concourse were expanded by Lev Kekushev.

Two major additions, in 1965–66 and 1995, further expanded station capacity.

Currently, the station serves around 300 pairs of trains daily.

All Moscow Railway Terminals are located close to the city center, but each handles trains from different parts of Europe and Asia. There are smaller railway stations in Moscow. As train tickets are relatively cheap, they are the mode of preference for travelling Russians, especially when departing to Saint Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city. Moscow is the western terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which traverses nearly 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Russian territory to Vladivistok on the Pacific coast.

Suburbs and satellite cities are connected by commuter elektrichka (electric rail) network. Elektrichkas depart from each of these terminals to the nearby (up to 140 kilometres (87 mi) large railway stations. The Moscow little Ring Railway is only used for cargo traffic.

Questions

1. What is the transportation infrastructure of Moscow? What makes it a transportation hub?

2. When was the Moscow metro opened? How many stations does it include?

3. How many rail terminals are there in Moscow?

4. What trains are used to come to Moscow from suburbs and satellite cities?

5. What is the Moscow Little Ring Railway used for?

Air

There are five primary commercial airports serving Moscow: Sheremetyevo International Airport, Domodedovo International Airport, Bykovo Airport, Ostafyevo International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. Sheremetyevo International Airport is the most common entry point for foreign passengers, handling sixty percent of all international flights. Domodedoivo Airport is the leading airport in Russia in terms of passenger throughout, and is the primary gateway to long-haul domestic and CIS destinations and its international traffic rivals Sheremetyevo's. The three other airports particularly offer flights within Russia and to and from states from the former Soviet Union. Moscow's airports vary in distances from MKAD beltway: Bykovo is the farthest, at 35 kilometres (21 mi); Domodedovo is next at 22 kilometres (13.7 mi); Vnukovo is 11 kilometres (6.8 mi); Sheremetyevo is 10 kilometres (6.25 mi); and Ostafievo, the nearest, is about 8 kilometres (5 mi) from MKAD.

There are several smaller airports near Moscow, such as Myachkovo Airport, intended for private aircraft, helicopters and charters.

Questions

1. How many airports serve Moscow?

2. Which airport is the most common entry for foreign passengers?

3. Which airport is the farthest from Moscow?

4. Which airport is the nearest to Moscow?

5. What is Myachkovo Airport intended for?

Road

1. highway	- автомагистраль
2. Moscow Ring Road (MKAD)	- МКАД
3. acute	- острый
4. traffic jam	- затор, пробка

5. insufficient

- недостаточный

Moscow is the center of a network of federal highways of different directions that connect the capital with the administrative centers of the Russian Federation, and cities of neighboring countries. Moscow has a well-developed transport infrastructure with three transport rings: Garden Ring, Third Transport Ring and Moscow Ring Road. There are plans to construct the Central Ring Road (Ring Road) in the suburbs of the city to unload the transit traffic.

The MKAD, along with the Third Transport Ring and the future Fourth Transport Ring, is one of only three freeways that run within Moscow city limits. However, there are several other roadway systems that form concentric circles around the city.

Since the 1990s, Moscow has been facing the acute transportation problem. There are over 2.6 million cars in the city on a daily basis. Recent years have seen the growth in the number of cars, which have caused traffic jams and lack of parking space to become major problems.

The city government has taken a number of attempts to resolve this problem by road construction. So, Ring Road was reconstructed, Third Ring Road was built, the construction of the Fourth Ring began in 2008, but the transport problem remains unresolved.

The problem of insufficient number of parking spaces also remains unsolved.

Questions

1. How many transport rings are there in Moscow?

2. What ring is going to be constructed in the suburbs of the city?

3. What transportation problem does Moscow face?

4. In what way does the Moscow government try to solve the transportation problem?

1. Москва является центром сети федеральных автомагистралей различных направлений.

2. В самой Москве имеется развитая транспортная инфраструктура, содержащая в частности три транспортных кольца: Садовое, Третье транспортное и Московская кольцевая автомобильная дорога.

3. Начиная с 1990-х годов Москва столкнулась с острой транспортной проблемой. В Москве продолжается бурный рост автомобильного парка. Увеличился также объѐм грузовых перевозок автомобильным транспортом в городе. Значительный рост автопарка привѐл к возникновению большого количества дорожных заторов.

4. В 2008 году началось строительство Четвертого кольца, но транспортная проблема остаѐтся неразрешѐнной.