Kakhovskaya Line

Kakhovskaya Line (Russian: Кахо́вская ли́ния, IPA: [kɐˈxofskəjə ˈlʲinʲɪjə]) (Line 11) is a line of the Moscow Metro. Although the line was formed in 1995, all of the stations date to 1969 when they opened as part of the Zamoskvoretskaya Line. The Kakhovskaya Line is the only conventional line that lacks a full transfer to the ring line. It is also the shortest line in the system of only 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi) in length and having only three stations.

History

The history of this small line begins in the Moscow urban development plan that was adopted in the early 1960s. The plan focused on extending the Zamoskvoretsky radius of the then Gorkovsko-Zamoskvoretskaya Line (GZL) to the south. Using the ideal of simplified singular architectural pillar-trispan station design (sorokonozhka) that was prominent at the time, construction began in the mid 1960s of extending the Metro past the Kolomenskoye nature reserve and Nagatino industrial zone up to the station of Kashirskaya and then splitting into two directions one into the rapidly growing districts of Saburovo and Zyuzino and the other one into the future districts of Orekhovo and Borisovo. The former branch was to open as part of the extension and would feature a new depot, whilst the second branch would remain in perspective for a decade more whilst the latter districts were being built. It was the feature of the first (Kakhovskaya) branch that made the whole line appear unlike the standard layout that Moscow Metro radii, which follow a more or less tangental path to the central ring, instead after Kashirskaya the line becomes almost parallel.