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Moscow metro lines to grow to 451km by 2020

A total of 73 billion roubles will be allocated to the construction of new metro lines in 2012

MOSCOW, April 25 (Itar-Tass) — The Moscow government is planning to enlarge the overall length of metro lines in Moscow by 1.5 times to a distance of 451 kilometers by 2020, Deputy Moscow mayor Marat Khusnuillin said at a meeting of the Moscow government on Wednesday.

By the year 2020 the city is planning to build new metro lines 150 kilometers long and build seventy new metro stations, seven more power depots and reconstruct eight such depots which already exist.

A total of 73 billion roubles will be allocated to the construction of new metro lines in 2012, Khusnullin said.

For his part, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that as a result of this program fulfillment Moscow metro will grow 1.5 times to ensure that metro stations be located within a walking distance and a passenger load from some of the metro lines be reduced. "This is a minimal program for the city development," the city mayor stressed. The realization of this program needs concentration of all the financial and material resources, the mayor added.

Given metro speed and convenient location the metro was, remains and will be the most important transport artery in the city, Sobyanin declared.

The growing number of metro stations in Moscow will enable to narrow the number of city residents not provided with metro services from 22 to 13 percent, Khusnullin said.