MOSCOW, January 22, 20:28 /ITAR-TASS/. Rescue workers and technical experts have eliminated the cause of an accident that paralyzed the work of Moscow City’s vital Zamoskvoretskaya metro line Wednesday afternoon - they removed a pile that had been erroneously driven into the shallow tunnel from surface in the course of construction works.
Zamosvoretksaya, which runs across the city’s downtown, connects the densely populated northwestern and southeastern districts. It used daily by more than two million passengers and is one of the busiest metro lines in Russia and probably in Europe.
The scope of customers traveling by this particular line of the metro includes big numbers of air passengers going to Moscow’s two international air hubs - Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo.
The technical accident involving the pile occurred at a section between Kolomenskaya and Avtozavodskaya stations. Spokespeople for the Russian state railway corporation RZD said the mischievous works were carried out on at Kozhukhovo station of the so-called Lesser Railroad Ring - a line encircling the historical central part of Moscow.
“The pile has been removed and experts are examining the tunnel structures, while workers are removing technical garbage,” the press service of the Moscow metropolitan system said. “Normal traffic of trains may be resumed within two hours.”
“The tunnel was damaged when a contractor company was installing the foundation for the aerial contact wiring at Kozhukhovo station,” the RZD said, adding that the corporation’s specialists, who had been dispatched to the site of the accident, were clarifying its technical details.
In the meantime, investigators from the Moscow Department for Investigation of Transport Accidents have also arrived at the site of the tunnel penetration.
“Procedural inquiry has been opened and all decisions will be taken upon its completion,” department spokeswoman Tatiana Morozova told Itar-Tass.