The Bolshaya Koltsevaya line (Russian: Большая кольцевая линия), known in English as the Big Circle Line,^[3] designated Line 11 and 11A^[4] is a rapid transit line of the Moscow Metro. It is the third circle line on the system, running outside of the existing circle Koltsevaya line and interlocking with Moscow Central Circle.

Quick Facts Overview, Other name(s) ...

Bolshaya Koltsevaya line
Geographic map showing the approximate path of the Bolshaya Koltsevaya line (in teal) in the whole Moscow Metro network (in dark grey) including Central Circle and Monorail
Overview
Other name(s)	Large Circle Line
Native name	Большая Кольцевая линия
Locale	Moscow
Stations	31
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	Moscow Metro
Operator(s)	Moskovsky Metropoliten
Rolling stock	81-775/776/777
History
Opened	11 August 1969 (Kakhovskaya line stations) 26 February 2018 (Bolshaya Koltsevaya stations) 1 March 2023 (circle completed)
Technical
Line length	62.5 km (38.8 mi) (including branch) 57.538 km (35.752 mi)[1][2] (circle only)
Character	Underground
Track gauge	1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)
Electrification	Third rail
Route map Legend Savyolovskaya Petrovsky Park CSKA Khoroshyovskaya future (from 2027) Shelepikha Delovoy Tsentr Narodnoye Opolcheniye () Mnyovniki Terekhovo Kuntsevskaya Davydkovo Aminyevskaya Michurinsky Prospekt Prospekt Vernadskogo Novatorskaya () Vorontsovskaya Zyuzino Kakhovskaya Varshavskoye yard Varshavskaya Kashirskaya Klenovy Bulvar () Nagatinsky Zaton Pechatniki Tekstilshchiki to Nekrasovskaya line Nizhegorodskaya Nizhegorodskoye yard Aviamotornaya Lefortovo Elektrozavodskaya Sokolniki Rizhskaya Maryina Roshcha This diagram: view talk edit

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The first section of the line opened on 26 February 2018 with the remaining stations opened on 1 March 2023. The line includes 31 stations including three from the former Kakhovskaya line and is over 62 km (39 mi) long including a branch to Moscow International Business Center that is a part of future Rublyovo-Arkhangelskaya line. The circle line itself is 57.5 km (35.7 mi) long, which makes it the longest metro circle line in the world, surpassing Line 10 of Beijing Subway by 514 m (1,686 ft).^[5] In November 2017 the city estimated the total cost of the project at 501 billion rubles, up from earlier estimates of 378.9 billion rubles.^[6]

Formerly known as the Third Interchange Contour, the city adopted "Bolshaya koltsevaya liniya" as the official name of the line after a vote via the "Active Citizen" web portal.^[7]

The working name of the project since inception was the Third Interchange Contour; however, prior to the opening of the line, the city authorities consulted residents to help decide on the name. In an initial survey on the Active Citizen survey website in October 2017, only 34% of the city’s residents voted to keep the working name.^[8]

Although retaining the working name was the most popular option, members of the city’s council on transportation infrastructure suggested another vote. Two reasons cited by transport expert Kirill Yankov were that all of the lines’ names to this point were in the feminine grammatical gender and that all the other line names were generally understood from a point of view of geography.^[9] The city held another vote on its website to allow citizens to choose between the existing name or the Bolshaya Koltsevaya line (Large Circle Line). Of the alternate names suggested by voters in the first vote, Bolshaya Koltsevaya was the most popular, with 9,000 votes.

In the second vote, Bolshaya Koltsevaya Line was selected with 53.3% of the votes versus 36.5% for the Third Interchange Contour.^[7]

The original plans called for a line that is 58 kilometres (36 mi) with 27 new stations.^[10]

The entire project was supposed to be completed by 2020–2021.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} By 2018, the completion date had been postponed until 2023.^[16]

Subway car types used on the line over the years:

• schematic inc. MCC
• true location, no MCC (outdated scheme)