Scenes From the Moscow Metro

Alan Taylor
May 31, 2017
24 Photos
In Focus

Moscow’s underground transit system is now more than 80 years old, and carries up to 9 million passengers through more than 200 stations every day. Most of the architecture and decor was built decades ago, meant to be a showcase for Soviet artists, ideals, and icons. The system is now modernizing, in part, preparing for the 2018 World Cup, which will be hosted in Russia. Several Reuters photographers have captured images of the varied and unique Moscow Metro stations, as well as the workers and passengers underground, over the past year.

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People gather at Ploschad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square) metro station in Moscow, Russia, on March 6, 2016. #

Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters

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The Metro sign is seen at the entrance to VDNKh metro station, with the Monument to the Conquerors of Space seen in the background, in Moscow on June 2, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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Commuters walk through Fonvizinskaya metro station in Moscow on April 13, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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A station manager controls trains coming and leaving the platform as she sits in a booth at Zhulebino metro station on April 18, 2017. Another visible change is the controversial replacement of many of the elderly women who used to sit in a booth at the bottom of the seemingly endless escalators, who were famous for telling passengers off if they sat down on the escalator steps. One attendant known by locals as Auntie Lyuda was famous for telling jokes on Mondays, reading poems and telling passengers to imagine they were in England—if passengers want to walk up and down the steps of the escalator, they should do so on the left. Now the attendants are mainly young men, and have yet to show any skill in bantering with passengers. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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An interior view shows Komsomolskaya metro station on the Koltsevaya (Circle) line on February 20, 2016. #

Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters

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A woman stands next to a bas-relief representing Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, at Ploschad Ilyicha metro station on March 9, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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An interior view shows Mendeleyevskaya metro station on March 7, 2016. #

Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters

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A sign reading "Schukinskaya" is on display at Schukinskaya metro station on June 13, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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The entrance to Smolenskaya metro station in Moscow, Russia, on February 25, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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Otradnoye metro station on June 7, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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A fragment of interior design at Novokuznetskaya metro station on February 1, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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People travel on an escalator at Park Kultury metro station on March 14, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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Mendeleyevskaya metro station on March 7, 2016 #

Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters

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People wait for the train at Kievskaya metro station on April 17, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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A Moscow metro employee drives a train through Paveletskaya metro station on March 20, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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An interior view of Barrikadnaya metro station on February 25, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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People walk during rush hour in Kievskaya metro station on April 17, 2017. At Kievskaya, a station built in 1954, when Ukraine was firmly a part of the Soviet Union, this vivid mosaic dedicated to Russian-Ukrainian friendship occupies one wall. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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An employee washes the train carriage at Krasnaya Presnya metro depot in Moscow on March 20, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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Aviamotornaya metro station photographed on April 13, 2017 #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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A child looks at one of several statues in Ploschad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square) metro station on March 6, 2016. #

Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters

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People wait for the train at Kurskaya metro station on March 21, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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A detail of the interior design at Dubrovka metro station on February 22, 2016. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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A worker restores a stucco ornament during renovations at Kievskaya metro station on March 18, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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The platform controller signals that the train can leave at Komsomolskaya metro station in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2017. #

Grigory Dukor / Reuters

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