Moscow Metro has run every day but one since its launch in 1935. By continuing to provide a safer-than-usual service during the country’s COVID-19 outbreak – including by displaying social distancing signs in trains and stations and not reducing the frequency of trains – it has ensured citizens’ continued access to a high-quality, resilient and agile urban transport system.
Maintaining a resilient public service – to keep the city safe and moving
The Moscow Metro’s 900 000 m2 are cleaned and disinfected daily by 4000 Moscow Metro staff. Almost 50% of Moscow Metro’s fleet is equipped with UV lamps integrated into climate control systems to disinfect the air, making the disinfection time up to 6 times faster compared to cleaning by hand. In addition, passenger zones, technical rooms and ventilation shafts are disinfected using antiseptic heat sprayers.
Every two hours escalator handrails, turnstiles, ticket offices, entrance door handles and other infrastructure with which passengers interact are decontaminated, with more than 1,600 ticket vending machines disinfected every hour. From April 15 until June 9, 2020, a system of contactless digital travel passes was implemented, and when this system was lifted on June 12, passengers were able to extend the validity of all transport passes suspended because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Metro tavel still means wearing a mask and gloves – a measure introduced alongside the provision of gloves and masks for sale to passengers in ticket offices, vending machines and shopping malls at the start of the outbreak. Today, passenger numbers have recovered to 68% of normal levels. Some of the busiest stations are close to railway stations, large business centres, residential complexes and public spaces, indicating the economic and social value of the metro and its COVID-19 measures.
https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/keeping-the-moscow-metro-running-safely
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