Moscow to spend $33 bn on subway

Moscow, May 15 (IANS) The Russian capital plans to spend over a trillion rubles (around$33 billion) by 2020 to extend the city's subway system, an official said.

Andrei Bochkaryov, head of the municipal construction department, said: "The total volume of financing has been set at over a trillion rubles, which includes the planning and construction (of the subway system) up to 2020."

The Moscow metro, one of the world's largest subway systems, will be extended by 145.5 km of rail lines and equipped with 67 new stations, RIA Novosti reported.

Bochkaryov said the new stations will be equipped with toilets, a luxury omitted by Soviet construction planners.

Currently, the total length of the Moscow metro, opened in 1935, comes to 305.5 km on 12 lines with 185 stations. It is the second-most heavily used rapid transit system in the world after the Tokyo subway.