The Moscow Metro is known for deep stations, but Парк Победы (Park Pobedy) is the winner – at 73 metres underground it is the deepest station in the city, and third deepest in the world by mean depth.
Underground there are two separate island platforms.
With mirrored colour schemes.
Linked by a staircase over the central set of tracks.
Intended to provide cross platform interchange to passengers, at the time of my visit one half of each island platform was blocked off.
But these tracks are now in use, following the extension of the Kalininsko–Solntsevskaya line in 31 January 2014.
And the escalators
As you might expect for a deep station.
It’s a long escalator ride to the top.
But that isn’t all – once you reach the top, a second much smaller escalator takes you the final leg to the ticket gates.
So how many steps are there?
Each step is numbered, and I spotted step #687 on my visit.
But Wikipedia gives a different figure.
It also contains the longest escalators in Europe, each one is 126 metres (413 ft) long and has 740 steps.
I’m confused!
And more debate
The Wikipedia talk page for Park Pobedy opens up another can of worms:
Please, read, what I wrote in Russian Wikipedia. I found a mistake, which is coping from one newspaper to another. We don’t know, who and how counted the depth as 84 meters, but it’s completely incorrect information.
I found 3 reliable sources, which showed that the main escalator is shorter than 65 meters (one is the sources says it’s 63,4 meters, and it looks like a correct information). Then I found reliable source with information about a small escalator and an elevator. Everybody can use his own eyes and even a ruler to check the information (there are stairs near from the escalator and elevator). If you add the dimensions up, you will get 63.4 + 3.6 + 4.98 = 71.98 meters. It’s a real depth of the platform of the station near the exit.
The rail head is 1.1 meters below the platform (it’s a standard), the surface above the station is almost flat, so the real depth of the station (depth of real head on the center of the station) is about 73 meters.
With Russian language Wikipedia giving the following:
Official sources quote different depth for the station: 74 meters, 80 meters, 84 meters, 90 meters. However the sum of the heights of the platform, the slopes of the escalators and the staircases of the lobby does not match these figures.
According to the data published by the metro escalator service, the height of the main escalator is 63.4 meters, and the height of the small escalator in the lobby is 3.6 meters. The turnstile vestibule is connected to the surface by a staircase and an elevator with a height of 4.94 meters. The height of the passenger platform from the level of rail heads is 1.1 meters.
Thus, the depth of the station is 73 meters, as detailed on the Moscow City Planning Policy Department website.
Sorted?
And another escalator titbit
Something I noticed at Park Pobedy was the long stretch of horizontal steps before the escalator commenced the descent.
Kone Escalators explains the purpose of these flat steps:
Horizontal (level) steps are required at each landing of an escalator to enable passengers to safely board and disembark the moving step band. They allow passengers to steady themselves and position their feet correctly on the steps before reaching the transition curve into the inclined section. When disembarking, horizontal steps allow passengers to safely step off the moving step before their feet touch the combs
As well as the minimum number of flat steps needed:
The minimum number of horizontal steps at each landing under EN 115-1 is two, for vertical rises up to 6000 mm and step speed below 0.5 m/s.
For greater rises and step band speeds up to 0.65 m/s, three horizontal steps (1200 mm) at each landing are required.
Escalators with a step band speed in excess of 0.65 m/s require a minimum of four horizontal steps (1600 mm) at each landing.
With research suggesting more flat steps results in fewer falls:
It is believed that the number of flat steps at the upper and lower landings has an effect on the risk of falls. They provide the passenger with time to adjust his/her stance prior to the steps forming. The European escalator standard, EN115, requires two flat steps at each landing (three steps where the rise is more than 6 m). Public service escalators are specified with five steps at the upper landing and four steps at the lower landing.
Which makes me I wonder how many other deep metro stations have similar escalators.
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