The Moscow Monorail will cease operations on June 28, the Department of Transport has announced. In its place, Russia's first year-round elevated park will open in 2027, creating a new urban space that will connect five districts with a population of approximately 300,000 people. Over 70% of participants in a poll on the "Active Citizen" portal voted in favor of this idea.
Part of the overpass – from the "Exhibition Center" station to the monorail depot, including the "Sergei Eisenstein Street" station – will be dismantled. The department noted that this will be done to make the view of the main entrance to VDNH even more attractive.
The monorail was launched in 2004, but it never became a full-fledged part of Moscow's transport system, failing to gain widespread popularity among residents. It now has alternatives in the form of new metro stations, the MCC, trams, and buses, which partially duplicate its route.
In the days leading up to the closure, queues have formed at the monorail: residents of the capital and tourists want to ride this line one last time, as some have never used this mode of transport in all these years. People are crowding at the terminal stations and trying to find seats in the carriages along the entire route.
After the monorail closes, construction will begin on an elevated park where recreation and entertainment will be available year-round. The new space near VDNH is expected to open in 2027.
The Department of Transport also emphasized that after the closure, all employees of the monorail system will be offered new jobs in other divisions of the city's transport system.
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