Little Ring of the Moscow Railway

In 1879, some additional areas, including Sokolniki, were annexed to the city; however, at the time Moscow was encircled by a number of further settlements forming an urban agglomeration.

[2] However, the transportation problems became increasingly obvious, and in 1898 after Tsar Nicholas II sent a message to the City Duma declaring that it was desirable to build a railroad, a project competition was opened.

The project by Pyotr Rashevsky, who proposed to build a ring of the total length of 54.4 kilometres (33.8 mi), won the competition.

In 1908, the railroad was declared to be completed, and it became part of the Nikolayevskaya Railway, the main line of which ran between Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

[2] The Directorate of the Nikolayevskaya Railway was located in Saint Petersburg, and thus it was inconvenient for Moscow decision making.

[4] On November 18, 1994, Andrey Shchelenkov died from the explosion of his own bomb targeting the river bridge between Vladykino and Rostokino stations.