Ring Line: Saint Petersburg commission answers questions on station locations

According to Fontanka, the conclusions of public hearings on the planning project for the Ring Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro were published on 3 November. Residents asked about the locations of several planned stations, and the commission responded to each question.

Polyustrovsky Prospekt

Participants said that a neighbouring ventilation shaft would conflict with the idea of rebuilding Piskarevsky Prospekt with a tram line, as envisaged in the General Plan. The commission replied that the exact route of this tram line has not been set, and that the planning project accounted for it only conditionally. According to the source, the design decisions will later be coordinated with it.

Bolshaya Okhtinskaya

Some participants proposed shifting the Ring Line alignment eastward and making the transfer to the future Admiralteysko-Okhtinskaya line (AOL) at Prospekt Energetikov, the next AOL station, instead of Bolshaya Okhtinskaya. The commission rejected this, citing complex hydrological conditions and the General Plan. It stated that such a shift would break permissible tunnel slope angles and that the alignment serves as a strategic transit hub for the whole city.

A proposal to move Bolshaya Okhtinskaya deeper into the district from Krasnogvardeyskaya Square was also rejected. According to the commission's conclusion, the current site sits at the junction of two planned underground routes, allowing residents to reach neighbouring areas on the Ring Line and the historic centre without transfers. The square already gathers surface buses and trams from Bolshaya Okhta, Polyustrovo, Piskaryovka and Rzhevka-Porokhovye. The Ring Line would take this passenger flow underground, which, according to the commission, would ease traffic on Sredneokhtinsky Prospekt and Yakornaya Street.

Some participants recalled an earlier alignment along Shaumyan Avenue. According to the commission, that route was linked to the Okhta Center project, which was later cancelled.

Ladozhskaya-2

Participants asked why Ladozhskaya-2 was placed 75 metres from the existing Ladozhskaya station. The commission said that building it directly alongside at a depth of 50 to 60 metres would risk collapsing the operating tunnel and station structures. Placing it further north means the tunnelling shield would not damage Ladozhskaya.

The existing surface vestibule of Ladozhskaya will be kept, and a second exit to Zolnaya Street is planned through underground passages, distribution halls and escalators linking the two stations.

Next steps

The public hearings covered two sections of the Ring Line: from Lesnaya-2 to Ploshchad Kalinina, and from Ploshchad Kalinina to Ladozhskaya-2. According to the General Plan, construction of these sections is planned by 2040.