Author: VK
The subway is the most vulnerable facility of Moscow. Terrorist attacks have killed over 90 people in the last 15 years. Blasts took place between the Tulskaya and Nagatinskaya stations in 1996, at Tretyakovskaya in 1998, at Belorusskaya in 2001, at the entrance of Rizhskaya and between the Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya in 2004 and at Lubyanka and Park Kultury in March 2010.
According to Deputy Chief of the Control Service of the Moscow subway, Victor Zuikhin, security improvements have been developed since 2001, financed by the subway, Moscow government and the federal budget. The main security issue is prevention of terrorist attacks. The subway has 12 lines with a total length of 305.6 km, 185 stations, 286 entrance halls and 4,500 electric trains. The subway, assisted by the Interior Ministry and the FSB, is training staff to prevent terrorist attacks. The staff are undergoing daily instruction and checking carriages.
Special police forces maintain order in the subway 24 hours a day. They are trained to react to fires and other possible accidents. The subway has 456 ventilation shafts, all of which are under security. Territorial police stations monitor each shaft.
Implementation of a situation room for the subway started in 2005. It is a center monitoring any situation online. The Interior Ministry has such a center as well, allowing it to take action immediately. A lot of attention is paid to the vigilance of passengers. Each entrance hall has columns where passengers may warn about any suspicious objects. Each situation signal is processed by the police. All stations are equipped with systems for video monitoring, used by situation centers of the subway and the police.
Over 400,000 such warnings were received from the columns this year. Radio communication was established with all subway facilities in 2007. They provide a constant connection with situation centers. Stations located close to sites of public events, such as the Cherkizovskaya and Sportivnaya stations, have video monitoring systems, allowing detection of acts of hooliganism and violations. Cameras are located on the top and bottom part of escalators, helping security officers to react to situations immediately.
Zuikhin noted that implementation of video monitoring in subway carriages has not been completed yet, but cameras have been installed in carriages of the Koltsevaya Line (the Circle Line), and carriages of the Sokolnicheskaya and the Zamoskvoretskaya lines.
Over 400 crimes were solved with the help of monitoring. Subway authorities are assessing facilities and their vulnerability. The Okhotny Ryad station is used for testing new security systems. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inspected the station himself. The high passenger flow, enlarged space and other peculiarities of the Moscow subway hamper security systems. Zuikhin expressed hope that all the problems will be resolved and installation of the best security devices will start on March 16. One of the most advanced devices for the subway is the system assessing the psychosomatic condition of passengers, Zuikhin says.
