The history of this small line begins in the Moscow urban development plan that was adopted in the early 1960s. The plan focused on extending the Zamoskvoretsky radius of the then Gorkovsko–Zamoskvoretskaya line (GZL) to the south. Using the ideal of simplified singular architectural pillar-trispan station design (
sorokonozhka) that was prominent at the time, construction began in the mid 1960s of extending the Metro past the
Kolomenskoye nature reserve and Nagatino industrial zone up to the station of Kashirskaya and then splitting into two directions – one into the rapidly growing districts of Saburovo and
Zyuzino and the other one into the future districts of Orekhovo and Borisovo. The former branch was to open as part of the extension and would feature a new depot, whilst the second branch would remain in perspective for a decade more as the districts were being built. It was the feature of the first (Kakhovskaya) branch that made the whole line appear dissimilar to the standard tangential layout that Moscow Metro radii followed. Although it was a practical reason, as the stations of the Kakhovskaya line connect three major transport arteries – the
Kashira Highway which continues on to become the
M4 (E111) motorway going southwards to
Rostov-on-Don and the
Caucasus; and the
Varshavskoye Highway, which splits into A130 highway going to
Roslavl and
Belarus &
M2 (E105) motorway heading towards
Kharkiv and
Crimea. Furthermore, the line also provides connections to the
Paveletsky suburban railway line. Thereby, the unorthodox layout was justified in its transport importance. In addition most of the residents who were settled in the districts which the line expanded into were families of workers of the
Likhachev Factory Plant (ZiL), the largest in Moscow, who aided the construction of the Metro so that the residents would have a direct transport to work via
Avtozavodskaya station. However the most inspiring reasons of all would be the actual development plan itself rather than the practical reasons. The plan had a very ambitious project that coincided with the traditional radial layout of Moscow - to feature a second parallel ring that would allow passengers to bypass the city centre altogether, and in the future the stations of the Kakhovskaya line would become part of it. The line formally opened in August 1969 and for more than a decade the operation was continuous. However, by the early 1980s the future districts of
Orekhovo and Zyablikovo were actively growing and were in desperate need of a Metro, thus construction began on the second branch. However the original idea was that upon the completion of the second, longer Kakhovsky branch, would close and remain closed until the large ring would be complete. On December 30, 1984 the Orekhovo branch was opened and the Kakhovsky branch was set to close, but the very next day, on December 31, Orekhovo branch had to close due to a major flood in the new tunnel. While the tunnel, forced the closure of the new stations, ZiL urged the city authorities not to close the shorter Orekhovo branch for the time being and instead operate the southern part of the line on a branched basis with 2:1 train arrangement (two consecutive trains going to
Krasnogvardeyskaya followed by a single train going to
Kakhovskaya). This, however, created a number of problems. One was the track arrangement at Kashirskaya where the southbound trains directions' separate only after the station, not before, thus preventing proper use of the
cross-platform ability. Moreover, the new branch to Orekhovo resulted in massive rise of passengers, and the insufficiency of trains on Orekhovo branch was putting extra pressure on the system. In early 1995, construction was completed on the reversal sidings behind Kashirskaya and finally the Kakhovskaya branch was separated into a separate line. This took place on August 11, 1995. Since March 2019, the line has been closed temporarily for construction of the connection with phase 2 of
Bolshaya Koltsevaya line from Kashirskaya to
Mnyovniki. The Kakhovskaya line was integrated into and is operated as the part of the Bolshaya Koltsevaya line since March 2023.
Timeline • Prior to 1995 and was integral part of
Zamoskvoretskaya line ==Transfers==