Shallow column station

The shallow column station is a type of construction of subway stations, with the distinguishing feature being an abundance of supplementary supports for the underground cavity. Most designs employ metal columns or concrete and steel columns arranged in lines parallel to the long axis of the station.

Stations can be double-span with a single row of columns, triple-span with two rows of columns, or multi-span. The typical shallow column station in Russia is triple-span, assembled from concrete and steel, and is from 102 to 164 meters in length with a column spacing of 4-6 m.Fact|date=December 2007 Along with the typical stations, there are also specially built stations. For example, one of the spans may be replaced with a monolithic vault (as in the "Moskovskaya" station of the Samara Metro or "Sibirskaya" in Novosibirsk). In some cases, one of the rows of columns may be replaced with a load-bearing wall. Such a dual hall, one-span station, "Kashirskaya", was constructed to provide a convenient cross-platform transfer. Recently, stations have appeared with monolithic concrete and steel instead of assembled pieces, as "Ploshchad Tukaya" in Kazan.

The typical shallow column station has two vestibules at both ends of the station, most often combined with below-street crossings.

For many metro systems outside Russia, the typical column station is a two-span station with metal columns, as in New York, Berlin, and others. In Chicago, underground stations of the Chicago Transit Authority are three-span stations if constructed with a center platform.

In the Moscow Metro, approximately half of the stations are of shallow depth, built in the 1960s and 1970s, but in Saint Petersburg, because of the the difficult soil conditions and dense building in the center of the city this was impossible. The Saint Petersburg Metro has only three shallow-depth stations altogether, all of column design: Avtovo, Leninsky Prospekt, and Prospekt Veteranov. The first of these is less typical, as it is buried at a significant depth, and has only one surface vestibule.

ee also

* Deep column station
* Pylon station
* Single-vault station

External links

* V. Spiridenkov, " [http://metro.molot.ru/s_melk.shtml Shallow-depth stations] ." article from unofficial Moscow Metro site (Russian)