A train arrives at a station of the Big Circle Line in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 2023. Moscow on Wednesday opened the 70-km Big Circle Line (BCL), the longest subway line in the world. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Xinhua)

MOSCOW, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Moscow on Wednesday opened the 70-km Big Circle Line (BCL), the longest subway line in the world.

The metro line was constructed from 2011 to 2022. The first section of the BCL opened in 2018, and another 20-km section, which is the longest in the history of the capital's metro, was launched in December 2021.

The BCL has 31 stations, with 24 of those providing 47 interchanges to existing and future stations of the capital's metro.

Maksim Liksutov, deputy mayor of Moscow for transport, said that the BCL will serve as an impetus to the capital's development for decades to come, adding that it would help decrease the traffic flow on the city's highways by up to 15 percent, and would decongest metro lines by up to 25 percent.

A woman looks at a map of the Big Circle Line in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 2023. Moscow on Wednesday opened the 70-km Big Circle Line (BCL), the longest subway line in the world. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Xinhua)

People are seen at a station of the Big Circle Line in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 2023. Moscow on Wednesday opened the 70-km Big Circle Line (BCL), the longest subway line in the world. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Xinhua)