# Moscow Rizhsky railway station

Rizhsky station (Russian: Рижский вокзал, Rizhsky vokzal, Riga station) is one of the ten main railway stations in Moscow, Russia. It was built in 1901. As well as being an active station it also houses the Moscow Railway Museum. The station is operated by the Moscow Railway.
It is located at Rizhskaya Square, at the crossing of Mira Avenue and Sushchyovsky Val. The station is served by Rizhskaya metro station. Although Rizhsky Station is relatively the least busiest station in Moscow, its connection to Latvia is Moscow's only, and is highly used. On the intersection of two main roads, Rizhsky is adjacent to a Holiday Inn hotel, a large market, and numerous Moscow apartments and offices. In addition, Rizhskiy Station has some of the best architecture of all the Moscow "vokzals".

## History

The construction of the railway between Moscow and Vindava (Moscow–Vindava Railway) started in 1897. On June 30, 1901 the passenger traffic between Moscow and Volokolamsk was opened. Since the main station in Moscow was not ready at the time, the eastern terminal station in Moscow was Sortirovochnaya (currently Podmoskovnaya). The Vindavsky railway station, currently the Rizhsky railway station, was opened on September 11, 1901. The building, in the style of eclecticism, was built using the project of the architect Stanislav Brzhozovsky. The construction was supervised by the architect Yuly Diederichs.
After 1918, when Latvia became independent, the former Vindava line decayed, since it did not serve any big cities. In 1930, the station was renamed Baltiysky railway station, in 1942 - Rzhevsky railway station, and since January 1, 1948, when Latvia has been already annexed by Soviet Union, it was renamed Rizhsky railway station. Originally, the suburban railway line was scheduled to be electrified in 1943, but the electrification of the stretch between Moscow and Nakhabino only occurred in 1945, after World War II was finished.

## Trains and destinations
### Long distance

| Train number | Train name | Destination | Operated by |
| 001/002 | Latvia Express (lat: Latvijas Ekspresis) | Riga | Latvian Railways |

### Other destinations

| Country | Destination |
| Russia | Velikiye Luki, Volokolamsk, Rzhev, Rzhev Memorial Station Sebezh |

### Suburban destinations

Suburban commuter trains (elektrichka) connect the Rizhsky station with stations and platforms of the Rizhsky suburban railway line, in particular, with the towns of Krasnogorsk, Dedovsk, Istra, and Volokolamsk.

## Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station

In 2004, the open-air site of the Museum of the Moscow Railway was opened next to Rizhsky railway station. The other site of this museum shows Lenin's funeral train in the Museum of the Moscow Railway (Paveletskaya station).

## Gallery

* Historical view of the station (early 20th century)
* Historical view of the station (early 20th century)
* Preserved Russian locomotive class O steam locomotive Ov-841 at Rizhsky station
* Russian locomotive class O Ov-841 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* Russian locomotive class Ye Yea-2450 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* Russian locomotive class FD FD 21-3125 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* Russian locomotive class TE TE 5415 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* L-001 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* CO 1722-11 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* LV 0441 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* P36-001 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* Em 74-57 at Moscow Railway Museum at Rizhsky station
* ChS3-45 at the Moscow Railway Museum, Rizhsky station
* ER200-105 at the Moscow Railway Museum, Rizhsky station