Its coming close to mid-night, the temperature is -10 degree Celsius, wind-chill makes it feel like -16. Most people are already tucked into the warmth of their beds, the stragglers from the bars and theatres are heading home now. But some are relentlessly at work in the chill outside just to make sure that the streets are driveable and sidewalks walkable when people head out of their homes the next morning. These to me are the unsung heroes of Moscow, those who make sure that this city never comes to a halt.

I moved to this city about two months ago, just at the start of its deep winter. Coming from a much warmer clime and from a country where snow and below freezing temperatures are heard of only high up in the mountains, I was enthralled at the first snow fall within days of my arrival. By the morning there was already more than a few centimetres of snow in my backyard, but when one headed out one found that it was business as usual on Moscow streets. The buses were running, as were the trams, people were walking in and out of the metro stations and enough private transport could be seen on the roads. 

As the snow kept coming day after day, by inches and more, piling up to a few feet in the parks and the courtyards, it was the same scene on the streets – work as usual. “Moscow never misses a beat, no matter how much the snow” remarked a long-time resident.   

This is made possible, by an army that works 24/7 which I began noticing since the day of the first snowfall. Men with basic shovels, snow clearing vehicles like snow ploughs of all sizes, tractor brushes to scrub the snow stuck onto the streets, walk behind tractors and trucks into which lifted snow is dumped– there is a whole battery of them. The toolkit of operation snow removal, even has a specialised machine called the “golden hands” whose mechanical arms scoop up the snow which is deposited to the back of a truck over a conveyer belt. Research revealed that this year around 90,000 people have been employed for this exercise and around 15,000 pieces of snow removal equipment deployed.

There is a protocol on how all this is done; streets and areas are designated based on their importance by the Municipality. First come the main ring roads and other avenues of the city, the public transport routes and areas around key facilities, then the other busy streets, followed by residential areas and so on. But once the season starts, there isn’t quite anywhere where the work stops. Equipment and manpower are assigned and the system works like clockwork.   

If like me you have never lived in a cold place before, you can’t even begin to imagine what all is involved and what all needs to be cleared. It’s not just the roads but also side-walks, pedestrian walkways, courtyards, entrances to public buildings and so on. Even the roofs need to be cleaned and cleared.    

For those of you unaware and uninitiated, like I was until a few months ago, let me introduce you to black ice and icicles. Yes, snow means soft cottony flakes settling to unravel a winter wonderland but constant snow and fluctuating temperatures mean that it is not only the snow piles that have to be removed. Snow melts and converts back into ice as the temperatures rise and fall. This can be dangerous both on the roads and on the pavements leading to accidents and falls. From the roofs when the melting snow turns into ice before the water can flow down, it forms sharp dangerous icicles. Such areas are cordoned off till the roofers (an integral part of the clearing army) can take them down.

Often for preventing the ice from forming, de-icing chemicals are used. There are many who criticize its use for ruining people’s shoes and harming the paws of our pets. The latter can be prevented by making them wear booties (to their annoyance though). This is probably a small price to pay for keeping the city running.  

So, the city is constantly being cleared of its snow, but just where does the tons of snow, removed by the truckloads, go each day? Earlier it used to put into the Moskva river. A large part of it still finds its way there, but after going through a more sophisticated process.  

The trucks deliver the snow to designated snow-rafting points. The snow dumped here goes through a giant mincer and is melted in pools before being directed to the river through the drainage system. The pools are fitted with grates to make sure that no solid waste finds its way into the river. Excess capacity is dumped in sites outside the city where it melts away slowly in springtime.

It is a mammoth exercise that lasts several months, its intensity and duration depending on the vagaries of the weather. And conceded Operation Moscow on the Move involves a cornucopia of apparatus, comprising of specialised machines and equipment, but it is the foot soldiers who stand out. Like in any other army, it is they who need to be celebrated the most. Not only do they keep this entire paraphernalia working, they do so for long hours in constant sub-zero temperatures just to make sure the city and its people are not inconvenienced. 

Each time I see a worker armed with an ordinary shovel removing the last bits of the snow after the equipment has done its job, a special thank you prayer leaves my lips.