Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Notes about schedules and the train schedule websites:
Schedules are posted on the internet and are NOT perfect. There are trains that are missing. There are times that are wrong. The information was all put online by people and errors have been made. Changes do occur. Be sure to double check every fact.

Be careful of the schedule around xmas and later. Someone reported that he found the database was not updated until February one time. Check the "circulation" days with the actual date and their "calendar" and see if it all matches. And lastly, check the boards at the railway station itself when you are there!!!

Also note that the schedules and the prices change the last week of May. Actually prices change at various times during the year with summer and the period around New Years tending to be the highest.

For the Your train website, if you don't know the spelling of the Russian city in English, try typing in the first letter or two and there will be a pull down menu. Note that this site uses the convention that the ya sound is written ia, so Yaroslavl is Iaroslavl and Krasnoyarsk is Krasnoiarsk. Another problem with this site is that you must indicate which Moscow or Petersburg station. Also for this site, the train station in Yekaterinburg is known by the city's name during Soviet times, Sverdlovsk, Beijing is known as Pekin, Almaty is known as Alma-Ata.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

2

Train Stations in Moscow and Petersburg
There are nine different train stations in Moscow:
1. Belorusskaya - Long-distance trains to West and South-West: Berlin, Warsaw, Vilnius, Kaunas, Cologne, MInsk, Paris, Prague, Brest, Kaliningrad, Smolensk. Commuter trains to Borodino, Golitsyno, Dorokhovo, Zvenigorod, Kubinka, Mozhaysk, Odintsovo, Usovo.

2. Kazanskaya - Long-distance trains to South, East and South-East of Russia, to Kazakhstan, Central Asia and China: Abakan, Anapa, Alma-Ata, Ashkhabad, Barnaul, Biysk, Bishkek, Groznyy, Dushanbe, Ekaterinburg, Izhevsk, Irkutsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Omsk, Orenburg, Perm, Rostov, Ryazan, Samara, Samarkand, Tashkent, Tomsk, Tynda, Ufa, Khabarovsk, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk. Commuter trains to Bykovo, Vinogradovo, Voskresensk, Gzhel, Egorevsk, Kolomna, Lukhovitsy, Lyubertsy, Ramenskoe, Ryazan, Shatura, Shakhovskaya.

3. Kievskaya - Long-distance trains to West and South West of Russia and abroad: Budapest, Bukharest, Belgrad, Bratislava, Prague, Sofia, Bryansk, Gomel, Zhitomir, Kiev, Kishinev, Lvov, Odessa, Uzhgorod, Khmelnitskiy, Chernovtsy, Chop. Commuter trains to Aprelevka, Aeroport (Vnukovo), Vladimir, Kaluga, Kubinka, Maloyaroslavets, Nara, Sandrovo, etc.

4. Kurskaya - Long-distance trains to South-West and South of Russia and CIS countries: Adler, Anapa, Baku, Batumi, Vladikavkaz, Vladimir, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Evpatoriya, Erevan, Krasnodar, Kursk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novorossiysk, Sevastopol, Simferopol, Tbilisi, Feodosiya, Kharkov, Tskhaltubo, Perm. Commuter trains to the following directions: Gorkovskoe: Balashikha, Vladimir, Kupavna, Noginsk, Orekhovo-Zuevo, Pavlovo, Petushki, Reutovo, Fryazevo, Elektrogorsk, Elektrostal, Yurevets, etc. Kurskoe direction: Podolsk, Serpukhov, Tula, Chekhov. Rizhskoe direction: Dedovsk, Volokolamsk, Nakhabino, Novoierusalimskaya, etc. Smolenskoe direction: Golitsyno, Zvenigorod, Kubinka, Mozhaysk, Usovo, etc.

5. Leningradskiy /Octyabr'skaya - Long-distance trains to North-West of Russia and abroad: St. Petersburg, Tallin, Helsinki, Borovichi, Vyborg, Murmansk, Nikel, Novgorod, Ostashkov, Petrozavodsk, Pskov. Commuter trains to Klin, Konakovo, Kryukovo, Tver, Khimki.

6. Paveletskaya - Long-distance trains to points South East and East: Astrakhan, Baku, Balashov, Balakovo, Valuyki, Volgograd, Voronezh, Gryazi, Donetsk, Elets, Efremov, Kamyshin, Lipetsk, Liski, Lugansk, Novorossiysk, Pavelets, Saratov, Tambov, Tashkent, Uzlovaya, Elista.

7. Rizhskaya - Long-distance trains to Riga, Velikie Luki, Rzhev, Sebezh. Commuter trains to Volokolamsk, Dedovsk, Istra, Krannogorsk, Novyy Ierusalim, Shakhovskaya.

8. Savyolovskaya - Long-distance trains to Rybinsk, St. Petersburg, Uglich; commuter trains to Verbilki, Dmitrov, Dubna, Iksha, Lobnya, Savelovo, etc.

9. Yaroslavskaya - Long-distance trains to points East and North-east of Russia and abroad: Peking, Ulan-Bator, Arkhangelsk, Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok, Vologda, Vorkuta, Vyatka, Zabaykalsk, Ivanovo, Inta, Irkutsk, Kineshma, Kotlas, Kostroma, Lebytnangi, Lena, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Syktyvkar, Severodvinsk, Solikamsk, Sosnogorsk, Ulan-Ude, Usinsk, Cherepovets, Chita, Sharya, Yaroslavl.

Note that the Kazanskaya, Leningradskiy /Octyabr'skaya and Yaroslavskaya Moscow stations are all located at the same metro stop: Komsomolskaya. The other 6 stations are located at various points around Moscow, but all are at metro stations. The ring line of the Moscow metro stops at the following stations from north to east to south and back again:
Belorusskaya - the intersection of the green and brown lines
Komsomolskaya (three stations) - the intersection of the red and brown lines
Kurskaya - the intersection of the dark blue and brown lines
Paveletskaya - the intersection of the green and brown lines
Kievskaya - the intersection of the dark blue, light blue and brown lines

The Rizhskaya station is on the orange line one stop north of the brown ring line and the Savyolovskaya station is on the gray line one stop north of the brown ring line.

There are five different stations in Petersburg:
1. (BS) Baltiiskiy - Trains to Petrodvorets (Peterhof), Lomonosov, Oranienbaum, Gatchina, Luga.

2. (FS) Finlyandskiy - Trains to Helsinki, Vyborg, Zhelenogorsk, Sestoretsk, Repino, Komarovo, Karelia.

3. (LS) Ladozhskiy - Trains to Helsinki, Murmansk, Vologda, Svetogorsk, Kosomuksha.

4. (MS) Moskovskiy (Glavniy) - Trains to Moscow, Adler, Sochi, Arkhangelsk, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Ivanovo, Nizhni Novgorod, Perm, Samara, Chelabinsk, Vladivoskok, Murmansk.

5. Vitebskiy - Trains to Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Brest, Odessa, Smolensk, Kiev, Minsk, Praga, Warsaw, Tallin, Riga, Berlin, Dnepropetrovska, Budapest, Vilnius.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

3

Levels of service:
There are several levels of train service. There are passenger trains. These tend to be older cars. The trains to make more stops, stopping at smaller towns and villages. They travel more slowly. They are ok for local use but to be avoided in general. The train numbers tend to be higher.

There are skoriy trains, meaning fast trains. These tend to be newer. As the name implies they tend to be faster. They are fine for long distance use. Their train numbers tend to be lower.

There are skoriy firmeniy trains, meaning fast trains with extra service. These tend to be even newer, even faster and thus even more expensive. Generally they are the nicest trains. Their train numbers tend to be the lowest and their service tends to be the best, a more modern car with air conditioning, more comfortable bunks, newer bedding, cleaner bathrooms.

Even on the same train, cars can vary. Some cars can with the different classes of service as well. For a berth in a 2nd class compartment the price will vary considerably depending upon the train, the level of service, whether meals, newspapers, snacks and such are included. Same ticket purchased through an agency will cost more. Range for kupé in July 2006 is 40-75 USD per berth.

Please read this webpage for information about Eurodomino tickets and descriptions of the accommodations: Eurodomino and Russian trains

Types of Accommodations:
Generally speaking there are three types of accommodation - platskartny (a "rolling dorm" with 6 berths in an open compartment), kupejnij (also called kupé, or second class, a closed sleeping compartment with 4 reasonably comfortable beds), myagkij, luks or spalny vagon (or first class, an expensive sleeping compartment with 2 beds). See the website of the Man in Seat 61 website for photos of these.

The Chinese Trans-Mongolian train (#3/4) has 1st class deluxe 2-berth, 1st class 4-berth and 2nd class 4-berth. 1st class deluxe 2-berth is expensive, but worth the extra if you can afford it as it has two beds, an armchair, and a private washroom with showerhead shared with the next door compartment. It gets booked out very quickly..! However, 1st class 4-berth on train #3/4 is virtually identical to 2nd class 4-berth and is probably not worth the extra.

There are some who believe that platskartney offers more safety because there are always people around. They often feel that traveling this way is part of the experience and besides it is less expensive. The down side is that there are 54 people sharing the 2 toilets, nothing to keep the noise level down, nothing to keep the odors away, little to no privacy.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

4

Trans-Siberian Trains
There are three main routes:
Moscow-Mongolia-Beijing (the Trans-Mongolian), Moscow-Manchuria-Beijing (the Trans-Manchurian) and Moscow-Vladivostok (the Trans-Siberian). There are also trains to Pyongyang in North Korea.

It can not be emphasized enough that there is no single route that is the trans-siberian.

There are in fact multiple options that cross Russia. In addition to the train that goes from Moscow to Vladivostok, (the Rossiya which is probably the classic transsiberian train), there are trains to Beijing via Mongolia (the transmongolian) and via Manchuria (the transmanchurian). There is also the BAM, the baikal amur mainline which operates in Eastern Siberia from the Pacific Ocean to Lake Baikal and runs parallel with the Trans-Siberian, but is about 800km north of it.

Also it should be noted that in the western part of Russian, there are multiple options for reaching Yekaterinburg (known as Sverdlovsk on the railway schedule), and there numerous small alternative routes and branches from there to Irktusk. There is the train from Novosibirsk to Biisk which takes you towards Altai and another that heads towards Tuva. etc.

And there are other long distance trains in Russia - there is the train to Almaty in Kazakhstan, there is the train to Murmansk in northwestern Russia on the Kola peninsula, there is a train to Arkhangelsk and numerous others.

Legend has it that tickets are slightly cheaper from Beijing to Moscow, otherwise tickets are the same for locals as for foreigners if you buy them at the train station rather than using a travel agency. There are otoh special ticket places at the train stations which are called service offices. These sometimes have tickets when the regular ticket booths don't and these do cost a little more. It used to be the case that tickets had different prices for foreigners but this is no longer the situation.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

5

Train timetables:
The three links at the top all have train schedules.

These schedules have been the same for long time and don't change much. All trains (both trains to Beijing and Vladivostok) are very comfortable, and have restaurant car on board. These are the direct, through trains. One can board these trains, but only if your end point is the end of the line. They cannot be used for intermediate travel or for pieces of the journey. Note that there are many intermediate trains that don't run the entire length of these routes. MSK = Moscow time. I repeat: you cannot get on and off the through trains.

Man in Seat 61 - this site tries to keep the schedule of the through trains up to date. Over the past several years the changes have primarily been to the #23/24 train that operates between Ulan Bator, Mongolia and Beijing, China. There is lots of useful information on this site.

Moscow - Beijing:
Trans-Mongolian:
Train 004Z leaves on Tuesdays from Moskva (Moscow) Jaroslavlskaja. Train departs at 23:50 MSK, and arrives in Beijing 15:33 local time, six nights later. A Mongolian transit visa may be required in addition to a China visa. The reverse train, the #3 departs Beijing on Wednesdays.

Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia on train #4 takes 5days 16hr. 34min.

Trans-Manchurian:
Train 020Ch, "Vostok", leaves on Fridays from Moskva Jaroslavlskaja. Train departs at 23:40 MSK, and arrives in Beijing 05:30 local time, seven nights later. Only a Chinese visa is required. The reverse train, #19 departs Beijing on Fridays.

Moscow to Bejing via Manchuria on train #20 takes 6days 5hr. 27min.

Moscow - Vladivostok:
Train 002M, "Rossia", goes on odd-numbered dates from Moskva Jaroslavlskaja 16:27 MSK, to Vladivostok 23:06 MSK six nights later (06:06 local time the following day).
Moscow to Vladivosk on train #2 takes 6days 4hr. 59min.

Only first class (spalny vagon) or second class (kupé) accommodations exist on international trains to Beijing. Within Russia you can travel in platskartny as far as Ulan Ude or even on to Ulan Bator on Russian trains and then switch to an international train, if you want to save money or have the experience of traveling platskartny.

There is the daily Irkutsk - UB secondary service, train 264, which is not the same as the express trains 4 or 6 (the ones which run through from Moscow on certain days of the week only). Train 264 (or 263 in the opposite direction) is hard or 3rd class (platskartny) with perhaps one or two wagons of kupé, whereas train 6 has sv and kupé and train 4 has 1st class 2-berth (which some people feel is well worth the extra if you can get it), 1st class 4-berth and 2nd class 4-berth (the last two almost identical).

SV (1st class 2-berth on Russian trains) is effectively the same as kupé but minus the two top bunks - both berths in SV are at the lower level. So you get more space and privacy, and always get a window seat. On the other hand, it's almost twice as expensive as kupé, and the social life in kupé or platzkartny is considered by some to be the most rewarding part of the trip....

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

6

Visas
1. Russian visas - Almost everyone needs a Russian visa. See the New Russia Stickyfor details but the easiest place in Europe to obtain a Russian visa is through Kelvita travel in Vilnius, Lithuania and the easiest place to obtain a Russian visa in Asia is currently Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

For the Moscow-Vladivostok route only a Russian visa is needed.

2. For the Moscow-Manchuria-Beijing a Russian and a Chinese visa is needed.
There are Chinese consulates in Russia in Petersburg, Moscow and Khabarovsk. I don't have any current reports about these consulates.

Chinese missions overseas
Chinese Embassy in Russia.
Ambassador: Liu Guchang
Address: NO.6, UL. DRUZHBY, MOSCOW, RUSSIA,117330
Tel: +7095-9382006, 1431540, 1431543
Fax: +7095-9561169
E-mail: CHINA_EMB_RU@MFA.GOV.CN
Website: http://ru.china-embassy.org/chn/default.htm

Chinese Consulate In St. Petersburg
Address: NAB.KANALA GRIBOEDOVA, NO. 134, ST.PETERSBURG, 190121, RUSSIA
Website: http://saint-petersburg.china-consulate.org
http://saint-petersburg.chineseconsulate.org
http://stpetersburg.china-consulate.org
http://stpetersburg.chineseconsulate.org
Tel: 007-812-7147670, 9425929
Fax: 007-812-7144958
E-mail: chinaconsul_sp_ru@mfa.gov.cn

Chinese Consulate in Khabarovsk
Address: 680028, STADIUM OF LENIN, KHABAROVSK, RUSSIA
Tel: 007-4212 328390 Consular Office
Fax: 007-4212 649094
Website: http://www.chinaconsulate.khb.ru
http://khabarovsk.china-consulate.org
http://khabarovsk.chineseconsulate.org
E-mail: gcchina@gcchina.khv.ru

The website says that the fee for Russians for normal processing for a single entry visa is 1500 rubles and that visas can be obtained in one week. For a higher fee, a visa can be obtained with 5 or 3 days processing time.

For the Moscow-Mongolia-Beijing route all three, Russian, Mongolian and Chinese visas are needed. Note that Mongolian visas are not needed by everyone. Israeli and US passport holders do not need visas to enter Mongolia. Mongolia Ministry of Foreign Affairs

3. There are Mongolian consulates in Moscow, Irkutsk, Ulan Ude.
Embassy in Moscow:
RUSSIA: Embassy of Mongolia
Ul. Borisoglebskaya 11, 121069 Moscow
Tel: (+7-095) 2906792
Fax: (+7-095) 2916171
Website: www.mongolianembassy.ru

General Consulate in Irkutsk, Russia:
Ul. Lapina 11, Irkutsk, Russia
Tel: (+7-3952)-342145, 342447
Fax: Tel: (+7-3952)-342143
Website: www.inetmng.com/~bb/

General Consulate in Ulan-Ude, Russia:
Ul. Erbanova 12, Hotel "Baikal", 670000, c. Ulan-Ude
Tel: (7-30122)-20507, 22934
Fax: (7-30122)-63244

GENERAL
Payment is preferred in rubles (US dollars are also accepted).

You need your passport and one passport photo (no itinerary or evidence of onward travel was required).

The person reporting this indicated that he arrived at the consulate at 10am and was offered a 4.30pm same day pick up (at 24 hour processing price), 4.30pm next day pick up (at 48 hour processing price), 4.30 pm three days later pick up (at 6 day price).

TRANSIT VISA COST AND PROCESSING TIMES (valid for 3 days only - not 10 days as indicated in LP and Trailblazer)
$US65 - 24 hours
$US53 - 48 hours
$US28 - up to 6 days
$US20 - 7 days

TOURIST VISA COST AND PROCESSING TIMES (valid for 30 days)
$US105 - 24 hours
$US55 - 48 hours
$US43 - up to 6 days
$US30 - 7 days
(Updated 10/3/2005)

A report in August 2006 indicated no problems obtaining a Mongolian visa in Moscow.

For the sake of completion here is the information about the embassy and consulates in China:
CHINA: Embassy of Mongolia
No 2, Xiushui Beijie Jian Guo, Men Wai Da Jie Beijing, China
Phone: +86-10-6532-1810;
Fax: +86-10-6532-5045
Note that there are reports that this consulate is open VERY limited hours.

Consulate General of Mongolia
Zhongguo Huhe Haote, Xincheng Gu Wulanxiagu, Bldg No 5, Hohhot
Lou Mengg u Linshiguang
Phone: + 86-471-4953254
Fax: + 86-471-4953250

Consulate of Mongolia
Erlian Fang Dian, Room 307/308
Erlian Hot
P.R. of China
Tel: (+86-479) 7521538
Fax: (+86-479) 7522194

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

7

Train fares

Most questions regarding trains fares in Russia are difficult to impossible answer.

Please do NOT ask me the prices of trains. Train prices depend upon too many variables to quote prices. Variables include the # of the train, the class of service (with or without meals, business vs economy, etc), the type of berth (lux, kupé, platskartney), the date of travel (there are seasonal surcharges), etc. Trains vary in newness, level of services, length of travel time, route, etc. Searching the prices takes time and effort, but I have researched the Moscow to Krasnoyarsk segment in Jan 2007 to give you an example.

If want to cut and paste letters or you want to set up your computer to handle cyrillic (try google.com to russify a computer) then you can use this website: Russian Train Site This site is in Russian, but it is available in in English RZD Eng for a limited number of cities and then it leads you to the Russian only pages. You can use www.translate.ru to translate whole webpages.

Train number #350 (Travel time 69 h 34 m)
kupé 2K =4055.00
kupé 2Eh =5048.60
plats =1508.60

Train #80 (Travel time 62 h 44 m) or #44 (67 h 37 m) or #92
kupé 2K =4434.10
kupé 2Eh =5211.70
lux 1B =10135.90
lux 1L =8842.70
plats =1658.50

Train #2 (58 h 33 m)
kupé 2K =6650.60
kupé 2Eh =7403.60

Train #10 (58 h 15 m)
kupé 2K =5773.80
kupé 2Eh =6958.80
lux 1B =13518.50
lux 1L =11489.90
plats =1824.30

As you can see the variation in price is from 13518.50 to 1508.60 over a three day period in January 2007. Over the year, the prices vary even more.

Any train fares listed here are roughly those for tickets bought at a Russian railway station. It's much more expensive through a travel agency, especially outside Russia. The reasons for the increased costs are several - one, someone must go to the train station and actually purchase the tickets and two, an extra fee must be paid when tickets are purchased without presentation of one's passport. Train prices vary with the season of travel (summer being more expensive).

Train fares vary with the particular train, the time of year and the class of service. Train fares for international travel from Russia to Mongolia, the Baltics, China, etc are impossible to answer unless someone has actually bought the tickets at the train station. To the best of my ability to discover, this information is NOT available on the web.

Tickets for international travel from Russia can be purchased only to the first stop outside of Russia. Therefore, a Russian travel agency can NOT buy a ticket from Ulan Bator to Beijing. If they offer to do so, the ticket will cost considerably more than if purchased at the station or from a local agency. The reason is simple, a local, Mongolian agent must purchase the ticket and then sell it to the Russian agent so it gets marked up in price twice.

Avantix gives some fare information.

Your Train - CIS train schedule offers tickets for some trains for a 250 ruble surcharge with free delivery in Moscow and Petersburg.

Russian Train Site gives some fare information but only for trains departing in the next 30 days and only for trains on which there are seats available which never seem to be the international trains to Ulan Bator or Beijing.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

8

Notes about Russian train travel
It is cheaper to book your ticket at the train station, but that assumes that you speak the language, have the time and can be flexible if the day you want is booked. Even during the height of the tourist travel in July and August, travelers have not reported difficulty getting train tickets for intermediate trains with two exceptions. In the summer 2006, there was reportedly great difficulty getting tickets for the international trains from Irkutsk or Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator, Mongolia and from Beijing to Ulan Bator. In both cases there are alternative means of transportation. See the end of this thread for that information.

If you intend to stop, you cannot take the direct through trans-siberian, transmongolian or transmanchurian trains and hop off and on again. With limits, you can do this on other Russian trains. One limitation is that the train ticket is only valid for 10 days. Another is that if you hop off, you next segment will be space available and finally there may be a surcharge for changing your ticket. I do NOT recommend buying a ticket and planning to get off and on. It requires more language skills than the average traveler has and many ticket agents may not be familiar with the regulations for this.

If you decide to get off the train and reuse the ticket to continue your travels, you will need to speak with someone in the station. You need to make arrangements to depart again within 10 days, and note that your continuation will be on a space-available basis.

To repeat: you cannot get off and on the through trains to Beijing or Vladivostok. And you cannot get on the through trains unless you are headed to the final terminus. However, you can buy a ticket Moscow to Ulan-Ude for example and get off in Yekatrinburg, then again in Krasnoyarsk, and Irkutsk but travel must be completed in 10 days. Plus at the same time, you can purchase a through ticket from UU to UB and then in Mongolia get another ticket from UB to Beijing.

You can TRY to buy all the tickets in one place but practically speaking this is difficult to impossible. Tickets are not readily available for trains that you might board at stations other than the station of origination. So while it is easy to buy tickets from Moscow to Kazan for example. Getting the ticket from Kazan to Yekaterinburg means joining a train that is already underway and tickets might not be available except at the Kazan station and only within a day or two or perhaps just on the day of travel.

So if you depart from Moscow or Vladivostok, you can try to buy all the tickets there. If you leave from Beijing, in Beijing you can buy a through ticket, but not separate tickets for stop overs. So you can buy the Beijing - Ulan Bator leg and will have to purchase the UB to Moscow section or sections in Mongolia. You can, however, order tickets from a travel agency.

The train schedule can be viewed at www.poezda.net. Beijing is called Pekin. Moscow is called Moskva. St. Petersburg is called Sankt Peterburg. Yekaterinburg is called Sverdlovsk.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

9

Common Places to Stop

It would be a shame to travel that far and not stop along the way. Buying separate tickets and making stops will add about $20-25 per stop to the total cost of the tickets but it will break up the trip and offer views of some different places.

Usual stops in addition to Irkutsk to see Lake Baikal include any or all of the following (from Moscow to the Mongolian border):
Yekaterinburg which is worth a day to see the old center of the city and the new church built to commemorate the Romanovs. Also get someone to drive your to see the cemetaries where Yeltsin's parents are buried and take a look at the local mafioso graves.

Novosibirsk which is worth a few hours to see the Stalin architecture and if you are in need of an Irish pub. There are problems reported here finding a place to stay that is reasonably priced and also will accept foreigners.

Krasnoyarsk which is worth a day or two. Be sure to see the dam at Dvinogorsk and to go for a hike in Stolbi, the national park. The ethnography museum in the city is very good as well. Contact Anatoliy Brewhanov, the SibTourGuide for information and local arrangements.

Irkutsk which is worth a day on its own and then several days in the Baikal area. Just outside of Irkutsk visit the wooden architecture museum to get a sampling of old buildings. Visit the lake front. If you have time, get some rest and solitude on Olkhon Island or visit the hot springs near Arshan in the Sayan Mountains, or take a ride along the circumbaikal train to see the lake up close. Look at the New Russia Sticky, contact Jack Sheremetoff, the Baikaler and check out the local hostels: Baikal Hostel and Downtown Hostel.

Ulan Ude which is worth a day for the Buddhist datsan outside of town. There reportedly is a hostel but it is seasonal, June to August.Check out the dormitory at the Buryat International Students Educational Center.

Other stops that are also highly recommended but a bit off the usual path:
Kazan which is worth at least a day to see the Kremlin (A UNESCO world heritage site), the university that Lenin attended and walk along the pedestrian mall in the center of town.

Tobolsk which is worth a day to see its kremlin and some of the old houses.

Tomsk a university town which is worth a day to see the wooden buildings and soak up some atmosphere.

Please search New Russia Sticky message and both the Eastern Europe and the NorthEast Asia branch for more information about these stopover places.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

10

General information about trains
You do not need to bring a sleeping bag or a sleep sack. Bedding including a blanket, pad and pillows are there for each berth. A package with clean sheets, a pillow case and a towel are provided. It used to be that you paid the attendant for these items but they are now generally included in the price of the train ticket. On some of the lower number trains you may be offered a sanitary packet that also includes toothbrush and tooth paste, soap, tissues and some other odds and ends.

The best berths are those in the middle of the car. At each end they are close to the bathrooms, trash bin or samovar, and doorways and hence tend to be noisier and smellier. This means avoiding berths 1, 2, 17 and 18 in first class, 1-4 and 33-36 in second class. Also the length of the berths in platskartney, especially those in the corridor compared to the groups of four, are shorter than the those in first and second class.

In first and second class wagons there are at least two electrical outlets. There is one in the corridor which is used for the vacuum cleaner and there is one in or near the toilet at the opposite end of the car from the samovar. Both are 220 v 50 Mhz round plug outlets. It is NOT recommended to leave things here to charge. The attendants do have outlets in their compartments and for a small gift or fee, you might be able to arrange to use their outlets to charge your electronic devices. OTOH if you are thinking of bringing an MP3 player and using it all the time, you might want to consider whether a disposable battery charger would be a good investment. Note that there are some reports that the newer trains might have power supplies in the first class of sv compartments.

There are two sets of lights in each compartment. One set operates when in the station and the other when the train is underway. These are compartment lights. There are also reading lamps for each berth in first and second class compartment. There are corridor lights as well. And there is a radio which can be turned off in each compartment and is only operable at certain times.

Mobile phone reception is not available throughout the Russian train network. It is intermittent at best. Also different regions have different providers. Don't expect to be reachable 24/7 while traveling on long distance trains in Russia.

Trains in Russia operate on Moscow time wherever they are. This can be disconcerting for meals. All Russian train station clocks are set to Moscow time. The schedules for the train including all the stops and the length of time at each stop are posted in Russian on the wall in each car. If there are two or more travelers, it is useful for one person to keep a watch on Moscow train time and others to keep local time. This way you will be less likely to miss your train.

The Transsib Handbook - Time Zones site is useful because it has a map of the time zones and shows the major trans-siberian train routes (note that it does not show Moscow - Kazan - Yekaterinburg, although this is possible.) Also important is to remember that the further north you are in winter the shorter the amount of daylight. So this is a useful site as well to calculate the amount of daylight, Sunrise/Sunset.

There are two bathrooms, one at each end of each car. While the attendants try hard to keep them clean, the number of people sharing these two bathrooms in platskartny is pretty high and thus this is sisyphean task. Bring your own soap, your own toilet paper and understand that the power outlet in/near the bathroom doesn't operate when the train is stopped and sometimes even when it is moving. The bathrooms are locked for 45-60 minutes while in the station, after leaving and before arriving in Moscow and Petersburg, plus for shorter periods when entering and departing other large cities. This is due to the sanitary districts since the bathrooms open directly onto the tracks.

Lots of travelers express concern about safety and security on the trains. Train travel is Russia is generally quite safe. The lower bunks in the 1st and 2nd class compartments can be raised and there is room to safely store luggage underneath, provided it's not a gigantic suitcase or pack. There is also space above the doorway, but it's harder to get things up there and to safely secure them. The compartment doors can be locked from within and there is a small latch that can be placed in the locked position from the inside allowing you to open the door only an inch or two. In addition, if you want to leave at a station or to go to the dining car, the attendant can lock them as well. If you are uncomfortable with your fellow travelers, make that known to the attendant and s/he will try to accommodate a change of bunk. Offering to share you food and drink will increase the likelihood that your fellow travelers will look out for your belongings.

While there are dining cars, the food in the Russian dining cars is generally poor (at least in my personal experience), often not available and overall not worth the price. Some of the stops are quite long and most anything you might want will be available either from the groceries in the station or on the train platforms from vendors. Some things can be purchased from vendors who ride the trains: chips, drinks, snacks. Generally passengers tend to share their foodstuffs. You can get a glass, tea holder, tea bags or instant coffee, sugar and hot water from the train attendant for minimal cost. Bring along a mug, dried soups, coffee and cocoa for variety. I usually carry nuts, dried fruit, cheese (and for my meat-eating fellow travelers, salami as well). Bread can usually be bought on the platforms, sometimes fruits as well. Don't forget to bring a sharp knife with bottle opener.

There is a hot water samovar, but there is no cold water that is available for drinking or brushing your teeth. The water in the sink in the toilet is not drinkable. You will need to bring bottled water or containers to hold the hot water from the samovar until it cools.

On long train rides, for entertainment I generally bring along a deck of cards and several travel games - usually boggle and yahtzee. Boggle is a word game and the time to finish rounds is short, plus it can easily be interrupted. Yahtzee is a dice game that doesn't require language skills and so can be played with fellow travelers whose English is not the best. If you bring along cards, see if some Russian speaks enough English to explain a game they play called Preference - it will help pass the time. Also I suggest several books, usually trashy things you can pass around or leave with fellow travelers. Be sure to carry some paper, something to write with and a dictionary. I've been using my Collins Gem for years and while not the best dictionary - it is small and compact.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

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Other resources about the trans-siberian

Here are some sites suggested in the past by others who researched this route:
G&R International This is a travel agency/hostel in Moscow that has lots of information about the transiberian including their fees for various train tickets.
monkeyshrine.com This firm has a location in China, arranges visas (now in Hong Kong,) sells train tickets and packages. They post ads on various Russian train sites and are pretty hard sell. Without question, their prices are high but their service is pretty good.
Russia Experience A Brit who operates lots of organized trips on the transiberian route. Same hold true - the prices are high but the service is reportedly good.
russian-gateway.com.au An Australian travel agency that specializes in travel to Russia.
Russian Passport/Red Bear travelAn Australian company that arranges travel to Russia, Mongolia and North Korea.
sokoltours.com A Russian tour company whose site has lots of good information about things to do and places to see.
StudyRussian A company that specializes in studying Russian at MGU and travel on the transiberian route.
Svezhy Veter Another Russian tour company, although not specializing in travel on the transiberian, this site has lots of useful information about travel in Russia. Plus if you send them a request for quotes for train prices, the prices they send are quite reasonable.
Tramp Hostel Another Moscow-based travel agency/hostel reported to be responsive to requests for info, have reasonable prices and be reasonably reliable.
Vodka Train This is an Australian company called Sundowners. They are trying hard to undercut MonkeyShrine and Russia Experience with a "no frills tour" price.

These other sites are included for the sake of completeness:
seat61.com Mark Smith is THE train guru. His site includes pictures of what a 1st class and 2nd class bunk look like, shows the route maps and includes load and loads of other useful information.
Trans-Siberian Railway Web Encyclopedia Good information about history of the trains, cars, books about the trains, but the English section is not well translated.
WaytoRussia A travel service, not really an agency, but they keep their webpages up to date regarding train times and ticket prices, both of which change with the season plus they check the service and quality of the companies with which they work. They also have lots of information about things to do in many of the cities/towns along the route and constantly add information.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

12

For those of you who got this far, note that I have divided this sticky message into sections so that readers can be referred to a specific part of the page which I hope will be useful in finding information.

For those of you who have read the New Russia Sticky, I am aware that some of the information here is repeated from there. I decided that some of it was worth repeating and/expanding. Hopefully those who read both will agree.

If people have suggestions or corrections or additions that they would like made, please contact me as this is still a work in progress.

Thanks to those who provided information or contributed to the previous thread. Hopefully I haven't left out anything major. If I have, please forgive me and remind me so that it can be added.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

13

Quote

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Russian Train Site - only in Cyrillic, but gives the ticket prices for trains within Russia and tells of availability of seats in the next 30 days.

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At the trainstation and central ticket office (at least in St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Petrozavodsk and Kem) there are computerterminals with the same information, which where quite useful to me. Even though I hardly understand any Russian (or cyrillic) I could operate the machine after some practising. Then I just wrote the info about the ticket I needed on a piece of paper and handed it over to woman behind the counter.

Travelogue

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A WORD OF WARNING

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Here are some sites suggested in the past by others who researched this route:

G&R International This is a travel agency/hostel in Moscow that has lots of information about the transiberian including their fees for various train tickets.

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We recently (November) bought our visa invitations and several nights accomodation in Moscow through G&R hostel. After sending credit card details for payment, both of our cards had a number of illegal transactions attempted upon them.

My bank cancelled my card immediately as the first attempted transaction was suspicious (internet transaction in the early am local time).

My partner was less lucky - they got away with over $3000 USD of transactions before he realized when checking his account. The credit card company, citibank, is still investigating. We don't yet know whether he'll have to pay.

As we live separately and have different banks, G&R hostel is the only organization which has both of our credit card details.

If you are considering using G&R be very careful of the information you send them!