Trains

29-10-2007

En español!!!

Visas

Trains

Timetables

Miscellany

Links

Moscow-Beijing 2004

Pablo's trip 2007 (New! - Only in Spanish!)

About

Contact me

Here you can find information about the trains that runs through the TransSiberian route.

The trains | The tickets | The fares

The trains

Transsiberian refers to a line (or better, to a set of lines) that are used by a variety of commercial trains. There are four main categories:

• Fast trains ('skory poezd') - Numbers 1 to 160. Fast and comfortable. They link big cities along Siberia, Mongolia and China.

• Firm fast train ('firmeny poezd') - They are a subset within the previous ones. Service is slightly better and more suitable to do the route. Some of them are the "Rossiya", between Moscow and Vladivostok, the "Ural", between Moscow and Yekaterinburg, the "Vostok", that links Moscow and Beijing or the "Baikal", between Moscow and Irkutsk.

• Passenger trains ('passazhirskiy poezd') - Numbers 170 to 870. They are intercitys that stop in the most of the stations. They are usually slow.

• Speed trains ('skorostnoj poezd') - Numbers 161 to 169. Very comfortable and well equipped. They are the "equivalent" to High Speed Trains in Western Europe.

It's important to have into account that trains are identified not only with a number but with a letter (cyrilic) as well. This letter is more important that it seems, because they may exist several trains with same number and the letter is the character that truly identifies the service we're looking for.

There are three classes (this is roughly the same both for Russian and Chinese trains):

Spal'ny Vagon (1st class) two-berth compartments with a small sink and air conditioning, 9 compartments per car. Toilets can be found in both ends of each carriage. More privacity and less to queue in the morning! They can be locked from inside.

Kupe (2nd class) four-berth compartments, 9 compartments per car, air conditioned. Toilets can be found in both ends of each carriage. They can be locked from inside. This is the standard way for travelling across Russia.

Platskartny (3rd class) open-plan dormitory cars, 54 berths per car. Toilets are found in both ends of the carriage. You shouldn't expect privacy, but it's an excellent place for meeting people. Guides don't recommend this kind of travelling for westerners, but conversations with people who love this route say that this is the essence of the trip across Siberia. Not every train has this class. Forget about it in firm fast ones.

The trains consist in a variable number of sleeping cars, a restaurant car (that changes in every country: you will have a Chinese restaurant car in China, a Russian restaurant car in Russia, etc.) and a supervisor car usually in the middle of the composition. This supervisor is the highest authority in the train and the one you should call in case of trouble. Anyway, the biggest problem you may find are the vodka-supporters russians, that can be really annoying. Trains are generally safe; use your common sense.

This is the typical scheme of a car:

The restaurant is an overheated place, with a long menu that actually has two dishes. It's usually clean, but  everything served is hot. It's not expensive but it can be boring as food. Our experience is that is more a meeting room for playing cards and chatting (it's particularly overcrowded in the Chinise trains). Best choices for catering are supermarkets before the trip starts. You can buy food and water in the busy platform markets in every big station.

Every car is supervised by a couple of attendants (call provodnik for men and provodnitsa for women). They are in charge of keeping fit the toilets and to fix the problems that may appear. Some of them are extremely nice. They will provide you with clean sheets (some times you will have to pay a small fee for them). IMPORTANT! At the beginning of the trip, they will take your tickets. Normally, they will give them back at the end.

In every car there is a samovar (Russian version of a kettle or water boiler) from which you will be able to take all the hot water you want. Include in your luggage som tea/coffee/soup/chocolate and sugar. A tea in the afternoon while crossing Siberia is a simple but joyful experience.

Toilets are usually clean, depending on the provodnitsas. They are closed half an hour before arriving to a big city and half an hour later, since they discharge directly in the tracks. Russian trains don't have shower facilities. It's a good idea to carry a hose that can be adjusted to the tap in the toilet to simulate it. In the case you're travelling from Beijing and use a Chinese train, they do have showers, but just in 1st class. The high cost comparing to the 2nd class doesn't justify the extra expend.

Our trip, for instance, was made using firm fast trains, the "Ural", the "Baikal" and the "Vostok", in kupe class.

Up

The tickets

We have seen at least three models:

click here to enlarge.

click here to enlarge.

The information provided, according to the last ticket is:

Up

The fares

Fares are getting increased year by year. They depend on the change of the rouble in the international markets. A good guide could be between 1 and 2 euro per 100 km in kupe (2nd class) and between 3 and 4 euro in spalny (1st class). We paid for the whole itinerary (Moscow - Beijing) about 7700 roubles (230€, 2004 change). You should expect to pay between 10 and 20% more if you book them using a Russian agency. If you do it from your home country, the price will be almost double. The need for booking is only real from Lake Baikal, especially if your destination is China or Mongolia in a firm fast train, since these train have a weekly frequency.

Up