After a more lyrical introduction to the world of Russian trains , it's important to talk about the practicalities. Below we explain how to buy and read your train ticket, which seats are the best, how to make sure you're safe, how to do stopovers, and so on. If you have more questions, ask below, on our forum or WayToRussia.Net Facebook page.
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A: Yes, they are in Russian and hard to understand, but they do contain valuable information, such as the number of your carriage, the time of departure and arrival and so on. So you just absolutely have to know where is what on this otherwise cryptic piece of paper:
Reading a russian train ticket / photo by Real Russia
A: There are standard and "firmenny" trains, the latter ones are generally cleaner, more expensive, and serve a pathetic breakfast. There 4 classes: seating trains, 3rd class or "platzcart" (~ 50 bunks in a common carriage), 2nd class or "kupe" (4-berth compartments), and 1st class or "spalny vagon" (sleeping carriage with 2-bed compartments). The 1st class is rarely worth it because the prices are too high. If you want privacy it's cheaper to buy out the whole "kupe" compartment. Those who don't want to risk getting stuck in their compartment with total strangers for several days (when you travel Transsib, for example) or want to meet random people can get a 3rd class berth. It's also a better choice for women traveling alone, because there are no separate men/women carriages.
First, you need to always present your passport when buying a Russian ticket or boarding a train. For the same reason it'sa train ticket with someone else or re-sell it &#; because your name will be written on it. You can only buy a train ticket in Russia not earlier than. Normally, if you decide to do it on your own, you can go to any train station, queue at the official ticket sales office, tell them what you need, and they'll get it for you. Get ready that theare long and the sales clerks don't speak any English. But you'll get by with some persistence. Availability may be an issue, so press them for all the options available (not only direct, but also passing trains, also &#; 3rd class, departures from other train stations, etc)
There are also so-called "commercial" ticket sales offices (often also at the stations), which charge a markup per ticket (&#;5-&#;20) on top of the normal price. These may have shorter queues and more friendly and helpful staff, although not often.
Queuing for a train ticket / photo by aaronray@FlickR
Another option is to goand purchase your tickets there. This is a good choice if you need to plan your itinerary beforehand or have a limited time period for your travel. You'll end up paying about 20-25% on the total price, which may in fact make more sense than paying a fixed markup when you're buying several tickets or multi-leg journey. Most online agents have English-speaking operators and offer delivery.
Finally, since you can get electronic train tickets (e-tickets) online, however, you still have to bring your print-out to the station and get a real ticket before you board the train. Some trains have onboard check-ins but you have to check it beforehand. Also, availability allocated to electronic tickets may be an issue. Also, the Russian railways don't yet have the English-language version of the e-ticket ordering system, but we do :)
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The Russian Railways ( RZhD ) is the company that owns the railway network throughout Russia. It has a few departments (or sections), such as Oktyabrskaya railway network (serves Moscow - St. Petersburg route), or East Siberian railway network (serves the area around Baikal Lake in Siberia), but generally it's one huge government monopoly. The Russian Railways is like a state within a state with its own schools, little towns, hi-tech communication network, and equipment. It is quite a successful company too, because it manages to run trains on time in such a huge and diverse country as Russia and to pay good salaries to train drivers and staff.
They are some of the safest in the world. Every train carriage has a dedicated conductor who checks the passport of every passenger who boards the train and watches you like a KGB agent. Every train has its own police on board. There are no lockers though, but if you take the lower bunk and put your valuables under your bed, no one will have access to it during the night (because you're sleeping on it). None of us or our friends have never had anything stolen and we took a lot of trains, so our personal experience was really safe.Your only problem might be that you get stuck with some people you don't like in a 2nd class compartment, in which case you might prefer 3rd class common carriage instead (and it's cheaper, too).Russian trains, especially on longer journeys, tend to make a lot of stops, so you should watch out for your stuff during these moments, as people are leaving and entering the train.
Train conductors (provodnitsa) / Photo by magical-world@FlickR
If you want to meet people or if you are traveling alone, you may be interested in getting acommon carriage "" &#; you have less chance getting stuck with unwanted companions. In the 3rd class the best places are at the top, because you can rest and no one will ask you if they can use it as a seat during the afternoon. Besides you can hide your valuables there as well. If you're two people then the "side top" and "side bottom" are good, because they are located along the corridor, so you have your own private corner for two, while also sharing the public space if you feel like meeting people. But these beds are a bit shorter than the standard ones, so if you're tall, get the standard top or bottom bed.If you're taking, our favorite is also the top beds, because again you have an option of having your private corner and you can sleep while the others are sitting in front of the table below.If you'reand want privacy, don't get the 1st class &#; just buy out the wholecompartment because it's cheaper than buying the whole 1st class one.Finally, if you need a bit more comfort and special treatment,may be a good option, because these are a bit cleaner and there are less people in the carriage.
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2nd class "kupe" train compartment / photo by toennesen@FlickR
Every train has a "" where you can have a meal for about &#;15 per person. It's nothing special, but quite romantic nevertheless, so try it at least once. Also, on longer journeys, like Trans-Siberian, you've got a lot of stops along the way (10-20 minutes long). There the local people selland it's the best. Try to buy some home-made potatoes, cabbage, meat &#; it's all good, tasty, and super cheap. Also, all Russian trains have a boiler (some of them still work on coal, by the way), so you can have endless supply of tea!If you want to pack your snack, you should know that thein Russia are eggs, salted cucumbers, grilled chicken leg, tea, and, of course, vodka. You won't believe how many stories we heard about people losing their vodka virginity on long-leg journeys, so make sure you don't overdo on it too much! Pack a lot of bottled water in any case, as it's something that may be hard or expensive to get along the way.
Selling food along the Trans-Siberian train / photo by Celine Smith / WTR
Every train carriage has a toilet with a sink, these usually get dirty and stinky pretty quick. So pack some baby-tissues, your own toothpaste and toothbrush. Towels are provided with bed sheets (you might have to pay a bit extra like &#;3 for them). Some long-distance trains (which travel along the Trans-Siberian) have showers, but only in the 1st class carriages. Sometimes you can arrange with a conductor to use it for &#;3-&#;5.If you need condoms, sanitary towels or tampons &#; these you have to get beforehand, as you won't find any along the way.
Russian train toilet - nice and clean! :)
A: Not really &#; you have to have a separate ticket for each leg of your journey. So train hopping is not really an option. However, there's one rule that allows you to stop once along the way. If you do that, you should go to the train station manager as soon as you hopped off the train and get them to stamp your ticket saying that you did a stopover and book you the next train directly. You might have to pay a bit extra for it, but usually not more than &#;20 (it's an official fee called "platzcarta" &#; something like a seat reservation service on top of your ticket price). Do this only if you can speak a bit of Russian or are confident in your persuasion skills: even though there's a rule for it, train station managers are very reluctant to take on any extra work. However, if you missed your train while it was stopped, for example, this is a good option, so you don't lose your ticket.
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Railways with a railway track gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm) first appeared in the United Kingdom and the United States. This gauge became commonly known as "Russian gauge", because the government of the Russian Empire chose it in . Former areas and states of the Empire have inherited this standard.[1] However in , Soviet Railways re-defined the gauge as 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27&#;32 in).[2]
With about 225,000 km (140,000 mi) of track, 1,520 mm is the second-most common gauge in the world, after 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in) standard gauge.[3]
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Great Britain,[
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In , the Wylam waggonway was built to a 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge for the shipment of coal from Wylam to Lemington down the River Tyne.[4]
In , the Eastern Counties Railway was constructed. In , the Northern and Eastern Railway was built. In , both lines were converted to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in) standard gauge. In , the East Hill Cliff Railway, a funicular, was opened.
United States,[
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5 ft
(1,524 mm
) gauge rail network in the Southern United States ()In , Horatio Allen, the chief engineer of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, prescribed the usage of 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge. Many other railroads in the Southern United States adopted this gauge. The presence of several distinct gauges was a major disadvantage to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. In , when around 11,500 miles (18,500 km) of 5 ft gauge track existed in the United States, almost all of the railroads using that gauge were converted to 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm), the gauge then used by the Pennsylvania Railroad.[5]
Russian Empire,[
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In , the first railway built in Russia was a 6 ft (1,829 mm) gauge, 17 km long experimental line connecting Saint Petersburg with Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk. The choice of gauge was influenced by Brunel's Great Western Railway which used 7 ft (2,134 mm). The Tsarskoye Selo railway's success proved that a larger gauge could be viable for railways isolated from the extant 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in) gauge Western European network.[6][7]
In , work started on the second railway in the Russian Empire, the Warsaw&#;Vienna railway in Congress Poland. It was a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in) standard gauge, with the express intention of allowing through-freight trains into Austria-Hungary.[6][7]
The modern Russian railway network solidified around the Saint Petersburg&#;Moscow railway, built in . There, the Tsar established a committee to recommend technical standards for the building of Russia's first major railway. The team included devotees of Franz Anton von Gerstner, who pushed to continue the Tsarskoye Selo gauge, and engineer Pavel Melnikov and his consultant George Washington Whistler, a prominent American railway engineer. Whistler recommended 5 ft (1,524 mm) on the basis that it was cheaper to construct than 6 ft (1,829 mm) and cheaper to maintain than 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in). His advice won over the Tsar.[6][7]
At the time, questions of continuity with the European network did not arise. By the time difficulties arose in connecting the Prussian railroads to the Russian ones in Warsaw in the s, it was too late to change.[6]
A persistent myth holds that Imperial Russia chose a gauge broader than standard gauge for military reasons, namely to prevent potential invaders from using the rail system.[8] The Russian military recognized as early as that operations to disrupt railway track did not depend on the gauge, and should instead focus on destroying bridges and tunnels.[6][7] However, in both World Wars the break of gauge did pose some amount of obstacle to the invading Germans.
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The 5-foot gauge became the standard in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union.
Russian engineers used it on the Chinese Eastern Railway, built in the closing years of the 19th century across the Northeastern China entry to provide a shortcut for the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok. The railway's southern branch, from Harbin via Changchun to Lüshun, used Russian gauge. As a result of the Russo-Japanese War of -, its southernmost section from Changchun to Lüshun was lost to the Japanese, who promptly regauged it to standard gauge, after using the narrow 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) for a short time during the war.[9] This formed a break of gauge between Changchun and Kuancheng, the station just to the north of Changchun, still in Russian hands,[10] until the rest of the former Chinese Eastern Railway was converted to standard gauge, probably in the s.
Unlike in South Manchuria, the Soviet Union's reconquest of southern Sakhalin from Japan did not result in regauging of the railway system. Southern Sakhalin has continued with the original Japanese 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge simultaneously with the Russian gauge railway, constructed in the northern part of the island in - (Moskalvo-Okha). The railway has no fixed connection with the mainland. Before , rail cars coming from the mainland port of Vanino on the Vanino-Kholmsk train ferry, operating since , had to have their bogies changed in the Sakhalin port of Kholmsk.[11] In and plans were put forward to convert it to the Russian gauge. The conversion was completed in .[12]
There were proposals in for north-south and east-west lines in Afghanistan, with construction to start in .[13]
Panama,[
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The Panama Canal Railway, first constructed in ca. , was built in 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge. During canal construction (&#;), this same gauge was chosen for both construction traffic, canal operating services along the quays, and the newly routed commercial cross-isthmus railway. In the gauge for the commercial parallel railway was changed to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in) to use standard gauge equipment. The original gauge was chosen under the influence of the pre-conversion southern United States railway companies. The electric manoeuvering locomotives along the locks (mules) still use the 5 ft gauge that was laid during canal construction.
Finland,[
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The first rail line in Finland was opened in January . As Finland was then the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous state ruled in personal union by Imperial Russia where railways were also built to the (5 ft) broad track gauge of 1,524 mm (5 ft).[14] However the railway systems were not connected until the bridge over the River Neva was built in .[15] Russian trains could not have run on Finnish tracks, because the Finnish loading gauge was narrower, until the connection was made and the Finnish structure gauge was widened.
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In the late s the gauge was redefined to 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27&#;32 in) in the Soviet Union.[3] At the same time the tolerances were tightened. As the running gear (wheelsets) of the rolling stock remained unaltered, the result was an increased speed and stability.[14] The conversion took place between and the beginning of the s.[14]
In Finland, the Finnish State Railways kept the original definition of 1,524 mm (5 ft), even though they also have tightened the tolerances in a similar way, but to a higher level.
After its independence from the Soviet Union in , Estonia redefined its track gauge to 1,524 mm, to match Finland's gauge.[16] The redefinition did not mean that all the railways in Estonia were changed immediately. It was more a rule change, so that all renovated old tracks and new railways would be constructed in 1,524 mm gauge from then on. (See Track gauge in Estonia.)
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Finland allows its gauge to be 1,520&#;1,529 mm on first class lines (classes 1AA and 1A, speed 220&#;160 km/h).[17]
If the rolling stock's tolerance is kept within certain limits, through running between 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27&#;32 in) railways and Finnish 1,524 mm (5 ft) railways is allowed. Since both 1,520 and 1,524 mm tolerances overlap, the difference is negligible. The international high-speed Allegro's gauge between Helsinki and St. Petersburg was specified as 1,522 mm.[18]
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For more information, please visit Russion Standard Rails.
The loading gauge, which defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads, is larger for Russian gauge. This means that if a standard gauge railway, in Europe, is adapted for dual gauge, bridges must be rebuilt, double tracks must be placed further apart and the overhead wire must be raised. Or there must be restrictions on permitted rolling stock, which would restrict the benefit of such a railway. Dual gauge needs more width than single gauge. For double stacking on Russian gauge tracks, maximum height shall be 6.15 or 6.4 m (20 ft 2 in or 21 ft 0 in) above rails.
For standard gauge railways, double stacking maximum height shall be 6.15 m (20 ft 2 in). For Indian gauge railways, double stacking maximum height shall be 7.1 m (23 ft 4 in), and minimum overhead wiring height shall be 6.5 or 6.75 m (21 ft 4 in or 22 ft 2 in) above rails. Minimum overhead wiring height for double stacking, standard gauge railways shall be 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in), and Indian gauge railways shall be 7.45 m (24 ft 5 in) above rails, respectively. This would apply to Russia and Europe (or North America), rather than to Russia and China (or Iran).
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The primary countries currently using the gauge of 5 ft or 1,520 mm, include:[19]
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Short sections of Russian or 5 ft gauge extend into Poland, eastern Slovakia, Sweden (at the Finnish border at Haparanda), and northern Afghanistan.[20]
There is an approximately 150 km long section in Hungary in the Záhony logistics area close to the Ukrainian border.[21]
Following renovations in , a 32 km section of dual Standard/Russian gauge was installed between Tumangang and Rajin stations in North Korea.[22]
The most western 1,520 mm gauge railway is the Polish LHS (Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa) from the Ukrainian border to the eastern end of the Upper Silesian Industrial Region.
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Although broad gauge is quite rare on lighter railways and street tramways worldwide, almost all tramways in the former USSR are broad gauge (according to terminology in use in these countries, gauges narrower than 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27&#;32 in) are considered to be narrow). Many tramway networks initially built to narrow gauges (750 mm or 2 ft 5+1&#;2 in or 1,000 mm or 3 ft 3+3&#;8 in metre gauge) were converted to broad gauge. As of , only a few out of more than sixty tram systems in Russia are not broad gauge: 1,000 mm in Kaliningrad and Pyatigorsk, 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in) in Rostov-on-Don. There are two tram systems in and around Yevpatoria that use 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3&#;8 in) gauge.[note 1]
Finland's Helsinki trams and Latvia's Liepāja trams use 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3&#;8 in). Estonia's Tallinn trams use similar 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). Warsaw's tramway system, constructed with mm gauge, was regauged to mm during post-WWII reconstruction.[23] Tampere tramway, built in , uses 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1&#;2 in).
Underground urban rapid transit systems in the former USSR, like the Moscow Metro, Saint Petersburg Metro, Kyiv Metro and Yerevan Metro use Russian gauge (1,520 mm). Outside the former USSR, the Helsinki Metro in Finland that utilizes a unique track gauge of 1,522 mm, falls between the Russian gauge (1,520 mm) and broad gauge 1,524 mm.
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Mixed between 1,524 mm (5 ft) and another similar gauge, result the bonus gauge is7 ft
(2,134 mm
) (Brunel gauge).These gauges cannot make 3-rail dual gauge with Russian gauge.
1,676 mm
(5 ft 6 in
) Indian gauge1,668 mm
(5 ft
5
+
21
&#;32
in) Iberian gauge1,600 mm
(5 ft 3 in
) Irish gauge1,435 mm
(4 ft
8
+
1
&#;2
in) standard gaugeThese gauges are within tolerance.
1,520 mm
(4 ft
11
+
27
&#;32
in)Russian gauge
1,522 mm
(4 ft
11
+
29
&#;32
in) as used by Helsinki Metro[
24]
1,524 mm
(5 ft
)Dual gauge between Russian gauge and another similar gauge can make these bonus gauges.
1,829 mm
(6 ft
)1,945 mm
(6 ft
4
+
9
&#;16
in)2,134 mm
(7 ft
)2,140 mm
(7 ft
1
&#;4
in) (Brunel gauge)2
+
1
&#;2
in) (the maximum bonus gauge from the1,435 mm
(4 ft
8
+
1
&#;2
in) standard gaugegauntlet tracks).[
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Railways using 1,524 mm gauge[
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Railways using 1,520 mm gauge[
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