The Ultimate Guide to Russian Trains
Russian trains are one of a kind. They demand your patience, your attention, and your time. Riding on a train in Russia transports you to a whole other world, one that exists only within the train cabins among the locals. Between Russian conversations and tea, grab your pen and paper as I bring you the ultimate guide to Russian trains.
First things first, I took a variety of trains within Russia within a span of a month in the Winter-Spring season [March-April] and only rode in 3rd class carriages all the way.
Essential Information:
Russian trains all run on local time, even if they pass through different time zones along the journey. A staff will literally walk to every single clock in the train and adjust the time to the current time zone every time! Your ticket will show only the local time of your departure city and arrival city, so don’t worry about converting and calculating the time differences.
You will find that in almost all kinds of forms in Russia they will ask for your first name, your last name, and your patronymic name. For most of us, patronymic names don’t apply to us so just either leave it blank or put a ‘-’.
How to buy your ticket:
You have 2 [3 if you count 3rd party agents, but why pay more for the same thing?] options:
1. Buy at the train station
2. Buy on the website [https://pass.rzd.ru/main-pass/public/en] or app [rzd.ru in your app/play store]
Russian trains are mostly operated by Russian Railways. They have a website and an app, which will allow you to conveniently buy and check your train tickets! Tickets go on sale either 90 days, 60 days, or 45 days before departure, depending on the route and the type of trains, so do check regularly on the website or app to see if your desired ticket has been released for sale [Be careful of third party agents who will claim to have tickets before the 90-day mark and/or charge you a premium for tickets!]
If you choose to buy tickets from the train station, you will be given a physical ticket which is pretty nice for a souvenir! Remember that you need your passport to buy most of the train tickets [all of them in my case] and to show to the train attendant while boarding. Also, if you do buy your ticket on the website or app remember to print out a physical copy of the ticket [only some trains allow e-tickets. Look out for the ЭР icon, which stands for elektronnaya registratsiya]. Otherwise, you will have to collect your tickets at the station beforehand.
You can pay for your tickets by cash or credit/debit card so no worries on that aspect.
Russian Trains, Inside Out:
There are 3 carriage classes on Russian trains, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. Chances are, you are going to end up on a sleeper train travelling through Russia. This means that the class you choose will affect your sleeping comfort and greatly affect how your trip within Russia will be like. To help you decide, I have listed down all of them below.
1st Class [Spalny Vagon] — Ride like a king. Each carriage has 9 compartments with 2 beds in each compartment, bringing the total capacity of each carriage to 18. It is perfect for couples or solo travellers looking for some peace. It offers a door that can be locked, plenty of storage space, and lovely pillows and sheets. You might even get free slippers, toiletries, and a full meal [!!!]
Really the only downside here is the price [a massive downside, by the way].
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2nd Class [Kupe] — Privacy to a certain extent. Each carriage has 9 compartments with 4 beds in each compartment, bringing the total capacity of each carriage to 36. The compartment is the same size as 1st class but these compartments have 4 beds — 2 upper and 2 lower bunks. It still has a door that can be locked, so it still offers decent privacy.
The downside is that you are stuck inside a compartment with 3 other people, so it can really go either way here. Either you have a really good time making friends and sharing conversations and laughter or you have to deal with inconsiderate, unhygienic, or noisy people that are cooped up together with you. It is cheaper than 1st class but pricier than the 3rd class, a nice balance.
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3rd class [Platskart] — Privacy? What is that? Each carriage has 9 ‘compartments’ with 6 beds in each ‘compartment’, bringing the total capacity of each carriage to 54. The compartments don’t have a door and the walkway that is present in 1st and 2nd class is lined with vertical-facing bunk beds all the way through. This makes the walkway narrow and unpleasant for people with many bags and luggage. Here, you see everybody and everybody sees you in plain sight. People from all walks of life take the 3rd class and it is an excellent place to make new Russian friends and share food, laughter, and tea with one another despite you not knowing Russian at all.
I shared so many delicious Russian meals and conversations with hand gestures throughout my time riding here that I can safely say that is is one of the best memories I have of my Russia trip. Sure, people are going to snore really loudly and some are going to be rude and noisy, but some are really nice and these are the ones who will open your eyes to a whole new world.
I feel that there aren’t any downsides here major enough to deter me, but I will say you have to be ready to embrace whatever comes your way and be open-minded about everything that you will experience in this class of train travel in Russia.
My Recommendation?
Go with Platskart for the full Russian train experience and Spalny Vagon for comfort and if you have the budget. Kupe is not a class I will recommend unless you are in a group.
Train Numbers:
When buying your train tickets, you will see different prices for different trains with different numbers on them. Generally, the higher the price for the same class, the newer the train is.
Trains with two 0s in front and another number behind are usually the firmeny trains, a.k.a the best and priciest ones. They usually serve the Moscow — Saint Petersburg and the Trans-Siberian routes.
Trains with one 0 in front followed by two other numbers behind are express trains that are also pretty good. They usually go longer distances and usually have 2nd and 3rd class carriages, sometimes 1st class.
Trains with three other numbers are regular trains that are slower and stop many times during the journey. They are aplenty and usually have 2nd and 3rd class carriages, sometimes 1st class. They are also the cheapest ones.
Most [if not all] of them have an alphabet behind the numbers.
There are other trains that serve suburban areas and shorter distances, but the main ones that you are likely to take are listed above.
In addition to domestic trains, Russian Railways also have international routes to Europe and Asia. Below are screenshots from the official website of all the routes they currently serve.
Life Onboard The Train:
Trains all have 2 modes across 3 classes. During the day, the bed can be converted to a seat [or sofa if you prefer] to sit and relax before turning back into a bed to sleep throughout the night. You will get a mattress, a pillow, and a thick, unwashed blanket [not sure if that is the case for 1st class] usually rolled up and stuffed on the upper bunks. You will also be given 2 bedsheets [to this day I still have no idea why they have to give 2 bedsheets], 1 pillowcase, and a small face towel.
All you need to do is to take one set of rolled mattress and nasty thick blanket with a pillow, put on the sheets and lay it out on your bunk bed. At the end of your journey when you are leaving the train, don’t forget to take off the sheets to return to the train attendant and roll back the mattress and blanket and pillow and put it into an empty upper bunk [if there are any] or an empty baggage rack.
For storage, the lower bunks have storage space under the bed when they lift it up and the upper bunks have baggage compartments above. It can be quite a challenge to store luggage above the bunk beds, so do ask for help if you need it or help someone out if they need it.
In winter, there is reliable heating [yay!] inside, and the windows are locked shut so you will not feel cold until the train stops and people start opening the doors to go in and out of the train.
Almost everybody you see would have brought a substantial amount of food and drinks to last them the entire journey. Common items include instant noodles, instant mashed potatoes, bread, all kinds of fruit, all kinds of sausage and ham, some form of soft drink, and tea. Some bring their own utensils as well [including me] but you can always ask your train attendant for some.
At the end of every carriage, there is also a hot water dispenser [samovar] which is free for everyone. You will see Russians pull out boxes of tea bags they have prepared for their trip and start heading towards the samovar almost immediately after the train starts.
Alcohol and smoking are prohibited inside the carriages except in the restaurant carriage, but I did see some young punks sneaking bottles of beer and shots of vodka at night away from the eyes of the train attendants.
If you forgot to bring any food onto the train, you can usually head to the restaurant carriage to grab a bite. But be warned, the food in the restaurant carriage can be expensive. Alternatively, you can buy food and drinks at one of the many stops during your journey from local vendors, usually old women [a.k.a babushkas] selling homemade food. However, they are usually in abundance during every season except winter as it will be too cold. During my entire month of travel throughout Russia, only one stop had babushkas trying to sell food [it was a stop in Perm].
Mistakes to avoid:
One thing which I should have done before I got on the train was to bring a pair of slippers.
Everyone will change from shoes to slippers once inside as it is more comfortable and convenient to walk to the toilet and other carriages compared to shoes. Also, do not sit on the lower bunk with your dirty clothes. Always have a change of clothes to change into inside the train before sitting on the made-up mattress on the lower bunk. If you have not changed but want to sit, shift the mattress aside and sit on the original bunk or you will be getting stares and maybe even scoldings in Russian [not something you want, trust me].
Don’t forget to bring wet wipes! You cannot shower on the train [sometimes even in 1st class] no matter the distance of your journey. You do not want to go through days without cleaning yourself, so please please please bring wet wipes. I went in the winter season where it was cold so there wasn’t a stale smell in the carriages, but I can imagine the smell during the summer [ugh].
Final notes:
Russian trains can be intimidating and shocking for most foreigners, but once you take the first step and immerse yourself among the locals you will soon realise that life on board a Russian train is truly an amazing experience and one that you will remember for your entire life.
I took the Russian train for these journeys [all in Platzkart]:
Ulan-Ude to Irkutsk — 6 hours
Irkutsk to Yekaterinburg — 50 hours
Yekaterinburg to Moscow — 30 hours
Moscow to Murmansk — 37 hours
Murmansk to Saint Petersburg — 24 hours
If you have any questions or realised that I’ve made any mistakes here feel free to comment below and let me know! Happy travelling!
These were originally posted on my blog, which I found more tedious to manage than Medium. These are stories from a trip I embarked on in March to April 2019.
