Trans-Siberian Railway Travel Guide
From Wikitravel
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the name given to the three rail routes that traverse Siberia from Moscow. These are...
- The Trans-Mongolian goes from Moscow to Beijing,China via Ulaanbaatar,Mongolia.
- The Trans-Manchurian travels through Siberia and Chinese Manchuria to Beijing.
- The Trans-Siberian proper goes from Moscow to the Pacific terminus of Vladivostok.
- See also: BAM - Baikal-Amur Mainline
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway in the world. It was built between 1891 and 1916 to connect the Russian capital Moscow with the Far-East city of Vladivostok. En route it passes through the cities of Perm, Ekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Chita and Khabarovsk.
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Get in
The three termini of the Trans-Siberian are Moscow, Beijing and Vladivostok. There's also a weekly connection from Moscow to Pyongyang (there are even plans to extend this line into South Korea, sometime in the distant future [1]).
Moscow can be reached by train from anywhere in Europe. Fares from London (one-way) start at around £200. Eurolines operate the European coach system, fares from London start from around £60. Aeroflot are the principal airline operating into and out of Moscow.
From Vladivostok, ferries run during the summer to Niigata, Japan. Aeroflot and Vladivostok Air serve Vladivostok, amongst others.
Beijing is served by numerous international airlines. It can be quite easily be reached overland from anywhere in China or the Far East.
Visa information
Most travellers will need visas for all three countries.
China and Mongolia are fairly straightforward. The best bet is your own embassy or consulate, or in Hong Kong. Visas for British citizens cost £30. However, Mongolian visas can easily be obtained from the Mongolian consulate in Irkutsk (Russia), and Chinese visas in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia).
Russia is more problematic. Invitations are generally required, and they must be registered in the country within 72 hours of arrival. However, Russian transit visas issued in Beijing last 10 days, and require no invitation. This would be enough time to make the trip and spend a couple of days in Moscow. If you arrive from Beijing you can register your visa after arriving in Moscow. Have your ticket ready as a proof that you've been unable to register sooner.
Tickets
There are four ways of buying tickets for the trip. You can either purchase them from a travel agent in your own country, a travel agent in the country you will start the journey in, turn up and buy tickets yourself or book online at http://trainline.ru/. The first option is the safest but the most expensive, the latter the cheapest but riskiest. Popular trains can be sold out well in advance, particularly in peak season.
Normally it is possible to buy the tickets in any Russian station, not necessarily one on the route of the train. It used to be possible to buy the tickets for Trans-Siberian routes (eg. Moscow-Irkutsk) in Belarus (eg. Brest), and it was even cheaper there than in Moscow. It is not clear if this is still the case.
On some stations there are still special windows for selling tickets only for foreigners, although the price of tickets should now be the same for foreigners and local people.
Tickets are normally personal, with name and passport number written on them, so you may need to have passports for all persons you are buying tickets for with you when you pay (although perhaps the name and passport number is enough). Also, if you plan to buy tickets on more than one occasion, it may be useful to keep handy a piece of paper with the travelers names written in the Cyrillic alphabet instead of transcribing them each time.
Station numbers
Station numbers are used internally in the Russian railway computer system, but they are usually printed on the tickets as well.
Knowing them may help when making the reservation in smaller stations, or if buying the tickets abroad.
- 2058000 Kaliningrad (Калининград)
- 2000000 Moskow (Москва)
- 2000002 Moskow - Yaroslavskij Station (Москва (Ярославский Вокзал))
- 2000003 Moskow - Kazanskij Station (Москва (Казанский Вокзал))
- 2000006 Moskow - Bieloruskij Station (Москва (Белорусский Вокзал))
- 2054052 Severobaikalsk (Северобайкальск)
- 2054001 Irkutsk (Иркутск)
- 2100035 Brest/Belarus (Брест)
- 33605018 Warsaw/Poland - Central Station (Warszawa Centralna)
Fares
Fares are widely variable, but difficult to predict exactly. Rough ideas would be
- Moscow - Vladivostok $250/$500 (2nd/1st class, one-way)
- Moscow - Beijing $200/$320
- Moscow - Irkutsk $60/100
- Irkutsk - Ulaanbaatar $30 (one-class)
Timetables
Russian Railways has them all, but you will need to use alternate spellings for some destinations. Beijing is called Pekin, Moscow is Moskva, St. Petersburg is Sankt-Peterburg, Ulan Ude is Ulan-ude, Ulaanbaatar is Ulan-Bator, and Khabarovsk is Habarovsk.
http://trainline.ru/ is much more convenient and allows you even to book tickets online. Airmailing the tickets to your home costs only 5$ here
- The Moskow-Irkutsk route takes about 3.5 days
Buy
Coming from Beijing or Harbin, the last stop in China is Manzhouli. The food being sold there is quite expensive, but many Russians stock up on provisions (i.e. spirits and beer). Be aware that you can take a maximum of 5 beers (Harbin Beer, 0.3l) per person into Russia or you will have to pay a penalty (read: bakshish) to the customs. Get rid of all your Chinese Yuan here, unless you want to take them as a souvenir as they become virtually worthless once abroad. There are a couple of black market money changers in front of the station which change RMB to Roubles at rip-off rates. To get Roubles you have plenty of time on the Russian side of the border (Zhabaikalsk). Walk to the ATM located at the bank in town. Allow 30 minutes to go and come back. The train is stopping for hours (the bogies are being changed), so you can do some shopping at the local food markets (bread, cheese, etc.).
Eat
On the Moscow-Irkutsk route (and possibly up to Vladivostok) the train stops for 20-30 minutes every 3-4 hours. Everybody can get out of the train, and there are always people on the platform that offer a variety of fresh food (eggs, fish, cheese, bread, fruits, meat or cheese in a cake, ...) and often some drinks for passengers. Prices are low; only Russian Roubles are accepted. Many of the trains have dining-cars, although if you do not speak any Russian, ordering the food will be an experience, to say the least. Since there is a samowar (hot water dispenser) in every carriage, your best bet is to have a stack of dried noodle soups and nescafe ready. Just bring your own cup. A highlight is the smoked fish (Omul) being sold on the shore of Lake Baikal (Station: Slyudyanka - quick stop, so be ready).
Drink
In every train car there is a pot with boiling water available for free.
Sleep
All tickets for long journeys trains are for sleeping places.
Note that there is no shower in the train. Even in the 1st class on K19 (Trans-Manchurian). You can have a asian-style hot shower though if you bring along 2 jars. Fill one up at the hot water dispenser, go to the toilet and mix the water you get there in the second one.
Safety
The journey on the Moskow-Irkutsk route (train Moskow-Vladivostok) seems to be very safe, especially if you travel in group of four (or multiples); then you will get a separate four-bed cabin. Every train car has one or two staff (provodniks/provodnitsas) that check tickets, do cleaning, take care of boiling water, etc.
Cabins can be locked from the inside with two locks. One can be opened from outside with a special key, the other cannot be opened from outside, and when locked allows the door to open no more than 5 cm (2 inches).
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