Brief history of Russian railsToday Russia boast the largest and one of the most sophisticated rail systems in the world. The first track was laid over 150 years ago when tsars connected St Peterbsurg to Moscow. By early 20th century, Russians managed to connect Moscow with the Pacific Ocean with the longest rail track in the world - the Trans-Siberian railway. During soviet era industrialization rail tracks spawned the entire country connecting most of its towns and villages to Moscow. In recent years, Moscow and St. Petersburg was once again linked, but this time with high-speed "Sapsan" trains. |
1. Booking train tickets online
This website allows you to book both Russian domestic and international tickets. In case of domestic trains, you can book a seat 45 days or less prior to the departure date. If you are booking more than 45 days ahead, we will place a pre-order in our system and notify you as soon as your ticket becomes available for purchase. You can book a ticket for international trains up to 120 days in advance.
2. Ticket types: e-tickets vs. paper tickets
If you are traveling within Russia, you can purcahse electornic tickets, which are convenient and simple to use and easy to book. If you are traveling from Moscow or St. Petersburg to Helsinki, Kiev or Minsk, you can also purcahse electronic tickets on our website. However, if you are traveling on the Trans-Siberian railroad to Mongolia, you will need paper tickets. You can order all types of tickets on our website and if there are no electronic tickets available, we will offer you paper tickets and deliver them to your hotel in Russia or to your home anywhere in the world.
You can book e-tickets on this website up to one year ahead of your departure date. We will send you your final travel itinerary (Booking confirmation) 40 days before your departure date. We will send you a link to dowload your tickets (you can also access your issued tikcets in My orders section of this website). You will need to print your tikcets and bring with you to the rail station.
Most of e-tickets issued on this website have electronic registration. This means that you will be automatically registered for the train and can proceed to your train car for boarding with a printed e-ticket and passport. However, there are few exceptions when you will need to collect a boarding pass at a rail station ticket desk or automatic machine. When you book your tickets on this website, we will provide you with thorough insutrctions.
There are two types of trains in Russia: Express and Regular. Express trains are typical European high-speed inter-city trains. They run currently run between Moscow, St. Petersburg and Helsinki. The express trains that run from Moscow to St. Petersburg and from Nijniy Novogorod to Moscow are called "Sapsan" trains. There are from 5 to 10 daily departures of "Sapsan" train in each direction (depending on time of year; more in summer). "Sapsan" travel time from Moscow to St. Petersburg is about 4 hours. The express train from St. Petersburg to Helsinki is called "Alegro train. It takes about three hours to travel.
Express trains offer seating couches with a chose of 1st or 2nd class.
Second type of Russian trains is Regular trains. These are typical sleeping couches that service all other routes (and also overnight departures from Moscow to St. Petersburg). Sincere these trains are designed to travel longer distances they have beds instead of seats. There are three classes of beds. "SV", "KUPE", and "PLATKART", (1st, 2nd, and 3rd classes respectively).
1st class couche will have two beds in one compartment. 2nd class will have 2 lower and 2 bunk beds in each compartment. 3rd class will have 6 beds in a non-enclosed area.
We recommend our clients to book 1st class in sleeping couches (Regual trains) and either 2nd or 1st class in seating couches (Express trains).
Large Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg have more than one train station. Each station specializes in a certain direction. You will need to be at the correct train station not to miss your train.
You can cancel tickets no later than 3 days prior to a departure date on your ticket. In all circumstances there will be a cancellation fee of 30% of total price. Cancellation requests must be submitted no later than 72 hours before departure time. Passed these deadlines, you can only return tickets diretly at a rail station at a ticket window. Please note, that railway company will not issue any refunds for unused tickets or tickets returned after departure time.
We offer special discounts for children, for senior citizens for Helsinki - St. Petersburg route. We also issue reward points for each booking that you make on our website. Groups of 20 travelers or more may also qualify for group discounts.
