How to make train travel more convenient and profitable

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Tips from someone who lived on trains between Moscow and St. Petersburg for two weeks and tested them all.

Electronic registration

When buying a ticket, look at the note about electronic registration. If it is, then you do not need to go to any cash register or print something. But just in case, save the ticket on your phone. And do not forget to bring the passport with which you bought the ticket.

Seat selection

Take a seat at the beginning of the car. Nearby there is a guide with snacks, if neighbors make noise, he is more likely to hear them and come to calm them down. Not far from you will be sockets, tea and boiling water, and you will be the first to leave (like business class, only on the train).

By the way, if you want to take two lower seats or two upper ones in a compartment, then this cannot be done on the Russian Railways website: for some reason, they offer to take three seats or two seats on one side of the table - the upper and lower ones. This can be avoided by placing two separate orders or using other services for the sale of railway tickets (they usually do not have this problem).

Traveling with children

Tickets for a child under five years old are free of charge, provided that the child does not occupy a separate seat. If you still want an extra seat, the ticket can be purchased at a 50% discount off the adult price. The same amount - 50% - must be paid for tickets for children under 12 years old.

There are preferential cards for schoolchildren and children under 16 in some areas. For example, on "Sapsan" you can buy a "School" card. It is valid for six months, costs 1,000 rubles and offers a 50% discount.

Car class

There are times when a coupe is cheaper than a reserved seat or slightly more expensive. Therefore, when looking for tickets, do not limit yourself only to a certain class of carriage - see all the options.

Keep in mind that reserved seat carriages of branded trains are now very good, and prices at the start of sales can be two times lower than for a compartment.

Stopover

Few people know about this, but you can get off at any station and continue your journey for free for 10 days on the same ticket, you don't have to buy a new one. To do this, you need to find the head of the station at which you got off, and arrange a "stopover" with him.

Ticket return

You can return a ticket not only the day before or on the day of departure, but also a couple of hours before the train departs and even after it has left. When returning, Russian Railways always withholds from the ticket price a fee of 192 rubles 70 kopecks (relevant for 2017) if the train goes through Russia, and 10 euros if the train goes abroad. In addition, it will not be possible to return the commission of the payment system and the booking service (if any). The rest of the amount depends on how much time is left before the train leaves.

For example, a ticket to Adler costs 2,500 rubles. This amount consists of two parts: the cost of the ticket (1,625 rubles) and the cost of the reserved seat (875 rubles). Information about these parts is printed on the ticket. In this case, the cost of a ticket is a payment for using the railway infrastructure, and the cost of a reserved seat is a payment for using a carriage (its class is not important - even the same reserved seat, even a compartment, even a SV).

If you want to return your ticket in eight hours before departure, almost the entire cost of the ticket will be refunded, with the exception of the fees, which we mentioned above. That is 2,500 - 192.7 = 2,307.3 rubles.

Before departure from two to eight hours? You will be refunded 100% of the cost of the ticket and 50% of the cost of the reserved seat, again, the fees will be withheld. In our case, the calculation is as follows: 1,675 + 437, 5 - 192, 7 = 1,869, 8 rubles.

If there is still less than two hours, you will be refunded 100% of the ticket price, but the entire cost of the reserved seat will be withheld (plus fees). In our example, get back 1,675 - 192, 70 = 1,482, 3 rubles. You can return this amount within 12 hours after the train left. Refunds can be made one hour before and after the train departure only at the ticket office.

If more than 12 hours have passed since the train departed, the ticket will be refunded only if the passenger is sick. You must have a hospital certificate or sick leave. Refunds can only be made at the station ticket offices.

Food

Many trains now issue dry rations "Your food ration". But do not think that this will be enough for you until the end of the journey. Most often, the contents do not even pull a snack. The rest of the railway food pyramid has changed little: all the same tea and coffee, cookies, chocolates and instant noodles. And all this at inflated prices from the conductors.

On some trains, breakfast or dinner is included in the ticket price, however, to find out this, you have to search the Web for information about the train or check with the support service. In general, this is a tolerable food: for dinner there can be potatoes with cutlets, and for breakfast, for example, cheese cakes. Therefore, pay attention to this when buying a ticket.

But the surest way to have a snack or a meal on the road is to take your food with you. This way you will know exactly what you can eat and when.

Try not to take a strong-smelling food, so as not to annoy your neighbors again with the smell. Better to stock up on sandwiches or take separately sliced bread, cheese, baked chicken or meat, vegetables and some greens.

Buy dried fruits, nuts and energy bars on the road (prices in the store are an order of magnitude lower than on the train). If the trip is not too long, fruits and vegetables are a good option, they can be pre-cut and placed in containers. In addition, now many branded trains have a refrigerator in the carriage, and you can agree on the use of it with the conductor.

Don't forget to buy some drinking water: there is titanium on the trains next to the conductor's compartment, but the water in it is hot for tea. Tea bags, by the way, will not be superfluous either. Also, take a thermo mug with you so that hot drinks do not cool down longer.

Another option is to go to the dining car.

Restaurant car

If the train has a restaurant car and you can spend several hundred rubles in it, then 5-10 minutes after departure, just get up and, without hesitation, go there. There are 99% more comfortable chairs there, there is a guaranteed table, and there is more space, even if someone sits next to you. In addition, there are more likely to find free working sockets and Wi-Fi.

In "Sapsan", by the way, you can buy a ticket directly to the bistro car (car number 5). The price will be slightly higher than the economy one, but it includes a deposit of 2,000 rubles for food. If you plan to eat a big meal along the way, it will be profitable.

Note only that not all trains have a dining car: if the train is not branded, the probability of having a dining car is about 50%. True, most often there are only prices from the restaurant. But all things being equal, this would be a good option to satisfy your hunger. In doing so, you can ask to cook something the way you like, for example, boil chicken breast, rather than fry. The price in this case will be negotiable.

Internet

Don't count on fast Wi-Fi on the train. For example, on the Moscow - St. Petersburg route, he worked poorly almost everywhere on the branded trains. More precisely, the Wi-Fi worked poorly, and the Internet barely worked. And this is on the busiest and most popular railway direction in the country! What to say about the rest of Russia.

If you have a long trip across the country, the only reliable medicine is the mobile Internet.

Check with your mobile operator for the fare options they have for you to travel. You can hardly watch movies and TV shows, but chatting with friends on social networks or uploading photos to Instagram is no problem.

Sockets

In the reserved seat, the sockets are located at the beginning and at the end of the car. In the compartment car, look for sockets between the first and second and between the seventh and eighth compartments. Bring a pilot with you, so you can work on your laptop or watch your favorite TV series on the way, without disturbing other passengers from charging their devices.

Money

Take the cash. Residents of large cities are accustomed to paying with cards everywhere, but on Russian Railways trains there are not terminals everywhere, and if there are, they do not always work. Also, there can be only one terminal, in the headquarters car (and according to the law of meanness, it will be as far from you as possible). In addition, on the way, sometimes it does not catch the connection and payment by card can take up to 30 minutes. So you better get some cash.

Shower

This is not a myth, it exists, but not everywhere. Most branded trains have a shower, ask the conductor if yours has one. If available, you can use it for a fee. For example, on double-decker trains between St. Petersburg and Moscow, a shower costs 150 rubles, but don't splash for a particularly long time, because only 16 liters of hot water are allocated per person. And don't forget to put a towel and rubber slippers in your suitcase.

Slippers

By the way, about the slippers. Put them in your bag so you don't have to wear your boots every time you need to get to the toilet or just walk around the train. And if you are traveling in business class "Sapsan", then you will not have to worry about slippers.

Traveling by train is becoming more and more comfortable, stereotypes are gradually fading into the past, and there are almost no myths left. Follow our advice, and your trip will not only be comfortable, but also thought out to the smallest detail. Have a good trip!