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tbear
Just Starting
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:10 am Post subject: Reserving Tickets with Russian Railways |
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Hi everyone
I am planning a trip on the Trans Siberian in the summer, and have been looking at various methods of getting train tickets. I remember seeing on the official Russian Railways site that it was now possible to reserve tickets online and then pay for them/pick them up at a station in Russia. Has anybody tried this before? If so, did you actually get the tickets? I'd much rather do it this way than go through an agency and pay a markup fee, and worry about actually getting my hands on the tickets. However, I'd be picking up the tickets in Ulan Ude after arriving from Mongolia, and I'm a little afraid I'll get to the wicket and nobody will know what I'm talking about!
I do speak some Russian, as I've studied it in university and spent a month a half in St. Petersburg and Moscow 2 years ago studying.
Thanks! |
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danbrew
Just Starting
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm fairly confident that you cannot reserve only (and not pay immediately) online. I recently purchased a ticket at rzd.ru and I had to pay immediately with a rubles based credit card. |
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tbear
Just Starting
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the reply! That's too bad, but good to know. |
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tbear
Just Starting
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:36 am Post subject: |
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Hello again,
I was thinking again about your reply....at the risk of sounding completely ignorant, what is a rubles-based credit card? I'm Canadian and have a Visa card through my bank, and have charged purchases in both England and Russia on it in the past.
Thanks again for your help! |
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danbrew
Just Starting
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:04 am Post subject: |
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I recently bought a ticket on rzd.ru with the help of a russian friend and I tried three credit cards that were issued in the US - all were declined. My pal called the Russian Rail Company in Moscow and was told that their online commerce system will only process a card that is issued in Russia and billed in Russian rubles. I posted this story on one of the boards and somebody replied and said that he had successfully purchased a ticket using a card based in the UK or Australia or someplace like that. So... take it for what it's worth, but have a backup plan if your credit card doesn't work. My pal happened to have a Russian credit card as she recently moved to the US from Russia.
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tbear
Just Starting
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:00 am Post subject: |
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| ah, ok! I see. Thanks for the heads up. I'll maybe try to order the first leg of my trip on rzd and if that doesn't work, I'll go with an agency suggested by a friend who took the Trans Sib in 2007. |
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saez
Frequent Guest
Joined: 20 Sep 2006
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:30 am Post subject: |
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Hi there,
We are thinking of going Transsib in June, and will probably buy just the tickets not a tour. I asked my Russian friend to investigate the RZD terms etc.
She says that:
a) once you book your e-ticket at RZD website the only way to cancel it is to come IN PERSON to a railway station with your PHYSICAL passport, get your ticket issued and than hand it in back to the cashier. The only alternative is to provide someone with a notarized letter that s/he is allowed to get the tickets on your behalf. Notarized by a Russian notary. 
b) the only way to get your money back in case you cancel your ticket is to come IN PERSON to a railway station with your PHYSICAL card in hand and have some documents signed, after that the amount is refunded to your credit card within several days. _No_other_way_.  She says she once bought e-tickets for her husband and he had to cancel them. They first demanded him in person to get the tickets issued against his passport and make the cancellation, then her in person with the credit card and her passport, then him in person to sign a sheet of paper saying he really wanted to cancel the tickets he had already cancelled. Their daughter was 2 months old then and they couldn't go to the station together, so that was quite a weekend!
c) Even though RZD claims you can get your e-ticket jumping the queue, half of the people at the cashier's window will have same e-tickets issued -- so you'll have to jump together with quite a crowd. In big cities that can be a problem and you should plan some 20 minutes for the queue. Once her husband wanted to depart from a small station somewhere by Nizhny Novgorod, and guess what? the printer for the e-tickets was broken (they have different printers for regular tickets and e-tickets), so he didn't get his ticket and didn't get on his train.
The tickets purchased directly at RZD cannot be delivered, only issued when you come in person to the station.
d) You can't buy international tickets at RZD website. You can buy the Russian "portions" like Moscow-Irkutsk on a Moscow-Ulaanbaatar train, but if the itinerary is 'russian station' --> 'international station', RZD can only show the schedule, no prices, no reservation. The tickets can be only bought in person at the stations or through agencies. International tickets are priced lower than Russian fast trademark trains, so their Russian "portions" get sold out quickly and buying a full ticket can be difficult. If that's an 'international station' --> 'russian station' itinerary, like Ulaanbaatar - Moscow, RZD doesn't even show the schedule.
This means that if something ever goes wrong, like being late or unable to travel at all, our money at RZD is spent once and forever, no refunds. In case we have to change our itinerary - the hassle with getting the ticket you don't even need any more, and then handing it in, and then getting your money back!
I investigated a couple of travel agencies for online train tickets - April 1, Moscow - Irkutsk for 4 persons, train 010i Baikal, 2nd class with meals. We're planning for June, but the prices don't come up for later than 45 days ahead of today. 
www.the-trans-siberian.com quotes 4 tickets at $1,511.32
www.realrussia.co.uk quotes 4 tickets at $1626.76
I played with the RZD prices and I believe the actual price for these tickets is around $1450. Still, I think I'd rather pay the extra $60 but be able to cancel/change the tickets....
And she also says that:
Train tickets on the Russian railways are subject to seasonal mark-ups (the so-called coefficients). I found the 2009 table in English here: www.the-trans-siberian.com/purchasetrainticket/seasonal_train_ticket_price_changes/
International train tickets between Russia and other countries are also subject to change, but it depends on some mystic factors like the currency exchange rate for Swiss Franc. If that's a Russian "portion" of an international train, like Moscow - Irkutsk on a Moscow-Ulaanbaatar train, it is again subject to local coefficients. |
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