Trans-Siberian Rail

TRAINS ON THE TRANS SIBERIAN RAILROAD

Discover beautiful nature and landscapes of Ural, Siberia and Russian Far East with the fastest and most comfortable trains (so called "firm", or "firmenny", trains) at Transsib. These trains make the least number of stops, sometimes covering 300-400 km without stopping. Express trains, or "skory" trains, usually make some more stops than "firm" trains (7/8 Novosibirsk/Vladivostok, 43/44 Moscow/Khabarovsk).

 
There are no 3rd class carriages in the trains which are going along the routes: Moscow - Vladivostok, Moscow - Ulan-Bataar, and Moscow - Beijing, so if you want the 3rd class train, you can only take trains that go between Russian cities. Note, it's hard to buy the 1st class ticket in the summer (most of the tickets are reserved for travel agencies and Chinese embassy).
 

The most comfortable and fastest trains at Trans-Sib are the following trains: Rossiya (number 1/2, Moscow-Vladivostok), Okean (5/6, Khabarovsk-Vladivostok), Baikal (9/10, Moscow-Irkutsk), Sibiryak (25/26, Moscow-Novosibirsk), Yenisei (55/56, Moscow-Krasnoyarsk) and some other trains of such a class.

There are no real western standards for trains in Russia.  Most are still post soviet trains with little comfort: 
2 Berth compartment, either one berth over the other berth placement, or one berth opposite the other one (this is called "spalny vagon" or "sleeping compartment"); 
4-berth compartment (there's quite plenty of space, comparing to European trains, it's called "coupe" in Russian);   
Seat only and is not worthy to be called a class with no compartments, just many berths in a car ("platzcart").

There are no 3rd class carriages in the trains which are going along the routes: Moscow - Vladivostok, Moscow - Ulan-Bataar, and Moscow - Beijing, so if you want the 3rd class train, you can only take trains that go between Russian cities. Note, it's hard to buy the 2 berth ticket in the summer (most of the tickets are reserved for travel agencies and Chinese embassy).
 

The most comfortable and fastest trains at Trans-Siberian are the following trains: Rossiya (number 1/2, Moscow-Vladivostok), Okean (5/6, Khabarovsk-Vladivostok), Baikal (9/10, Moscow-Irkutsk), Sibiryak (25/26, Moscow-Novosibirsk), Yenisei (55/56, Moscow-Krasnoyarsk) and some other trains of such a class.
 
Description of compartments
 

The Trans - Siberian Express, like other trains has Four Berth options. The Four Berth  compartment has four comfortable beds per cabin (two up, two down) plenty of luggage space, and is the same on all trains. First class (1/2) compartments on all Russian trains are similar to each other the difference is that there are two beds.
 

The Two Berth of a real luxury is only available on the Chinese train (train 3/4). A small shower-room is to be shared with the next compartment. You can have meal in the dinning car for local currency.
 

Unfortunately, a train stops for no more than a half an hour on any station. Besides, the train ticket is valid for just one trip, if you leave the train the ticket is void. That's why we can arrange a special program for whose, who want to have enough time to explore Siberia.
 

There is plenty of space to keep your luggage in the compartment, either in an overhead luggage storage area, or under a bed. We advise you to keep it under your bed, then if somebody wants to steal your stuff he'll have to get you out of the bed to take your luggage. It's your right to have luggage under your bed: if it's already filled you can ask people to clean it up a bit or call a conductor.

In the trains that circulate between Russia and China (3, 4, 19, 20), there are many sellers travelling, and they always have a lot of bulky bags. So, if you're taking such a train, we advise you to get there at least 2 hour before departure, so you can get your space