Today I'll tell how to get to Kirovskaya province by train.
This means of transportation may be the most interesting for those who want to "experience" Russia. Trains are very popular in Russia for long distance journeys because of several reasons, the main of which, in my opinion, is price - it's cheaper than an airplane.
Russian long distance train usually has several types of cars (or "compartments"). The cheapest is "плацкартный" (platskartny). This type of car looks like this from the inside:
[picture taken from: http://www.traveler-mir.com/tourist/raspolozhenie-mest-v-platskartnom-vagone]
This is entirely open concept car :) But it's the cheapest and it has all conveniences like 2 toilets, hot water, smoking "department", air conditioning (not everywhere, but in new trains it is) and conductor's services.
The next type (more expensive) is "купейный" (kupeiny).
[taken from https://vokzal.ru/pedia/%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B4-%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%8F-%E2%84%96042%D0%B9]
[taken from http://vrz.far.ru/vagon/kupe.html]
In a car of this type space is divided as you can see. Each "room" has a door and four beds. Conveniences are the same as in the previous type.
And the last type is "СВ" (SV), it's the most expensive.
[taken from http://akroman.livejournal.com/53015.html?thread=97815]
Each room has two beds.
All the trains in Russia are operated by Russian Railways (Российские железные дороги), so you can buy train tickets on their website rzd.ru. On the top of the page you'll find a link to the web-site in English. Then you'll need to find a link which says "Passengers" and then you're ready to check trains.
Oh, I forgot one thing to buy ticket online you'll need at first to register on their page.
On the next page find "Buy tickets online", and then you will know what to do.
One important thing is that, fortunately or unfortunately" in Russia you can buy train tickets only 45 days before departure, so you cannot plan your trip, for example, three months ahead.
A lot of trains from St.Petersburg and Moscow go through Kotelnich and Kirov. If you wanna go to Kotelnich, choose "Kotelnich 1" in the search engine on rzd.ru.
After you chose the place of departure and arrival you'll see a list of available trains and seats.
Before departure remember to check what is the railway station of departure (as in Moscow and St.Petersburg there are much more of them then just one). It's quite easy to find out: when you look at the place of departure you'll find a lot of hyphens, for example "S-Peter-Gl" it means that train leaves from Saint Petersburg from Moskovsky railway station. Or "S-Pet-Lad" means that the train leaves from St. Petersburg from Ladozhsky railway station.
After you've chosen the places of departure and arrival, you choose the date and then you'll have to type in your personal information and choose a seat. After that is done you'll have to check if the information is correct and then you proceed to payment.
After payment you can print out the receipt and the ticket. You are ready to travel!
You, of course, can print out your ticket later from your account on rzd.ru.
The only thing i'd like to point out: it's very likely that the conductor will have no equipment to check your printed ticket and you'll have to wait until the conductor gets the list of passengers who bought their tickets on internet.
This means of transportation may be the most interesting for those who want to "experience" Russia. Trains are very popular in Russia for long distance journeys because of several reasons, the main of which, in my opinion, is price - it's cheaper than an airplane.
Russian long distance train usually has several types of cars (or "compartments"). The cheapest is "плацкартный" (platskartny). This type of car looks like this from the inside:
This is entirely open concept car :) But it's the cheapest and it has all conveniences like 2 toilets, hot water, smoking "department", air conditioning (not everywhere, but in new trains it is) and conductor's services.
The next type (more expensive) is "купейный" (kupeiny).
In a car of this type space is divided as you can see. Each "room" has a door and four beds. Conveniences are the same as in the previous type.
And the last type is "СВ" (SV), it's the most expensive.
Each room has two beds.
All the trains in Russia are operated by Russian Railways (Российские железные дороги), so you can buy train tickets on their website rzd.ru. On the top of the page you'll find a link to the web-site in English. Then you'll need to find a link which says "Passengers" and then you're ready to check trains.
Oh, I forgot one thing to buy ticket online you'll need at first to register on their page.
On the next page find "Buy tickets online", and then you will know what to do.
One important thing is that, fortunately or unfortunately" in Russia you can buy train tickets only 45 days before departure, so you cannot plan your trip, for example, three months ahead.
A lot of trains from St.Petersburg and Moscow go through Kotelnich and Kirov. If you wanna go to Kotelnich, choose "Kotelnich 1" in the search engine on rzd.ru.
After you chose the place of departure and arrival you'll see a list of available trains and seats.
Before departure remember to check what is the railway station of departure (as in Moscow and St.Petersburg there are much more of them then just one). It's quite easy to find out: when you look at the place of departure you'll find a lot of hyphens, for example "S-Peter-Gl" it means that train leaves from Saint Petersburg from Moskovsky railway station. Or "S-Pet-Lad" means that the train leaves from St. Petersburg from Ladozhsky railway station.
After you've chosen the places of departure and arrival, you choose the date and then you'll have to type in your personal information and choose a seat. After that is done you'll have to check if the information is correct and then you proceed to payment.
After payment you can print out the receipt and the ticket. You are ready to travel!
You, of course, can print out your ticket later from your account on rzd.ru.
The only thing i'd like to point out: it's very likely that the conductor will have no equipment to check your printed ticket and you'll have to wait until the conductor gets the list of passengers who bought their tickets on internet.
