Train

I have had so many Russian experiences in 3 days. It has been great. Russian life is so different. My first post about Russian life and culture is about the primary mode of travel from city to city in Russia, the train.

There are train stations in every major city and in almost every other little town (деревня) throughout Russia. Trains primary purpose in Russia are to get people from one place to another, unlike in the United States where the primary purpose is to move goods from one place to another. The most famous train is the Tran-Siberian which travels 6 days from one side of Russia to the other, however I have never actually ridden on this train.

The train station is always a busy place and you can think of it like the airport in America, because literally that is what it is. The train station in Moscow is a melting pot of nationalities, dominated by Russians of course. It is the starting and ending point for many people. We got there a few minutes early and I had time to snap a few pictures.

The train station (vokzal).

Conductor checking tickets and passports.

In order to get on the train you must show your passport and ticket upon which you go to find your spot on the train. Each spot is a bed, with two beds to a wall (one on top and one on bottom). Most people prefer the bottom bed because the top spot gets unbearably hot at night usually.

The next part will be hard to understand for most who have never been on a train in Russia, but there are two different car types where people can sleep. One of them has kypes, which are like small rooms, with 4 beds to a room. As missionaries we always traveled in kypes and we always paid for all of the spots in a kype even in we were only going to use 2 of the 4 spots. Each bed/spot is long enough to stretch out on for someone like me and the room gives you privacy since you can close and lock the door (however, locking the door usually isn't a good idea if you have other people in the room with you that you don't know).

The more common car that Russians typically travel in is called platscart. The plats cart is divided up also into rooms but the rooms don't close off and there are two additional spots at the end of each “room.” In other words, as you walk down the car, you walk by everyone and see them and what they are doing. It leaves no room for privacy, but is cheaper and since you are usually only traveling over night, it isn't usually too big a deal. I have traveled platscart 3 times now and never had any problems, and during this past trip met some very nice people who shared their food with us.

The two main car layouts.

A view from our bed.

The thing I love most about the train is that you can lay down and sleep. Yes, the train takes longer to get to your final destination, but catching some winks on the moving hotel is better than losing your lunch on the flying bird. Don't take my word for it though. Experience it for yourself!

The metal toilet in each car.

Comments

tysqui said...

Have I mentioned that I'm jealous of you guys? I'm quite excited for your future posts about Russia.

I've never ridden Platscart, but we rode kype at least monthly and often almost weekly. Often we reserved a 2-person kype which included dinner and a handful of other freebies that you don't get otherwise.

Ethan said...

Not to be picky, but I rode lots and lots of trains in the last months of my mission-platscart sucked as a missionary. Usually there were smokers nearby, often there was someone drinking, and almost just as often it felt like someone was eyeing your stuff cuz you stick out in your white shirt, tie, and obvious American smiling faces. So you bear hug your bags all night so they don't get stolen. That got kinda old. I was all for the kupe unless they were sold out.

On the plus side, socializing was really fun and often all night (always difficult for me to sleep well in platskartny) and felt like one of the adventuresome perks of a Russian mission. Where else can you stay up all night on the train making friends with strangers on a mission and feel good about it?

JC's picture

JC said...

That sucks. I don't imagine riding platscart as a missionary. However, the car we were in allowed us to put our stuff up high above the top bed. I put them in upside down so the only way to get to them would have been to have taken them down. That would have definitely woke us up. I think the car we were in was pretty new though. I mean it didn't get deathly hot like usual.