Traveling the Trans-Siberian Railroad

What bloggers and vloggers don't tell you about.

In the picture: A long-distance train boarding at Kazansky railway station in Moscow. The smoke coming out the chimney atop the railcar is smoke from burning coal—a primary way of heating Russian railroad cars in winter.

Before you step onboard the train that will take you from Moscow to Vladivostok, you need to realize important specifics of railroad travel in Russia.

As you read the text below, you might think I am trying to talk you out of taking the journey. I am not. I am only increasing your awareness on certain aspects of travelling on long-distance trains in Russia. In this article, I want to talk about things that bloggers prefer not to mention. From most stories about travelling on the Trans-Siberian train, it looks like Russian railroad travel is a cozy and fun experience. Let me bring some clarity about this.

First consideration: expectations.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is a question of what are my expectations from the trip? Imagine this: You step into a carriage at Yaroslavsky rail station in Moscow, and you are stuck in that carriage for six days and twenty-two hours. Your activities are basic: staring out the window, eating at a restaurant car, going to the toilet, showering, and that is pretty much all you can do on a train. There is nothing else to do in between these activities. You can get off the train during longer stops to stretch and do a little walking on a platform, but you won't be able to see any of the places where the train stops.

What you will see through the window of your compartment is areas of Russia the train goes through: landscapes, villages, towns, other views. The view might be beautiful or just interesting, but (I get very subjective here) mostly it is boring, especially it's more or less the same picture for several days in a row.

Think about all this time you have on a train. The Internet will be very limited, because in most areas the train goes through, there will be no coverage. You can watch movies (pre-loaded onto your device), read books, if those are activities you enjoy. You can do something else, like work, but what's the point of doing work on a train? Having company helps, but still, there will be plenty of free time available, and you need to understand beforehand what to do with that time?

I believe this kind of train journey works great as a retreat type of thing, if properly organized. Retreats are not for everyone though, so consider this and answer the question of "How will I spend seven days on a train, and what do I want to get out of it?"

Second consideration: comfort.

Be mindful that the primary use of Russian long-distance trains is not for leisure and not for tourism. Russians never use the term "Trans-Siberian", it's just the train (official train name is "Russia") with no fancy names attached to it.

Russian railroads are a means of affordable long-distance travel for the masses. It is for those who don't have enough funds to buy an airline ticket, or those who live in locations with no airline connection. Nothing fancy or romantic. Railroad travel is also popular among people who have aviophobia. That being said, trains in Russia provide a minimal level of comfort, although Russian Railways is striving to the best of their abilities to make the travel comfortable.

Over the past years, Russian Railways have been constantly improving the quality of trains and onboard services. I must give credit to Russian Railways, a company that the Russian government owns, for making tremendous positive changes in travel experiences. Old Soviet train carriages have been replaced with newer ones. New carriages are clean and comfortable, the train crew is younger and provides wonderful service. For regular passengers, train travel in Russia has become more comfortable and more enjoyable.

However, reading recent feedback from passengers of the train between Moscow and Vladivostok, some flaws pop up here and there. While most people have positive impressions of their trips, many still complain about older carriages (especially the first class, as they get replaced last, being less popular due to higher ticket prices), misbehavior of the crew, and other random, small and big things that can poison your travel if you get stuck on a train for almost a week.

Third consideration: communal traveling.

All Russian trains are communal type. What that means is you get zero privacy on a train. Even if you are in a first-class compartment that has two bunk beds, and you are traveling alone, you'll have company of a total stranger. Second-class compartments have four bunks, so you'll have even more other neighbours accompanying you.

The only option to get maximum privacy is to travel in first class with someone you know and don't mind spending seven days with. As an alternative, you can buy both bunk beds (meaning double ticket price) or buy all four bunks in a second-class compartment (quadruple ticket price). I would not recommend traveling in third class, unless you are seeking a sort of extreme experience.

Traveling with stranger passengers, be aware of potential inconveniences. You might get various kinds of people as company, representing all social groups, levels of income, and professions. If you are in a mixed compartment (there are male/female compartments), you'll get men and women and children of all ages as your trip companions. Not all passengers travel end-to-end of the train route; most likely, people will be coming and leaving at intermediate stations, so your neighboring passengers will change during the trip.

People you'll travel with snore, fart, eat smelly food, talk on the phone endlessly, or have continual chats with other passengers. Some people do not bathe for days, and even if a shower is available on a train, they wouldn’t spend money on using it (showers are for a fee, small though). The air conditioning is not necessarily efficient, or sometimes passengers complain about the cold. Russians are so afraid of the cold, and the car attendant switches the air conditioning off. In winter, they often overheat carriages, causing all passengers to sweat. This means many passengers will have unpleasant body odors. Overheating is one of the most common complaints from Russian passengers, but the heating system design makes it difficult to control the temperature. Most people smoke in Russia, so if you have a smoker who comes outside to have a smoke during stops, they will bring that smoke smell with them.

The partitions between compartments are slim, so you'll hear all the sounds from neighboring compartments. If someone talks on the phone in the middle of the night (which happens all the time), you'll hear that too. There will be other sounds like loud station announcements when the train makes a stop, voices and sounds of people getting on and off the train, coupling mechanisms banging when the train speeds up or slows down.

If you are unlucky to have an infant in your railcar, you will hear them screaming all the time, day and night. With toddlers, it's not better, as they run around the corridor, watch cartoons with the sound full on. Some passengers watch movies and listen to music with headphones which leak the sound, so you'll be hearing what they have in their headphones.

Each compartment has only one little table to share with other passengers. The lower bunk is basically a shared bunk during the day. If you occupy the lower bunk bed, the passenger from the upper bunk will sit on your bed (turns into a comfortable couch in newer carriages) during the day. If you are on a top bunk and the passenger on the lower bunk is sleeping all day long, you'll have no place to sit.

What passengers do on long-distance trains is eat; food seems to be a kind of entertainment. Russian passengers eat the food they bring with them, like homemade dishes or instant noodles. Many people love to chat with strangers, so they will attempt to have conversations with you. Yet, unless you speak great Russian and are very social, it can be annoying. Although officially it's not permitted, people drink in compartments, and not ten-year-old French wine, I assure you. It's a cheap alcohol, and it might cause consequences because some people just can't drink without bringing inconvenience to others.

All the points I am mentioning above can be alright things or something that might turn you off, depending on your personality and expectations. If what I talk about in this article is not that important, or you have ways of dealing with the mentioned specifics, enjoy your Trans-Siberian journey!