The Journey of a Lifetime !

Intro 

    The Trans-Siberian Railway

Connecting Europe and Asia, this is one of the world's greatest train journey, over 9289 KM long, Beijing - Moscow is 7,865km . It was built between 1891 and 1916 to connect the Russian capital Moscow with the Far-East city of Vladivostok. There are 4 main routes on the Trans-Siberian:

           St. Petersberg                                       Suzdal                                Omsk                                    Tomsk

 Starting from Moscow or St. Petersburg, passing through Suzdal (Су́здаль) famous for its onion domed churchs, the industrial city of Perm ( Пермь ) , Yekaterinburg ( Екатеринбу́рг ) , Omsk ( Омск )with its stately 19th century buildings along Lyubinsky prospekt/Lenin Street, Novosibirsk ( Новосиби́рск ) with its railway museum, Tomsk ( Томск )the oldest Russian city in with Siberia interesting wooden buildings, Krasnoyarsk ( Красноя́рск) close to the huge national nature reserve of Stolby. After this the Trans-Siberian splits into four routes at Tayshet ( Тайше́т ) :

 Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM) Line Route

Map of the BAM line

                          BAM Railway                                   Poster promoting the BAM                  Sovetskaya Gavan

4,300 KM  4 days journey

The newest and northernmost line From Tayshet to remote Sovetskaya Gavan ( Сове́тская Га́вань ) a port on the Strait of Tartary, most of it built in 1944-1946, mainly by gulag prisoners, including German and Japanese prisoners of war . This line passes the northern Lake Baikal town of Severobaikalsk . Close to the end of the line, you can tahe a ferry from the port city of Vanino to Sakhalin Island ( 16 hours ). check to see if you can continue onward to Japan .

Sakhalin Island

Ulan-Ude to Beijing route through Mongolia 

Ulan-Ude

Mongolia

Ulaan Baatar Train Station

2,217 KM  2 day journey

From Ulan-Ude ( Ула́н-Удэ́ ) the Trans-Mongolian heads south to Ulaan-Baatar before making its way southeast to Beijing. Ulan-Ude was founded in 1666 by the Russian Cossacks. Due to its geographical position, the city grew rapidly and became a large trade centre which connected Russia with China and Mongolia. There are old merchants' mansions richly decorated with wood and stone carving in the historical center of Ulan-Ude, along the river banks. They represent beautiful examples of Russian classicism. There is also a large and highly unusual head of Lenin in the central square - the largest in the world.

Trans-Manchurian Route 

Vladivostok

A second primary route is the Trans-Manchurian, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian as far as Tarskaya (a stop 12 km east of Karymskaya, in Chita Oblast), about 1,000 km east of Lake Baikal. From Tarskaya the Trans-Manchurian heads southeast, via Harbin and Mudanjiang in China's Northeastern Provinces (from where a connection to Beijing is used by one of MoscowBeijing trains), joining with the main route in Ussuriysk just north of Vladivostok. This is the shortest and the oldest rail route to Vladivostok. Some trains split at Shenyang, China, with a portion of the service continuing to Pyongyang, North Korea.

Irkutsk to Vladivostok Route 

Irkutsk

4,104 KM  73 hours journey

From Irkutsk, Chita, Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk to Vladivostok

Classes of travel

The standard accomodation on TS trains are second class carriages. On the Chinese trains 1st class has softer beds, the real luxury is in the Chinese delux class with a sofa and shoer.

Costs 

Fares are widely variable, but difficult to predict exactly. Fares for Russian trains are subject to seasonal changes, with mark-up for high season being up to 40%. Rough ideas would be

    * Moscow - Vladivostok $250/$500 (2nd/1st class, one-way)

    * Moscow - Beijing $200/$320

    * Moscow - Irkutsk $60/100

    * Irkutsk - Ulaanbaatar $30 (one-class)

The train has second class four-berth compartments (called "kupé") and first class two-berth compartments (called "spalny wagon" or "SV") and a restaurant car. One-way fares start at about $250 in a four-berth sleeper or $320 in a two-berth sleeper.Prices increase dramatically if additional stops are needed. Russian train tickets can only be purchased within the Russian Federation or in Finland. Tickets can be purchased only 45 days in advance. Many travel agencies can arrange to have tickets purchased by proxy, but the 45 day limit is strictly enforced.

Tickets 

The Russian train system is different from European ones. The train tickets are bought for fixed dates and all the stops must be planned in advance. If you have a ticket Moscow-Vladivostok and step off the train in Irkutsk, you can?t use your ticket for a next train going to Vladivostok. If your stop is not planned in advance and not revealed in your tickets, your ticket will be cancelled and you?ll get stuck in Irkutsk.

There are four ways of buying tickets for the trip. You can either purchase them from a travel agent in your own country (or online), a travel agent in the country you will start the journey in, or turn up and buy tickets yourself. The first option is the safest but the most expensive, the latter the cheapest but riskiest. Popular trains can be sold out well in advance, particularly in peak season.

Visas 

Russian Visa

Trans-Siberian travellers will need Russian, Mongolian and Chinese visas. It is best to obtain your visas in your home country or Hong Kong, some tour companies will arang this as a package.

Mongolian visas can easily be obtained from the Mongolian consulate in Irkutsk (Russia), and Chinese visas in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia).

Russia : Invitations are generally required, and they must be registered in the country within 72 hours of arrival. However, Russian transit visas issued in Beijing last 10 days, and require no invitation. This would be enough time to make the trip with no stops on the way and spend a couple of days in Moscow.

Travel Agencies 

www.monkeyshrine.com in HK can arrange train tickets, visas and hotels 852-2723

Recommended Vaccinations 

Diphtheria, Tetanus, Hepatitis A and B

Photos 

Videos 

Links

 Moderen Marvels:

 The Trans-Siberian Railroad on DVD Explores the incredible history of this legendary line through a modern-day ride across Russia, archival footage and photos of its construction