What's so interesting about the Trans-Siberian Railway?

We have in Russia one attraction that attracts foreigners wildest. But at the same time almost every one of us considers it a torture. This is the Trans-Siberian Railway: six days by train from Moscow to Vladivostok. The first day you will sleep, on the second you will somehow stand it, but then you will go crazy. Or use the cheap and practical method of teleportation using vodka.

Every time we go abroad, we are asked what we need to know about Transsib. And we can not really answer. In general, this is a post-educational program about how not to lose face in front of foreigners, and about what you need to know about this trip. And a reminder for foreigners immediately in English.
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Well, with an attempt to understand why, that's why they drive. And what rejoice. Our respondent is a conductor with many years of experience.

What attracts foreigners?

I work in ordinary second-class carriages, quite rarely I see stopped and soft (sleeping car - SV) cars. Therefore, the main contingent is youth. Approximately 5–7% of passengers are English-speaking, most often - Europeans, sometimes Koreans, Indonesians. But more than Europe: Germans, French. Often there are Americans. Students and people in student age. Europeans travel alone, in pairs, or a small student group. South Koreans are students, they are almost always a group of 3 to 12 people.

In the coupe go a little older. In the NE even older, there are already accomplished people who come into the train, like a hotel. But the majority buys the same tickets, as well as we, and goes, as well as we. In the usual Soviet train. Because when new cars appear, they first appear in the western part of Russia and most often after the first maintenance (repair) they are already coming to us, that is, after 10 years. That is, nobody buys the romance of the train.

Foreigners usually travel in one direction - either to Vladivostok, or from there. Our train comes with short stops in the cities, time is enough just to go out, look at the platform, buy food and go back. Therefore, travelers often break the road into several sections and travel from city to city. This is easier to postpone: when you are a conductor, then there is a lot of work, but once I was a passenger and I almost lost my mind in six days.

In general, most of all foreigners are attracted, of course, by Baikal. This is not even discussed. They go for it, sit and wait for it to begin. They come up to me, ask whether Baikal is soon. Worried: afraid to miss. They still do not really understand that it is big - at about four o'clock the train travels directly along the shore of this lake.

And then it starts, and they sit by the window like they are glued.

Further there, beyond Baikal, quite sad landscapes begin: the dull half-ruined Buryat houses and other man-made ruin. This is not exactly what you want to show to the guests of the country, but they still watch. They are very pleased with the vegetation outside the window, many can watch the fields for hours. It is said to be amazing that so much land is in principle without people. Well, in general in Europe it is possible to get from the city to the city in an hour, and here they can move 300 kilometers without stopping in an “empty” place. They are surprised.

Ledum rose blooms around May. These are pink seas on the sides of the train. Then, of course, aesthetics. There you can watch for a long time, it is very beautiful. So, if you send a foreigner Transsib, then advise the beginning of May.

What are the everyday differences from a regular trip?

First, hygiene. There is no shower in the reserved seat itself, there is a shower in the staff car and in the luxury cars (where there is a compartment with a shower). In the head shower costs 150 rubles. We announce about it in Russian, so foreigners do not always understand. But they do not need much, they travel in short segments. Not everyone knows that if there are no towels, then you can still buy a shower set for 150 rubles: in addition to linen, you will get a large towel, a face towel and another disposable toothbrush, paste, small shampoo and gel in packs, a disposable comb. We give underwear once for the whole trip, but if you want to - you can buy another clean set any day, and give the old one to the conductor.

Secondly, the food. Here the guests of the country suffer greatly. Our everybody knows that the belyashi, bought at night on the platform from the grandmother who came up to the train, may turn out to be life-threatening. But they think this is a station service. And that this is a civilized trade with permissions and all that. Well, eat them. Then they turn green and start to worry very much, occupy the toilets for a long time, come to me. The correct procedure is to contact the headquarters car, where the train chief contacts the driver, the driver sends the data to the nearest station; when we approach it, there must be an ambulance, which takes a foreigner. I don’t want to leave the Europeans at the station (and they rarely travel alone), so we do this only in serious cases. This is not according to the instructions, but I take 10 packs of activated carbon with me and give them. If it doesn’t feel better quickly, it’s already an “ambulance”, but the grandmother doesn’t specifically hurt people, so usually everything ends well.

It is correct either to buy food in stores, or to eat in a dining car, or to order hot food from a dining car. Well, or take food with you. Set lunch and dinner in a restaurant are good and are pretty normal for Europeans.

For many, three meals a day are a surprise or “food is on”: we have some weird rates, where you are fed three times in six days. Or which includes one set of food (dinner), which can be taken on any of the days. Historically, this is the case for short trips, where “food is on” is one meal. Foreign students often do not quite understand where the food is.

We, guides, eat taken from home or bought in stores. There is a microwave in the compartment of the conductor, we warm there. You can have a special menu for the staff in the dining car, the prices are about 150 rubles per meal. After a few trips along the route, you already know where and what to buy cheaper, where you cannot buy at all, where else something. Passengers have no refrigerators. We are small, but all the same, of course, you will not take from home for the whole flight. When I talk about this to other conductors with short flights, they are glad that they do not travel with us. But then they will find out that you see the authorities on the earth twice a month, and not every day, and think hard.

Yes, foreigners do not yet understand or do not immediately understand that it is possible to take a cup holder, a glass, a spoon, a plate: they consider that they have to pay and the bill will be at the end of the trip. Or try to pay immediately. And this is included in the ticket.

Third, heating. According to Transsib, the entire road has been electrified since 2002. Highway - 3 000 Volts almost everywhere. Almost - we have branches on the odd pattern (the route is not always the same), the composition at Skovorodino is split, and part goes to Neryungri with a diesel locomotive. This does not change life for passengers, but for me it's a lot of extra work with a coal stove. Because it's cold outside.

The temperature in the car is maintained from 20 to 24 degrees, usually kept at the upper limit, because the transition for the bottom give the ears. Foreigners are not cold: many people live in countries without central heating, they are very nice and pleasant on the train. But they are surprised how our people go on the platforms “in their pajamas”. By the way, about these pajamas in the reviews from the trips do not believe. These are not pajamas, these are alcoholic T-shirts and sweatpants with elongated knees. They just do not understand what it is.

Sleeping in the cars is very nice. Not a hotel, but almost all get used to. Foreigners are afraid that they won't fall asleep on the shelf, but they rock them well. Yes, we have the “Velvet Way”: there are a lot of places where the rails are laid along the Trans-Siberian Railway not as usual, “ta-ta-ta-da”, but every 800 meters. The usual joints - on the arrows, the station neck, crossings and stations themselves. The rest of the time, the train is quietly half-rustling, half-creaking. Soft and calm. But in the permafrost zone, the wheels become round again, and with this PR square they knock.

Fourth, communication. The stations almost always have 3G, between stations - 2G or no connection at all. I would say that talk is possible about 40% of the way, but the Internet is worse. We temporarily do not provide Wi-Fi, because there was an incident with a burned-down car, and Internet modules are under suspicion as a cause of fire. Until the end of the investigation while disabled to avoid. But in any case, the incoming channel is from mobile operators (not from the satellite), so anyway, it does not always give a connection. It affects the fact that translators stop working with foreigners in their phones.

Fifth, security. We sometimes steal. Infrequently, but since foreigners are often the owners of expensive phones and other things, they steal from them. They are very relaxed comrades: they can put the phone on charge in the corridor and go for a walk in the dining car or on the platform. Then they wonder what happened. There are no safes in the reserved seat, the locker below is open for counter-terrorism requirements (without a wall), so there is no place to hide things safely. We don’t officially have such a service, but I’m warning you that I can hand over my things for storage at night. Because when something disappears, a terrible procedure begins. On the outskirts of Vladivostok, they stole a phone from a foreigner, so then the police interrogated me at each station. Four days of the same questions, then on the ground again for a long time, made a bunch of papers to fill. In general, very pissed off.

Why do they get out of the train so joyful?

Often because they communicate here. The contingent of the wagon is these 5–7% of English-speaking, many labor migrants (the countries of the former USSR, North Korea, Mongolia) and our citizens who quickly become bored. And when our citizens get bored, they start to get acquainted. And the language barrier here does not interfere. The whole car is eager to talk to them. They show photos from phones, tell something, draw and, of course, offer to drink. A foreigner has almost no chance of getting to the dining car so that some grandfather would not pour him a stack of brandy.

But! I have never seen at least one drunk in a drool. If they drink a lot, they do it in the dining car and sometimes fall asleep in the same place. But they do not brawl in the car, do not fight on the platforms, do not go to leave their boas in the linen of other passengers. Know the measure. Use in the car rarely. Disasters happen when some of our soulful Vasya says: “It will be all right!” - and persuades them to join. Often, such a “party” ends with a competition among our fellow citizens “See how I can”, after which we call the transport police, and it takes the drunken body under the ruts to pass it to the “monkey house” at the nearest station.

They also love souvenirs. We have many models of trains, ballpoint pens, all kinds of key chains, mugs with symbols of Russian Railways, and so on. They are right for themselves to buy them, they sort out everything and take a lot.

In general, this is how the trip goes: they look at something they like very much outside the window, live in a warm, cozy train, try something new, talk to very friendly and sociable Russians (which breaks all stereotypes about us), look at life unfamiliar countries, sit in the dining car, go out in the cities and return back to the train. They say that such a trip changes the outlook on life, but I think it is because they are just a couple of days without a phone.

So, the most important:

1. Flowering wild rosemary in May.
2. No need to eat suspicious belyashi.
3. It is better to download the phrasebook.
4. Dishes (especially glass and cup holder) are provided free of charge.
5. It is better to bring food.
6. It is better to take along a normal shower set.

More posts about the railway: what trains are , power systems of cars , how a passenger car is arranged , how cars are assembled , how they evolved , about Leningradsky railway station , about locomotives , about old cars , about Grand Express train . Large FAQ about long-distance trains and unobvious rules .

Link to the memo . It is available under the license CC BY-SA, that is, you can use it as you wish and make new ones based on it, but you must preserve the indication of authorship.