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| Home > City Guide - St Petersburg - Getting There By Rail | ||
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Getting There By Rail The rail service is operated by divisions within the Ministry of Railroads (website: www.eng.mps.ru), however, it is difficult to obtain rail information from any one source. The Central Railroad Ticket Office (tel: (812) 168 0111; website: www.ehi.com/travel/ehi/russia/stpets.htm) provides some times and fare information, otherwise, travellers should contact the individual stations (Russian is spoken) or visit the stations to view the schedules. St Petersburg’s principal stations include Finlayandski vokzal, located at ploschad Lenina, for connections to Helsinki and Moskovsky vokzal, on Nevsky prospekt, ploschad Vosstania, for trains coming in from the north and Moscow. Varshavsky vokzal, at naberezhnaya Obvodnogo Kanala, usually serves Poland and the Baltics. Vitebsky vokzal, Zagorodny prospect 52, for the most part, serves trains arriving from and departing for Belarus, the Ukraine and southern cities such as Odessa. Facilities are basic to non-existent. Trains in Russia are, for the most part, safe and reliable, although the interiors will never win any design awards. Travellers should always bring their own toilet paper, drinking water and a light snack, in case a shortage occurs. On overnight trains, travellers should purchase a kupe (a four-bed compartment) or luks (a two-bed compartment) ticket rather than the plaszkart option, which is for a six-bed compartment, often with no door. Rail services: It is possible to travel to St Petersburg from most European capitals via Warsaw, Berlin, Helsinki or Moscow. There are daily services to Moscow (journey time – 8 hours), Berlin (journey time – 36 hours) and Warsaw (journey time – 26 hours). The Finnish VR passenger services (tel: (358) 307 23703, in Finland; website: www.vr.fi/heo/english/ita/ita.htm) operates services to and from Helsinki (journey time – 7 hours). There is a stop at the Russian border of three to four hours, while the wheels are exchanged to fit the narrower gauge of European railways. Transport to the city: All train stations are located on the red metro line 1. Taxi ranks are available at all of the stations and are the best means of a swift transfer from the station to hotels. |
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