The Trans-Siberian Railway - the green way to travel across Eurasia
The original idea to build a Trans-Siberian Railway to connect the then capital of Russia, St Petersburg, with Vladivostok and the Pacific was originally approved by Czar Alexander II. As well as the building of the railway, a lot has happened in Russia since then, and to travel across Eurasia on the Trans-Siberian Railway is a holy grail for many inveterate travelers and trainspotters. The Trans-Siberian Railway connects Moscow with Mongolia, China and the Sea of Japan, and if you want to travel from west to east, there are actually three possible routes that you can take.
Nowadays the Trans-Siberian departs from Moscow to Vladivostok, a journey of 6,152 miles, (9,258 km), which takes seven days. This is a busy train, full of local people making shorter or longer journeys, and tourists doing the entire route are actually in the minority.
The alternative is to travel from Moscow to Beijing, an option which seems to be more popular with the tourists, and there are two routes: the Trans-Mongolian Line or the Trans-Manchurian Line.
Going to Beijing via Mongolia is a 4735 mile journey, (7621 km), taking six days, going through Siberia, Mongolia and the Gobi Desert.
If you go to Beijing via Manchuria it takes just over six days, 5623 miles, (8986 km).
Prices for these routes vary considerably depending on whether you choose to travel first or second class, the number of people in your cabin, and whether you buy your tickets yourself at the station, or go through a travel agent. If you buy your ticket yourself in Moscow, the Moscow-Vladivostok route can range from around $300-$700, and the Moscow-Beijing route from $250-$400, but going through a travel agent can add substantially to this.
Undertaking train journeys such as these does require a certain amount of advance research, and one site that I have found invaluable in planning long-haul train travel is Mark Smith’s The Man in Seat 61 … which contains a wealth of detail about the Trans-Siberian routes, and many other train journeys.
In future posts, I will deal with these three journeys in a little more detail.
[…] have already talked about the Trans-Siberian Railway generally, and about what might be called the Trans-Siberian proper, which is the […]