RailWays.ru

   Types of trains
   Types of cars
   Return, restoration and renewal of tickets
   The international message
      Finland and the Western Europe (Germany, France etc.)
      East and the Central Europe
      China, Democratic People`s Republic of Korea and Mongolia
      Fare in the international message
      The schedule of trains of the international message
      Discounts in the international message
   The helpful information
      Help inquiries
      Registration of tickets through terminals "Express trains"
      The information specified in the ticket
      Sale of tickets from station of departure of a train and intermediate stations
   Standard documents

Useful information

Informational requests

«Schedule» reference

Shows the list of all trains moving from departure station to destination station at prescribed date.
Some of the trains might be “virtual” because of various causes – false information in the database, temporarily added trains etc. Usually such trains occur in less than 5-10% of cases, but they still occur.
«Seat availability on all trains» («Buy the ticket» button)

Shows the list of all trains between the stations with available seats at prescribed date.
If there are no available seats...

Very often there is a question that comes to mind – is it possible to find something, if there are no available seats (economy-class car, for example) in the reference? And is it possible to find something by yourself?
The dispatch station is critical here.
Departure from Russia

In these cases reference requests usually show all available seats that there are in the ticket window. In some cases (when the train comes from Ukraine) available seats might be found due to special requests – for example on charged reference websites. Cashiers at stations usually don’t make such requests, so it is going to be hard to convince them to sell a ticket.
Departure from Ukraine

In this case some seats are stored on the departing road (in Ukraine) and are available for each and all. Another essential part of seats in trains, moving to Moscow, are stored on the Moscow railroad. They are shown with references on some websites (like charged ones) – and these seats are available in Moscow railroad ticket windows, if the cashier will be able to make a correct request.

In all of these situations our website is the only one where you can book such tickets!
Ticket registration on «Express» terminal
After assuring the availability of requested amount of seats and gathering passport information from passengers, the cashier makes a request for ticket registry to the «Express» system. A request can be made for maximum 9 people at a time and on less than 4 ticket blanks. In the registry request the cashier must determine the departure date, train number, departure and arrival stations, car category and passenger information. The cashier can set some seat requirements if the passenger asks to. The possible additional seat requests are::
   • coach number
   • range of requested seats
   • amount of lower or upper seats
   • in interregional trains - amount of seats by the window
   • non-side seats for economy-class coaches
   • seats in one compartment
   • for economy-class coaches - seats in one cupboard
   • standard coach on a deluxe train
   • coaches with service availabe
   • coaches without service available
   • men/women/family/full compartment in their respective cars

When entering the demanded amount of lower or upper seats, the minimum amount of necessary seat types is set. It is necessary to have in mind that the cashier has to sell equal amount of lower and upper seats and may refuse in selling more lower seats than upper if there aren’t any excusable reasons for it, it means that it is forbidden to sell 2 lower seats to 2 people, but possible for 3 people. If there are no demanded seats in the train, the cashier gets a decline message with rough explanation of the deny reason. After that the reference may be repeated, but with different search parameters. If the demanded type of tickets are available, the terminal shows the message “DONE” and exact sum amount of all tickets formed in current order. The cashier knows the number of given seats before the tickets are printed, and if the passenger doesn’t agree to them, the seats can be returned back to the system.

The cashier can also extinguish the tickets after they are printed without any additional fee if the passenger refuses to buy them out or if there are any mistakes in them. After printing the tickets many cashiers at stations form a policy of voluntary accident insurance in transit in addition to the insurance fee which is already included in the ticket cost. The policy of voluntary insurance may be hand-written by the cashier or formed automatically by the “Express” system. Anyway, the passenger may refuse to buy this policy even if it was already formed. The printed insurance policy in this case is extinguished by appropriate command in the “Express” system.

Information given in the ticket

The tickets which were purchased by passengers for full price in cash and were printed by an automatic terminal have the following information on them:
Line 0:
   on the right part of the ticket, above the first line, information about the carrier is written: name, code and PTRN (Personal tax reference number).
Line 1:
   • Train number (3 numbers and 2 letters, where 3 numbers and a letter corresponds to the train number, the last letter – to the train line).
   • Departure date and time at the dispatch station, shown on the ticket.
   • Car numbet and type.
   • The ticket and compartment cost in the currency of the country where the ticket was formed.
   • Number of people, for which the ticket was issued.
   • The rate type: “FULL” if the ticket was bought for full price, or the type of discount («ДЕТ» (CHILD) – when issuing a child ticket with a seat, «БЕЗДЕНДЕТ ДЕТ5» (FREECHILD CHILD) for free child ticket without a seat).
   • If the ticket wasn’t formed by cash – type of payment (Б – clearing payment with organizations, ЭФ – bank-card payment in the cash-terminal, W – internet payment or by TTC (automatic ticket terminal)).
Line 2:
   • Departure and arrival stations names, cut to 12 symbols (the name is given in Russian if the transit was formed for Russia and international transit, in other cases – on national language).
   • 7-symbol departure and arrival stations codes.
   •Train type: “ФИРМ” for deluxe trains, “САПСАН” for Sapsan trains, “ЭКСПРЕСС” – for commuter express trains.
   • Level of service might be written: «КЛ.ОБСЛ. 2Л»
Line 3:
   • The word “МЕСТА” (SEATS) and number of seats. When forming tickets from waypoints for some trains (some coaches) “МЕСТА УКАЖЕТ ПРОВОДНИК” (the conductor will indicate the seats) is written.
   • «SZD» logo.
   • Short name of the railway, on which the car ticket is formed.
   • For commuter express trains coach category and “sitting places” inscription.
Line 4:
   • Series and number of ticket blank (2 letters or a letter and “*”, and 6 numbers)
   • Ticket security code (3 symbols). It is printed to expose fake tickets.
   • Document cipher (1 letter) and its index number in registration request (1 number).
   • Number of ticket registration request (7 numbers). The numeration is sequent for all requests to “Express”. The numeration in each computer center is formed separately and is annulated at 0:00 every day.
   • Ticket registration date (ddmmyy)
   • Ticket registration time (hhmm)
   • Without any spaces computer center code, which formed the ticket (1 letter), computer center code, which gave the seat (1 letter), sales point number (3 numbers and 1 letter), number of the ticket terminal (2 numbers) are written.
   • For commercial terminals – “/” and the code of the organisation.
   • «/ФПК» («/FPA») (if the ticket was registered through JSC FPA terminals or their agents')
   • The transit price through each country is given in the following form: country code, “-” symbol, transit price in swiss franks or national currency. If the price is given in national currency, the symbol “H” is printed after it. Tenth and hundredth of the price amount aren’t separated with a comma. If the transit takes place in the country, which formed the ticket, in a car, which belongs to this country, then instead of the price a “/H” transcript is written.
Line 5:
Passengers passport information (document type, its number, symbol “/”, surname, symbol “=”, initials or name, symbol “=” and surname; the variant “surname=initial=initial” is also possible).
Lines 6 and other:
   • Payment type: «Н–» - cash payment in the ticket terminal, «W–» via internet or TTC (automatic ticket terminal), «Б–» non-cash (clearing) payment or bank-card payment.
   • Full ticket price showing the currency. Tenth are separated by dots.
   • “вт.ч.” (also) and service value (“СТР”, «СЕРВИС») other than train, VAT included.
   • If bed sheets are paid for in no-service cars “сбельем” (with bed-sheets) is written, for service-included coaches (superior) after values the “amount” of services is given after the letter “У” (in russian У – Услуги – Services), for example “У2”.
   • Passenger arrival time to destination point. (“ПРИБЫТИЕ (ARRIVAL) dd.mm В (TO) hh.mm”). If the train dispatches by the old schedule but arrives by a new one, the arrival time isn’t given.
   • If in transit the number of the train or coach changes, then its new number is written with the arrival time.
   • Time given in the ticket (Moscow time or local).
   • Additional information (for example – “it is forbidden to smoke. Preliminary examination” for Sapsan trains.
An example
   104 СА 27.07 19.51 04 К 001735.3 003797.0 01 ПОЛНЫЙ
   ЛАЗАРЕВСК-МОСКВА КАЗ (2064030-2000003)
   МЕСТА 026 szd ОАО “ФПК” МОСК
   ДЯ 635002 М4К Е2 0199864 130611 1728 ОС198О04/ФПК/Н
   ЗП441111111/ИВАНОВ=ИИ
   Н-5534.6 РУБ В Т.Ч. СТР.2.3 РУБ ТАРИФ РФ 4566.7 В Т.Ч.НДС 696.62 РУБ СЕРВИС 965.6 В ТЧ.НДС 147.29 РУБ У2 ПРИБЫТИЕ 28.07 В 21.52 ПОЕЗДОМ 103 *С ВРЕМЯ ОТПР И ПРИБ МОСКОВСКОЕ
Строка 1: Билет выдан в поезд №104С в вагон, движущийся по нитке А, отправляющийся 27 июля в 19:51 в 4-й купейный вагон. Стоимость билета составляет 1735.3 рубля, плацкарты 3797.0. Вид документа – полный.
Строка 2: Станция отправления Лазаревская (код 2064030), назначения – Москва-Казанская (код 2000003).
Строка 3: Билет выдан на место 026, в вагон формирования Московского филиала ОАО «ФПК».
Строка 4: Бланк документа серии ДЯ номером 635002, защитный код – М4К. Шифр заказа Е, билет в заказе по номеру 2-й. Запрос на продажу в ВЦ имел номер 0199864. Билет оформлен 13 июня 2010 года в 17:28 ВЦ Октябрьской железной дороги, места выдал ВЦ Северо-Кавказской железной дороги. Пункт оформления билета принадлежит ОАО «ФПК», относится к ВЦ Октябрьской Железной Дороги и имеет номер 198, билетная касса имеет номер 4. Билет оформлен на внутреннее сообщение в вагоне Российского формирования.
Строка 5: Пассажир предъявил загранпаспорт с номером 441111111, фамилия пассажира Иванов, инициалы ИИ.
Строка 6: Полная стоимость билета 5534.6 рублей. В нее входит страховой сбор 2.3 руб, стоимость проезда 4566,7 руб. (в т.ч. НДС 696,62 руб.), сервис 965,6 руб. (в т.ч. НДС 147,29 руб). Билет продан в вагон повышенной комфортности с предоставлением в пути следования 2 наборов питания.
Строка 7: Поезд прибывает на станцию назначения 28 июля в 21:52. Номер поезда на станции прибытия - 103С. Время отправления и прибытия в билете указано московское.

Продажа билетов со станции отправления поезда и промежуточных станций
   Existing present ticket-selling principals are developed to ensure high train occupancy on the transit route.
   The route of each train is first of all divided to sections by railroad boundaries. There is also a finer route division - by levels. The levels are numerated in a row, starting with 1. One or more stations can correspond to each level. Stations on the same level always belong to one railroad.
   Most of the tickets are sold in the so-called "summer" mode - in advance only at the train dispatching station. All tickets, available for sale from the train departure station are also sold at any first-level station, 45 days in advance with seat indication.
   First of second-level stations might be an "alternating pattern", or, in other words, "template rate", when part of seats in a train are followed as though they were in two trains, first from the train dispatch station to the station "СМЕНА ТРАФАРЕТА", then from the "СМЕНА ТРАФАРЕТА" station to the destination station (for example - Moscow-Kursk, Kursk-Feodosiya). The key property of such a station is that tickets to seats with "переменным трафаретом" on this staion can't be sold by this station, only before and after it. If there is a "переменный трафарет" for a group of seats by the first station of second-level, these seats are sold in advance, with seat indication, at any second-level station. Also "переменный трафарет" may be on other leveled stations. Information about "трафаретные нормы" existance on various stations can be gathered in a special reference "train scheme" (for example on a website http://express-3.ru). Input of "переменный трафарет" is the only possible way to sell tickets from certain waypoint station in advance, without opening the sales from all waypoint stations.
   Tickets at waypoint stations of various levels, which don't have трафаретные нормы, are sold closer to departure date, and on following dates:
   if for some seat-groups the advance sale is permitted not only at first-level or уровень смены трафарета, but at other levels as well (this doesn't happen often), then 45 days in advance ("winter" and "winter+" modes)
   в счет высадки пассажиров по данной станции за 10 или 3 суток до отправления поезда с начальной станции, то есть с утра даты отправления поезда со станции отправления минус 2
   в счет высадки пассажиров по всем станциям дороги, предшествующим данной, в сутки отправления
   в счет свободных мест в поезде с момента прихода поезда на данную дорогу, либо с момента его ухода с предыдущей станции, но не менее, чем за 2 часа до отправления (для Урала и Сибири за 4 часа)
   Часто предварительно билеты на поезд могут продаваться не до любой станции, а лишь до достаточно удаленных от станции отправления поезда. Например, на поезд 104М Москва-Адлер в большинство вагонов предварительно до Краснодара билеты взять нельзя, а до Горячего Ключа можно. Данные ограничения, как правило, снимаются за 6 часов до отправления поезда, когда билеты на свободные места начинают продаваться до любой станции.