Russian Railways (RZD — ОАО «РЖД» / Federal Passenger Company — ФПК subsidiary)
Russia
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The Journey
Navigate from Moscow Yaroslavsky Station (Москва-Ярославская) to Vladivostok Station (Владивосток) — also known as Vladivostok-Passazhirskiy across a span of 9288km. This is an overnight service.
Scenery Highlights
Spectacular Lake Baikal shoreline approach near Sludyanka-2 — the deepest (1,642 m) and oldest freshwater lake in the world, with the Barguzin and Svyatoy Nos peninsulas visible from the carriage
Crossing the Ural Mountains at Yekaterinburg — the symbolic Europe/Asia divide with the iconic 1962 obelisk marker visible from the platform
Dense Siberian taiga forests stretching hundreds of kilometres between Tyumen and Krasnoyarsk — one of the world's largest intact forest biomes
Novosibirsk — the largest city in Siberia (1.6 million residents), Trans-Siberian cultural hub, and Akadемgorodок science-city extension
Krasnoyarsk — anchored on the Yenisei River (Asia's longest), framed by the dramatic Stolby granite-rock nature reserve
Trans-Baikal steppe around Ulan-Ude and Chita — culturally Buryat-Mongol with the Ivolginsky datsan (Russia's most revered Buddhist monastery) reachable by stop-off
Pacific terminus at Vladivostok — closed naval port during the Soviet era, now a free-economy gateway city with the famous Trans-Siberian end-of-line monument
Quick Facts
Duration
144 hours
Distance
9288 km
Est. Price
11,500–145,000+ RUB per person (Platzkart → Lux); allow 1,000–2,000 RUB/day for meals and station-vendor purchases
Meals: Bedding (clean sheets, pillow, blanket) included; meals extra
Ensuite: No
Meals: Cold welcome meal, tea, and bedding; hot meals available from the dining car
Ensuite: No
Meals: Hot meal, bedding, wash kit, slippers and welcome tea service
Ensuite: No
Meals: Three-course hot meals, premium bedding, welcome champagne, slippers and robes
Ensuite: Yes
Engine / Locomotive
Electric and diesel-electric locomotives — EP2K (ChS2-era) and EHSS electric for electrified sections; 2TE126 (and on non-electrified stretches TE116) diesel-electric for the remaining eastern segments
Locomotive Weight
~126–138 tonnes per diesel unit (2TE116/TE116 series), 137 t for EP2K electric
Track Gauge
1,520 mm (Russian broad gauge — incompatible with European 1,435 mm and Chinese 1,435 mm; trains re-gauged at border crossings for Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Manchurian branches)
Braking Technology
Compressed-air (EP braking) on all mainline stock; regenerative braking on electric locomotives
Route Engineering Challenges
9,288 km continuous route spanning 8 time zones — the longest in the world
Permafrost zones in eastern Siberia (eastern Buryatia and parts of the Amur oblast) requiring raised-track foundations and thermosyphons to prevent ground thaw
Extreme temperature variations: -40°C in winter (Krasnoyarsk east) to +35°C in summer (Vladivostok Far East), forcing thermal-stress engineering on rails and bridges
Lake Baikal diversion tunnel and winding shoreline approaches — the Sludyanka-Irkutsk stretch features 38 tunnels and 248 bridges in a 90 km corridor
Major river crossings: Ob (1,840 m combined bridge at Novosibirsk), Yenisei (1,895 m bridge at Krasnoyarsk), Amur (a 2,590 m combined road-and-rail bridge at Khabarovsk opened 1999 alongside the older Khabarovsk rail-only bridge)
Single-track sections with passing sidings limiting train frequency on eastern stretches between Komsomolsk-na-Amure and Vladivostok
Total of 16 major tunnels on the main corridor (the 7.8 km Severomuysky on the BAM, the older 1.5 km Krasnoyarsk bypass) — the longest tunnel complex including the 38-tunnel Sludyanka-Baikal shoreline section
Six gauge-change facilities (the largest at Brest on the Russia-Belarus border) for international connections to Europe; far-east corridors to North Korea and China require physical wheel-set changes
Route operator
Russian Railways (RZD — ОАО «РЖД»), Federal Passenger Company (ФПК / FPK) subsidiary
9,288 km (Moscow Yaroslavsky – Vladivostok via Tayshet, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Khabarovsk)
Construction years
1891–1916 (West Siberian 1896, Lake Baikal stretch 1904, Amur Railway 1916)
Time zones crossed
8 (Moscow UTC+3 → Vladivostok UTC+10)
Maximum operational speed
100 km/h (regional), 140 km/h on selected Moscow–Yaroslavl and Yekaterinburg–Tyumen upgraded sections
Electrification
Most of route electrified at 25 kV AC 50 Hz; older sections in eastern Buryatia and parts of the Amur oblast operated under diesel
Carriage type
RZD standard sleeping-cars: Platzkart (3rd-class open), Kupé (4-berth), SV (2-berth deluxe), and rare Lux (1st-class 2-berth suite with compact ensuite)
Highest point
Karamal-Tyumbas (Ural crest near Yekaterinburg) — about 480 m
Major river crossings
Ob at Novosibirsk, Yenisei at Krasnoyarsk, Amur at Khabarovsk — plus 1,000+ smaller bridges
Major tunnel corridors
Sludyanka shoreline 90 km / 38 tunnels; Krasnoyarsk by-pass 1.5 km; BAM branch (Severomuysky 7.8 km)
Branding train
Rossiya (Russian: «Россия», since 1956 for the Moscow–Vladivostok flagship pair)
Booking windows
90 days (RZD.ru) up to 12 months (specialist foreign-friendly agents)
Payment methods
RUB cash, Russian MIR/Sber cards at RZD.ru; foreign cards ONLY via specialist agents
Languages onboard
Russian primary; English announcements rare outside upgraded 2023-revised services
Currency onboard
Russian Ruble (RUB); ~1 USD ≈ 90 RUB as of mid-2026