Around the Planet

The original idea to build a Trans-Siberian Railway, in order to connect the then capital of Russia, St Petersburg, with Vladivostok and the Pacific, was first approved by Czar Alexander III in 1891. Vladivostok had been founded in 1860, fulfilling Russia’s long standing desire for a Pacific port, and by 1880 it had rapidly grown into a major port city, thus highlighting the lack of decent transportation links between European Russia and its Far Eastern provinces. So the plans for the Trans-Siberian Railway were drawn up and construction got underway, the continuous route being completed in 1905.

A lot has happened in Russia since the completion of this major route, and to travel across Eurasia on the Trans-Siberian Railway is a much prized and sought-after trip for many inveterate travellers and trainspotters. The Trans-Siberian Railway now departs not from St Petersburg, but Moscow, connecting the capital of Russia with Mongolia, China and the Sea of Japan. If you want to travel from west to east, (or vice versa for that matter), there are actually three possible routes that you can take.

The 6,152 mile, (9,258 km), journey from Moscow to Vladivostok is the Trans-Siberian proper, and takes a total of seven days. It is a busy train, full of local people making shorter or longer journeys, with tourists doing the entire route 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 possible routes that you can take: the Trans-Mongolian Line or the Trans-Manchurian Line. From Beijing itself, there are plenty of alternatives. You can travel by train on to Shanghai, then to Kunming, and then on to Hong Kong. Or you can take the bus to Tianjin, and from there get a ferry to Kobe, Japan.

Going to Beijing via Mongolia is a 4,735 mile journey, (7621 km), taking six days, going through Siberia, Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, and providing some fantastic views and changing scenery.

If you go to Beijing via Manchuria it takes just over six days, 5623 miles, (8986 km), and involves crossing directly from Russia into China.

Doing the Trans-Siberian involves going through seven time zones. For the route to Beijing the clock on the main train runs to Moscow time, whereas the buffet car is on Beijing time, and of course the local train stations, are running on their own time.

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.

When considering the fares, it is worth bearing in mind that you will need a bit more money if you are planning on breaking journey and doing some exploring along the way.

If you want to go on an organised trip, you could try globalvillage-travel.com who organise Trans-Siberian trips that last from 9 – 26 days, which have the options of including a home stay on the shores of Lake Baikal, nomadic camping, jeep safaris in Mongolia, and snow mobiling in Siberia!

Another recommended company is Trans-Siberian Experience who offer different packages from St Petersburg to Beijing. There is also the oddly-named Monkey Business Shrine, who have been organising Trans-Siberian trips for some twenty years. Their website also has a really cool map on the home page that will give you a clear idea of the three possible routes.

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 Sixty-One … which contains a wealth of detail about the Trans-Siberian routes. It also has loads of first hand information about many other train journeys besides - so much so that it has in fact been described as the train traveller’s bible – though whether you can really describe a website as a bible or not is an interesting concept.

Another good website dealing specifically with all three routes is Trans-Siberia.com which provides some excellent information, advice and photos to whet your appetite for the trip.

Moving on from travel websites to guidebooks, which will probably be more portable and usable than a laptop when you actually make the journey, you might consider taking Bryn Thomas’s Trans-Siberian Handbook, which is pretty comprehensive, including timetables, a handy phrase book section, what to see, do and what not to do. The book is also full of handy tips and tricks such as taking an old squash ball to use as a sink plug!

So, which season is best? In the winter temperatures can reach about minus 40 degrees Celsius at night, and minus 10 in the middle of the day. Not only that, but the daylight is pretty sparse, being so far north. However, a lot of Trans-Siberian aficionados are of the opinion that this is not too much of a problem. If you want to explore locally, midwinter may not be the best time to go. But if you want to make the straight crossing of the Eurasian continent, then there is no problem – the train is well-heated, and the endless snowy forest can be quite beautiful, in fact some people take the Trans-Siberian at this time of year for the sheer beauty of the snowscapes. But don’t forget a decent jacket to keep you warm when you get out at the stations for a bit of a walk.

The trains stop at numerous stations en route, and the stops can range between ten minutes and one hour, though they usually tend to be the shorter stops. Stopping at railway stations in the middle of nowhere, you find that local farmers, mostly women, are waiting on the platforms selling fresh milk, pieroghi (a type of dumpling), boiled potatoes, and other stuff. They even sell inexpensive alcoholic drinks, which can come in handy for whiling the time away merrily.

For entertainment you will generally be relying on books and your fellow travellers. Some say that a pack of cards is a good thing to pack.

And if you fancy a bit of a read as you make your way across the Eurasian continent, a suitably themed book might be “The Great Railway Bazaar” by excellent writer Paul Theroux, who gives an account of a rail journey he made in the seventies from London to Tokyo by train, and back – though presumably there were ferries involved as well. Also by Theroux is Riding the Iron Rooster, which describes his exciting rail journey all around China.

Another book which may be of interest is the Big Red Train Ride by Eric Newby, describing his 1977 journey on the Trans-Siberian, though Newby’s style has been criticised for being a little wooden, and a little over-heavy with facts and figures about the railway and its construction.

In future posts, I will deal with these three journeys in a little more detail.