AUSTRIA | Railways

[Timon91]

Great report! One of the trains on the stamp is actually Dutch

[DJZG]

wow...if i understand clearly...
moscow-irkutsk costs around 100€
and irkutsk-pyongyang around 225€
why is such a difference in prices?


great travelogue... wish i could do it one day too and we are waiting for next chapters

[nachalnik]

Originally Posted by vlker

Of course Lenin my mistake. Yeah, and Ataturk isn´t embalmed. I saw, that we made a nice travellers topic in railway section

I noticed, that there are quite big amounts for sleepers cars reservations in Russia...more than the ticket alone.

You have to consider that my ticket Moskva - Irkutsk was 40% discounted.

There is a special dscount agreement between railways in some Eaqstern European countries and the railways of some states of the former USSR.
For the Russian part a discount of 40% applies to full price according to the East-West-Fare agreement if the ticket is bought in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania and some other countries.

That's why I buy tickets to Russia usually in Bratislava, 60 km east of Vienna. There is also another very good deal, the so called Citystar-ticket. It's a flat-fare from any station in Slovakia to any station in Russia and back. It costs 172 EUR (via Ukraine). See also my website http://citystarticket.blogspot.com. However, to use it, sleeper reservations are necessary, and they are relatively expensive. Russian Railways have increased the price several times during the last years; in 2002 a sleeper-reservation (in a 4-bed.compartment) from Moscow to Irkutsk cost 27 EUR, now it's 78 EUR, and I think they will increase it again from december.

However, due to such discounts and special prices as the Citystar-tickets, it is often cheaper to buy tickets for train trips in Russia in Slovakia (international fare with discounts applies) than in Russia (domestic fare applies). For long distances sometimes even the undiscounted international fare is cheaper than domestic fare. A ticket Moscow - Irkutsk in a 4-bed-compartment is often (1) cheaper if you buy it in Austria or Germany than in Russia.

(1) domestic RZD fares vary depending on the type of train (passashirskyi, skoryj, firmennyj) and on the date, international fares are the same for all kind of trains and don't have seasonal changes...


Helmut

[nachalnik]

Originally Posted by DJZG

wow...if i understand clearly...
moscow-irkutsk costs around 100€
and irkutsk-pyongyang around 225€
why is such a difference in prices?

You forgot the ticket price Moscow - Irkutsk (85 EUR) and only counted the reservation prices (58 + 38 EUR).

Also the "ticket" from Irkutsk to Pyongyang consists of a ticket and a reservation, as you can see at the photos, but I quoted the total price.


Also, the prices are difficult to compare. There are basically 4 different fare systems in Russia:

- domestic fare: Applies if you buy a ticket for a domestic Russian trip inside Russia

- Mezhgos-fare: Applies if you buy a ticket in another country of the former USSR (for international trips and for domestic trips in another country than that where the ticket is bought)

- MPT-fare: Applies for international trips between some countries of the former USSR (1), China, Mongolia, Vietnam and North Korea

- East-West-Fare: Applies for international trips between some countries of the former USSR (1) and Europe. Also applies if a ticket for a domestic trip insider the countries of the former USSR is bought in Europe.


The level of fares and the way how they are calculated varies depending on where under which fare agreement the ticket (and reservation) is bought.
The prices of my ticket and sleeper reservations from Moscow to Irkutsk are calculated on abse of the East-West-Fare (+ 40% discount due to the special agreement with Slovakian railway) and the priice of the ticket and reservation from Irkutsk to Pyongyang depend on the MPT-agreement.

So, it's quite complicated.


BTW, the MPT-fare was originally the fare-agreement, under which international passenger traffic was organized between all socialist countries. So, in 1985 MPT-fare also applied for a ticket from Budapest to Prague. And it was possible to buy a ticket to Pyongyang also in Berlin (East). The prices where very low, a ticket from Warsaw to Pyongyang cost about 35 EUR in todays currency, a ticket from Warsaw to Vienna cost the same (as the price was calculated according to TCV agreement (TCV is the agreement for international fares within Europe)).
I know Austrians who at that time travelled with the Transsiberan railway to Beijing and bought their tickets at Budapest for nearly no money.
Today this isn't possible, on the one hand MPT-fares are no longer "symbolic"-prices, and on the other hand Hungary's railway is no longer a member of MPT-fare, so there is no legal base for selling through tickets from Hungary to China.

(1) not all countries of the former USSR are have signed the East-West-fare agreement ot the MPT-agreement. Uzbekistan, for example, is no member of the East-West-fare agreement and also no member of the MPT-agreement.

[vlker]

Originally Posted by nachalnik

There is also another very good deal, the so called Citystar-ticket.

Yeah, I know citystar discount confidentally We are travelling with this discount very often and whole Balkan we came through with that ticket. FE from Brno to Hungarian-Romanian border for 20EUR/one way is really cheap.

[DJZG]

i understand now...
so, basically if we plan to travel through russia, most important thing is to investigate variety of options from another countries...
i believe it shouldn't be too hard nowadays considering internet sites are available from anywhere...

regarding your trip... did you make some pyongyang public transport photos... i've read that it is possible to ride PY metro but only for two stops... (i always wondered why only two)

and if you had noticed about the citylife itself... how are the residents of PY? do they look happy? poor? not interested? avoiding you in broad circle? maybe waving at you?

i wish there will come time when we can talk with those people online and ask them anything about their culture... for now, we just have to depend on few tourist trips...

[Need4Weed]

Originally Posted by nachalnik

Yes, but it was in the middle of the night and I was sleeping...

Thanks!
But did the train go through Chongjin itself, or it just went through some outlying train station? Also, since you went through the night, did you see towns and villages lit, or it was pitch-dark?

[nachalnik]

According to the timetable published by RZD (Russian Railways) the train stops at Chongjin station from 23:20 till 23:42.

During the night we saw some houses with light inside (usually in bigger towns) and some without light (usually in small villages). But there were no streetlights and no lights on the platforms at the stations.

---

Photos of public transport in Pyongyang will follow. We only saw the 2 metro-stations usually shown to tourists, but I heard that also trips to other stations can be arranged if requested in advance.

---

Most residents of Pyongyang we saw didn't look particulary unhappy or poor. Usually they didn't care about tourists.

[Timon91]

That's what I read in most NK travel reports. They were probably told not to care

[diz]

They probably have the same case as Filipinos.

Poor but happy.

but obviously, they're in a worse state.

[diz]

dang awesome pics.

[rheintram]

Amazing report! I loved the photos and the explanation. Fantastic journey!

[panda80]

travel report continuation?

[DJZG]

i was thinking that few days ago seems like we'll have to wait for some photos of pyongyang transport

[timnet]

nachalnik, great story!

[ABC LV]

Originally Posted by nachalnik

Then we drove to a stamps shop. Typicial street in Pyongyang:

Seems that pink buildings in background are recently renovated?
City in your photos doesn't look too bad actually, maybe it's the sunny weather Streets and skies are very clean.

Fantastic trip, I would love to travel like this someday.

[timnet]

@ABC_LV maybe the sky is blue cause not many cars are there

[rheintram]

Here's a thread about ÖBB (Österreichische Bundesbahnen) / Austrian Federal Railways. I found some nice pictures on Flickr that might be interesting for you. Hopefully someone will be able to contribute more!

image hosted on flickr

ÖBB EuroCity Train to Vienna Westbahnhof in Braz.

image hosted on flickr

ÖBB EuroCity Transalpin from Zürich to Vienna, again in Braz.


ÖBB ICE-T crossing a bridge on the Arlbergbahn

image hosted on flickr

two Taurus Locos meet on the river Inn bridge in Innsbruck

image hosted on flickr

Austria's new homegrown highspeed train railjet

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

ÖBB 4024 on Brennerbahn

[stefanguti]

ÖBB 1116 033-0, ÖBB-EC 163 Transalpin, Flaurling, Tyrol

image hosted on flickr



Taurus locomotive

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr



Southbound trains (from Vienna)

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[Kuvvaci]

wonderful photos...

Taurus loco is so beautiful.

What is the top speed of Railjet?