Distance
645 km
Up to 40 trains
per day
2-6 stops
on the route
Fastest train
3 h 30 min
Slowest train
10 h 22 min
Price from
21 USD
A wide variety of options are available if you plan on taking the St Petersburg to Moscow train. You can sleep away the trip on an elegant overnight train, or jet to the capital on a modern bullet train. You can make a non-stop journey or ride one of the long-distance trains that may make 5 or 6 stops in cities like Tver and Bologoye before passing through Moscow on their way eastward.
Whether you just want a basic affordable ride, a comfortable overnight in old-fashioned luxury, or a quick trip in a sleek, modern train, there are options on this route to suit you. And electronic tickets in both directions make the journey all the easier. The same train options are available on the Moscow to St. Petersburg route.
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That depends upon the train. The high-speed Sapsan makes the journey in only about 3.5 to 4 hours during the day. For a more leisurely, comfortable ride on a sleeper like the Grand Express or Red Arrow, the overnight journey will run from 8 to 10 hours.
In St. Petersburg, all Sapsan trains depart from the Moskovsky Train Station, Nevsky Prospect 85, Metro Ploshad Vosstania. Most Sapsan trains arrive at the Leningradsky Train Station in Moscow, Komsomolskaya Ploshad 3, Metro Komsomolskaya. The trains that continue their way Nizhny Novgorod go through Moscow’s Kursky Train Station, Zemlyanoi Val, 29, Metro Kurskaya.
For 1st class passengers, the limit is 50 kg of carry-on luggage, while 2nd and 3rd class passengers have a limit of 36 kg. Regardless of weight, the luggage’s height, length, and width must total less than 180 cm. Note that children under 4 travelling without a separate seat (i.e., a free ticket), do not get an extra luggage allowance.
With rare exceptions, such as top tier passages on the Grand Express, Wi-Fi is available only on the Sapsan.
While the price is very similar and you spend about the same amount of time onboard the plane as you would the Sapsan high-speed train, the train stations are near city center, whereas airports are outside the city – meaning you must arrange transport to and from the airport, likely with extra costs and the possibility of traffic headaches. Not to mention the delays of airport check-in and security. And while planes have stringent limits on carry-on bags, passengers on the Sapsan can bring up to 36 kg of carry-on luggage without an extra fee (50kg for 1st class). Add in the more comfortable seats and meal options on the Sapsan, and the riding the train is clearly the better option.
What was to become the world’s largest railway network system, able to circle the globe twice, began in the imagination of a teenager on holiday in England. The future Tsar Nicolas I marveled at the power of the locomotive. He was so excited by it, he even helped shovel the coal into the furnace himself during a visit.
Located at the epicenter of the Three Station Square stands a golden statue. It is not in the likeness of Nikolai, but of the engineer he sent to America to discover how to build this future railway. Pavel Petrovich Melnikov’s image is in a square Russians call Komsomolskaya. Three railways, Kazansky, Yaroslavsky and Leningradsky, converge on what some train enthusiasts call the center of their world. Let’s find out what all the excitement is about.
What was once ridiculed as a “toy” or an “amusement” of the Tsar, since the first rail line linked the empirial capital of St Petersburg with the Tsar’s summer palace in Tsarskoye Selo, is called the Tsarskoselskii Railway. The building of this so-called “toy” provided the impetus to spark real rail innovation. Since it was hard to transport cargo on ships through frozen Russian waters coupled with the fact that the British had already achieved success with the locomotive, it was reasonable to look at the rails as a real solution. When German businessman Franz Gerstner approached the tsar with the idea of building a railway between St Petersburg and Moscow, and then to Nizhny Novgorod, he had a receptive audience with the royal train lover. Intrigued by the idea, Nikolai agreed to set up a commission to study the future project.
The members of the commission weren’t thrilled with Gerstner's plan, since he demanded an exclusive deal to be the sole builder of Russian trains for the next 20 years. They didn’t trust his motives, so they reduced the plan to build only 27 kilometers of the line to Tsarskoye Selo instead of Moscow. This line opened in 1837.
After the tsar sent Melnikov, an enterprising Russian engineer, to America to study progress in the field, the commission revisited the topic of expanding the line. Upon his return, the engineer drew up a plan where he envisioned trains travelling from St Petersburg to Moscow at a staggering 37 km/h and at a cost of 43 million roubles. After seeing the project’s price tag, the commission denied his request. Still fearing the dangers of this new industry, the members preferred to lay tracks for old fashioned horsepower rather than for steam engines. Being the sovereign, the emperor discarded the commission’s recommendation and in 1842, put his stamp of approval on the expansion of the line.
It took less than a decade and frankly the cost of many lives to build just 644 kilometers of railway in the harsh Russian environs. In the autumn of 1851, Nicolai and his royal court personally went to observe the train lines. A combination of harsh winters and limited experience of track building, these workers hadn’t resolved all the line’s issues. Soldiers manned the railway for safety reasons during the royal visit. Workers deployed gimmicks such as sharply-dressed workers and beautiful gardens displayed to hide from the sovereign the line’s failures. In time, train fever caught on and the emperor endorsed the St. Petersburg to Moscow train line.
The journey wasn’t over even after the railway project was completed. The first rail passengers suffered hellish conditions onboard. For a ride that lasted some 22 long hours, there was no food, heat or toilets provided. There were 12 hour pauses in service when the trains broke down. Passengers were wise to seek shelter in the nearest town, instead of getting sick remaining on a very cold train. Eventually, the train service improved and by the turn of the century, the trek was reduced to just 13 hours. It was only 8 hours by 1913! St Petersburg’s Varshavsky Railway Station Museum holds the original series C steam locomotive. Its horsepower reached a historic 100 km/h in its day.
Train fans today can still experience history as they ride the Red Arrow train overnight between St. Petersburg and Moscow. When the line was founded in 1931, its coaches had a blue livery because they were actually first-class tsarist railcars. The Soviets later added a new and improved class to the line and called it SV. The only time line stopped service was during the Second World War. At this time, Leningrad (modern-day St Petersburg) suffered a military blockade, fortunately without lasting damage to the railway. Trains have been entering and leaving St Petersburg’s Moskovsky Railway Station almost uninterruptedly for the last 170 years. Enthusiasts from the world over can still share in the tsar’s love for trains.
Get ready to be whisked along on a smooth and magical ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
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