Transport - Central Asia - page 477

CLASSES ON RUSSIAN & CENTRAL ASIAN TRAINS
A deluxe sleeping carriage is called spets-vagon (SV, Russian for 'special carriage', abbre-
viated to CB in Cyrillic); some call this spalny vagon or 'sleeping carriage', myagky (soft)
or 1t class. Closed compartments have carpets and upholtered seats, and convert to
comfortable sleeping compartments for two.
An ordinary sleeping carriage is called kupeyny or kupe (which is Russian for compart-
mentalised), zhyostky (hard) or 2nd class. Closed compartments are usually four-person
couchettes and are comfortable.
A platskartny (reserved-place) or 3rd-class carriage has open-bunk (also known as
hard sleeper) accommodation. Obshchy (general) or 4th class is unreserved bench-type
seating.
With a reservation, your ticket normally shows the numbers of your carriage (vagon)
and seat (mesto) . Class may be shown by what looks like a fraction: eg 1/2 is 1t class
two berth, 2/4 is 2nd class four berth.

that we know of, and your
own insurance is most un-
likely to be valid in Central
Asia. You would probably
have to arrange insurance
anew at each border.
Readers have recom-
mended Campbell Irvine
(www.cambellirvine.com) as
one company in the UK that
can often arrange overland
vehicle insurance.
Many Kazakh cities have
motorbike clubs which will
often welcome foreign bik-
ers - and in some cases
drivers.
Almaty is easily the best
place in Central Asia for
getting motorbike repairs
done. The website www.
horizonsunlimited.com is a
good resource for bikers.
If you are thinking of
driving out to Central Asia,
then consider doing it for
charity as part of the Roof
of the World Rally (http://
roofoftheworld.charityrallies.
org) or Tajik Rally (http://
adventure-manufactory.com/
en/tajik/tajik-home) .

and Kyzylorda to Tashkent
(3369km), with branch
lines to Bishkek and Almaty
(4057km).
¨ From Moscow south of
the Aral Sea via Volgograd,
Atyrau, Kungrad, Uchquduk,
Navoi and Samarkand to
Tashkent, with a branch line
to Dushanbe.
¨ Turkestan-Siberian
railway or 'Turksib' (see
www.turksib.com for
timetables) linking the
Trans-Siberian Railway at
Novosibirsk with Almaty.
Several other lines enter
northern Kazakhstan from
Russia and meet at Astana,
from where a line heads
south to Karaganda and
Almaty.
Most trains bound for
Central Asia depart from
Moscow's Kazan (Kazansky)
station. Europe dissolves
into Asia as you sleep, and
morning unveils a vast pan-
orama of the Kazakh steppe.
You will need to check
visa requirements care-
fully. Trains from Moscow
to Tashkent demand a
Kazakh transit visa and
trains between Russia and
Kazakhstan might require a
multiple-entry Russian visa.
Trains to/from Dushanbe
are impractical because you
will need a Kazakh, multiple-
entry Uzbek and possibly
even a Turkmen visa.

POPULAR ROUTES
Train connections between
Russia and Central Asia have
thinned out in recent years
but are still a favourite of
migrant workers, tourists and
drug smugglers. The follow-
ing are the most popular fast
trains from Moscow:
Tashkent (Nos 5/6, three
weekly, 66 hours)
Almaty (Nos 7/8, every
other day, 80 hours)
Astana (Nos 71/72 and
83/84, daily, 55 hours)
Bishkek (Nos 17/18 and
27/28, five weekly, 76 hours)
Trains out of Moscow have
even numbers; those return-
ing have odd numbers.
Other offbeat connections
include the St Petersburg-
Astana (every four days) and
Saratov-Nukus-Tashkent
(twice weekly) routes. There
are other, slower connections
but you could grow old and
die on them.

FARES
These days kupe fares be-
tween Moscow and Central
Asia cost about the same
as a flight; only platzkartny
fares are cheaper than flying.
Typical fares for a 2nd/3rd-
class ( kupeyny/platzkartny )
berth are as follows:
¨ Moscow-Tashkent
US$495/300
¨ Moscow-Almaty
US$330/205

Train
To/From Russia
There are three main rail
routes into Central Asia from
Russia:
¨ From Moscow via Samara
or Saratov, straight across
Kazakhstan via Aktobe