Belarusian railways are “younger” than Russian ones. The date of their foundation is considered to be 1862, and not 1837, as in Russian Railways. However, in those years there was one Russian empire. Compared to the neighbors, in terms of the development of the railway network, Belarus looks better than Latvia and Lithuania, but inferior to Ukraine and Poland. When planning a trip to Belarus, it is useful to know the specifics of its railway transport.
Features railway Belarus
The country belongs to the former USSR and the CIS, therefore, many realities of the railways of the Republic of Belarus are similar to the situations of its eastern and southern neighbors:
- Electric trains of old types of production of the Riga plant "Er-9" and similar models travel around Ukraine and Russia.
- Diesel trains are still made at the Riga factory; they can be of Soviet types and new, manufactured in the 2000s, which are not found in other countries.
- Passenger locomotives are all Soviet or Russian.
- Wagons can be produced in the USSR (reserved seat) and GDR (coupe, SV, restaurant), as well as Russian (TVZ), Ukrainian (KVZZ) and Belarusian own modifications based on TVZ.
In addition, several years ago, the production of a new type of commuter trains at the Stadler plant in the Minsk region began. Outwardly, they resemble the compositions of some European countries. They drive fast, tickets are cheap.
A kind of "gathering place" for trains is the capital. Minsk is conveniently located in the center of the country, international trains to Russia, the EU, the Baltic states and Ukraine follow through it. Suburban trains of old and new types go to the neighboring regions and the region from the capital.
Cars differ from Russian Railways in blue, because Belarus is proudly called the “blue-eyed”. The exception is the cars of the new Stadler trains.
The conductor also has an assortment of Belarusian products: wafers from Vitebsk, sweets from Minsk and Gomel, sausages from Slonim, etc.
Another nice feature of the Belarusian railways is the low tariffs on domestic traffic: in terms of kilometer, they are similar to Ukrainian ones and are noticeably cheaper than all other neighboring countries.
Suburban traffic
Commuter trains of Belarus railways can be of two types - the new "Stadler" and trains of the Soviet type. They come from all regional centers and from large cities (Orsha, Baranovich, Pinsk, Salihorsk). From Orsha, the train goes to the first station in Russia (Krasnoe).
Rates can be conveniently calculated at the distance of Minsk-Orsha. Its length is about 220 kilometers. An ordinary train is on the way for 4 hours, a ticket costs 4.3 Belarusian rubles, that is, about 130 Russian rubles, the rate may change.
If you make a trip on a new type of train ("Stadler"), then the ticket will cost 7.7 Belarusian rubles (240 Russian). Consequently, the tariff is a little more than a ruble per kilometer, convenient for planning trips in Belarus. Such a train goes faster - 2.5 hours, fewer stops.
International message
Tariffs for it are many times higher than domestic. If you look at the timetables on the Russian Railways and BC sites, it is noticeable that the price of a ticket, for example, from Minsk to Orsha for the Novosibirsk-Brest train corresponds to the internal tariff, and from Smolensk to Irkutsk it is slightly cheaper than the Russian Railways fare, but when crossing the border, the price rises sharply. This can be seen if you drive in Orsha, and not Smolensk, as the final destination in the search for tickets. Thus, a reserved seat from Novosibirsk to Smolensk costs about 5 thousand rubles, and to Minsk it is already twice as expensive. It is better to make a transfer or fly by plane.
Belarusian railways have such international trains:
- Minsk-Vilnius.
- Minsk-Lviv \ Kiev \ Odessa \ Zaporozhye \ Novoalekseevka.
- Minsk-Irkutsk and Novosibirsk-Brest.
- Minsk-Moscow (several trains).
- Trains from Gomel, Polotsk and Brest to Moscow.
- Minsk-Kazan.
- Compositions from Brest and Minsk to St. Petersburg.
- Baranovichi-Saratov.
- Minsk-Adler.
- Minsk-Arkhangelsk \ Murmansk.
- Brest-Warsaw.
In addition to them, trains of Ukrainian, Russian and Moldavian formations run through the country. They can connect Kaliningrad and Moscow, Petersburg and Kiev with Chisinau.
Interregional trains and narrow gauge lines
There are fewer interregional trains in Belarus than suburban ones. They connect the opposite ends of the country, for example, the Vitebsk-Brest train leaves at 16:55 or 18:04, and arrives at 08:40 or 07:50.
The price of the trip in Belarusian rubles depends on the type of car:
- Total - 11.
- Reserved seat - 17.
- Kupeyny - 23.
To convert to Russian currency, multiply by 30.
Narrow gauge railways of Belarus are often official, peat extraction workers are transported to them. There are about 30 of them.
For excursions, as a rule, use the narrow gauge railway near TPU "Berezovskoye" in the Brest region. The trip takes two hours, the 1970s rode slowly along a 17-kilometer stretch. You can also take a guided tour of the narrow gauge railway of Lida district.