Belarusian railways are "younger" than Russian ones. The date of their foundation is considered to be 1862, and not 1837, as with Russian Railways. However, in those years there was only one Russian Empire. Against the background of its neighbors, in terms of the development of the railway network, Belarus looks better than Latvia and Lithuania, but is inferior to Ukraine and Poland. When planning a trip to Belarus, it is useful to know the specifics of its railway transport.
Belarus railway features
The country belongs to the former USSR and the CIS, so many of the realities of the railways of the Republic of Belarus are similar to the situation in its eastern and southern neighbor:
- Old-style electric trains manufactured by the Er-9 Riga plant and similar models travel around Ukraine and Russia.
- Diesel trains are still made at the Riga plant, they can be both Soviet types and new ones, produced in the 2000s, which are not found in other countries.
- Passenger locomotives are all Soviet or Russian.
- Cars can be produced by the USSR (reserved seat) and the GDR (coupe, SV, restaurant), as well as Russian (TVZ), Ukrainian (KVSZ) and own Belarusian modifications based onTVZ.
Besides this, a few years ago, the production of suburban trains of a new type was started at the Stadler plant in the Minsk region. Outwardly, they resemble the compositions of some European countries. Travel fast, tickets are cheap.
A kind of "collection point" for trains is the capital. Minsk is conveniently located in the center of the country, international trains go through it to Russia, the EU, the B altic states and Ukraine. Suburban trains of old and new types run from the capital to neighboring regions and around the region.
The carriages differ from Russian Railways in blue, because Belarus is proudly called "blue-eyed". The exception is the carriages of the new Stadler trains.
The conductor also has an assortment of Belarusian production: waffles from Vitebsk, sweets from Minsk and Gomel, sausage from Slonim, etc.
Another nice feature of the railways of Belarus is low tariffs for domestic traffic: in terms of a kilometer, they are similar to Ukrainian ones and are noticeably cheaper than all other neighboring countries.
Suburban service
Suburban trains of the railways of Belarus can be of two types - the new "Stadler" and the compositions of the Soviet type. They go from all regional centers and from large cities (Orsha, Baranovichi, Pinsk, Soligorsk). From Orsha, the train goes to the first station in Russia (Krasnoe).
It is convenient to calculate tariffs at the Minsk-Orsha distance. Its length is about 220 kilometers. An ordinary train is on the road for 4 hours, a ticket costs 4.3 Belarusian rubles,that is, about 130 Russian rubles, the rate may change.
If you travel on a new type of train ("Stadler"), the ticket will cost 7.7 Belarusian rubles (240 Russian). Consequently, the fare is a little more than a ruble per kilometer, which is convenient for planning trips around Belarus. This train travels faster - 2.5 hours, fewer stops.
International communication
Tariffs for it are many times higher than domestic ones. If you look at the timetables on the websites of Russian Railways and BC, it is noticeable that the price of a ticket, for example, from Minsk to Orsha for the Novosibirsk-Brest train corresponds to the domestic fare, and from Smolensk to Irkutsk is slightly cheaper than the Russian Railways fare, but when crossing the border the price rises sharply. This can be seen if you enter Orsha, and not Smolensk, as the final destination in the ticket search. 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 the following international trains:
- Minsk-Vilnius.
- Minsk-Lviv\Kyiv\Odessa\Zaporozhye\Novoalekseevka.
- Minsk-Irkutsk and Novosibirsk-Brest.
- Minsk-Moscow (several trains).
- Trains from Gomel, Polotsk and Brest to Moscow.
- Minsk-Kazan.
- Trains from Brest and Minsk to Petersburg.
- Baranovichi-Saratov.
- Minsk-Adler.
- Minsk-Arkhangelsk\Murmansk.
- Brest-Warsaw.
Besides them, Ukrainian trains run through the country,Russian and Moldovan formations. They can connect Kaliningrad and Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kyiv with Chisinau.
Interregional trains and narrow gauge lines
There are fewer interregional trains in Belarus than suburban ones. They connect opposite ends of the country, for example, the Vitebsk-Brest train departs at 16:55 or 18:04 and arrives at 08:40 or 07:50.
The price of a trip in Belarusian rubles depends on the type of carriage:
- General - 11.
- Reserved seat - 17.
- Compartment - 23.
To convert to Russian currency, multiply by 30.
Narrow-gauge railways in Belarus are often used for service, they carry workers from peat extraction enterprises. There are about 30 in total.
For excursions, as a rule, use the narrow-gauge railway near the Berezovskoye transport hub in the Brest region. The journey takes two hours, with 1970s trains traveling slowly over a 17-kilometer stretch. You can also take a tour of the narrow-gauge railway in the Lida region.
