A reserved seat (literal translation from German - card for a seat) is a card attached to a ticket for a seat in railway transport, and not at all what we are used to meaning. In many countries (including Russia), a reserved seat and a ticket are combined into one: when buying a travel document, the traveler does not even suspect that he has purchased “two in one” at once.
The essence of this card is that it accumulates part of the expenses and is equal in size to the price for the services of the owner of the railway car.
The full fare paid by the passenger includes the following components (Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation dated December 19, 2013 No. 473):
- card payment for a seat;
- ticket amount;
- the price of insurance (mandatory for each passenger);
- commission fee;
- mediation fee (subject to purchasing a travel document through an agency, delivery company, etc.).
There is now no charge for pre-payment of transportation. All these fees and insurance are ultimately distributed over two points, visible to the passenger in two amounts - ticket and card. By reserved seat we do not mean the type of carriage, but the type of fare.
What is included in its price?
For each type of Russian Railways tariff, calculations are drawn up to determine the cost of a car-hour; it is on these that the amounts that form the fare price are based. The card contains the costs of maintaining a Pullman and providing comfort in this particular cabin with specific services inherent in this type of tariff and type of car.
It turns out that a reserved seat is the price for convenience: availability of space, seating or lying down, linen, meals included in the form of dry meals. rations and tea or not included, is there air conditioning, is there a dry closet, etc.
There are services that you can refuse and not pay for (for example, a passenger can have their own set of bed linen, or not pay for food), and there are payments that are inseparable and obligatory.
When purchasing a travel document, a traveler can see next to the fare the amount next to it, which is equal to the price of the card for the seat.
What is the full fare of a railway ticket?
The ticket price includes components of the costs of:
These costs are divided for the simple reason that they go into different pockets: the owner of the railway receives the money for the ticket, and the owner of the carriage receives the money for the reserved seat (if the owners are different).
Differences in the percentage of reserved seats for different types of Russian Railways trains
In general salons, the reserved seat account for no more than 5-10% of the total fare, while in standard cabins with the usual reserved seats and amenities from the times of the USSR, the card will cover up to 20% of the amount of the travel document. A compartment cabin involves traveling with a greater degree of comfort for passengers, which entails the cost of maintaining such a carriage in much larger amounts, so here the ratio of the cost of the card to the total cost of travel is 35-47%, in sleeping cabins and SV or “Lux” this proportion is 60% and 75% respectively.
Suburban routes are served mainly by general Pullmans, and local passenger routes are served by carriages of various types, but no higher in class than coupes (what are there?)
There are also long-distance trains, the length of which is over 700 km; on these trains, the share of the cost of the reserved seat itself is slightly reduced in the total amount of the fare and is about 50% (due to the operation of a long-distance railway line).
But high-speed trains, although they travel thousands of kilometers, but in a relatively short amount of time, are equipped with Pullmans with an increased level of comfort, which greatly influences the increase in the share of the card, reaching 70-80% of the total fare. On branded trains, the card accounts for even more than 80% of the fare.
It is impossible to guess in advance what the ratio of these indicators will be in the purchased travel document: this can only be seen on the receipt itself, received in hand.
What is the cost of a reserved seat when returning a ticket?
When returning, the cost of the card in the fare price is very important, since, depending on the time remaining before the departure of the train, it is this component that can be lost. The return rules state that if the time remaining is more than 8 hours, then all the money paid when purchasing a travel document will be returned, and if there is from 8 to 2 hours, then the full price of the ticket and 50% of the price of the card will be returned to place.
When the ticket is handed in less than 2 hours before the train departs, then the loss of funds is serious: only the cost of the ticket is refundable, and for the component equal to the price of the card, you can forget: it is not refunded. So the owner of the Pullman, in which the careless traveler was going to travel, insures himself against losses in case he fails to sell this seat to another passenger in a short time.
It is unlikely that any of the railway passengers does not know what
The price of a train ticket is one of the main expenses of any traveler. It's nice when you can save money without losing comfort. People who often use the services of Russian Railways know that the cost of travel tickets for the same places can be different. With the right approach, you can purchase travel documents at competitive prices.
Factors influencing price
The cost of train travel documents is not determined on a cost basis. Rates are influenced by a number of factors, including:
- class of carriage - the lower the level of comfort, the cheaper the journey will be. However, this is only suitable for passengers who are not bothered by travel conditions.
- service – you will have to pay for a bed, the ability to use Wi-Fi in the carriage and other additional services;
- travel distance - everything is logical here, the further you go, the more expensive it will cost to travel by rail. Passengers can save money by traveling on transfer bars. This method will take more time, but can help save a significant amount of money on travel;
- demand for the route - if there are many empty seats in the carriage, they are sold at a discount;
- pre-sale – a passenger who has taken care of tickets in advance will be able to purchase them much cheaper than the day before departure. It is especially important to pre-plan trips during peak periods, which include holidays, the height of the holiday season and children's holidays.
Simple rules for saving
Today, many passengers can buy tickets online. The system allows you not only to choose the optimal route and desired places, but also to compare prices. If you are on a limited budget, you should avoid branded trains, as tickets for all destinations will be much more expensive. A branded train implies high standards of service, and you have to pay for comfort.
A traveler who plans a trip in advance can find an acceptable option even for the most popular train. Ticket sales usually begin one and a half to two months before the departure date, cheap seats are sold out first. Pre-planning makes it possible to slightly change plans and postpone the trip by a day or two. If there are no seats available for the desired date, you should check the adjacent numbers.
Russian Railways has recently launched the “Catch a Ticket” service, which makes it possible to buy travel tickets in the desired direction. The application promptly notifies you when free space becomes available in the system.
By using the online service, you can save money. Sometimes, through online promotions, you can buy a seat in a compartment at the price of a reserved seat, so you need to constantly monitor information about lucrative offers.
Buying tickets online is not difficult. In addition to information about the cost of seats, the passenger will be able to study the rules for transporting pets and luggage, and find out the size of the discount provided to children of different ages. You can also choose a payment method that is convenient for you and get advice on issues of interest.
The calculator will be useful not only for the shipper to calculate the cost of railway transportation, but also for the owner of the rolling stock to determine the optimal tariff.
The system works in real time and quickly performs all necessary calculations. Based on the calculation results, the calculator displays the railway transportation tariff. The amount is calculated taking into account the transportation distance, type and weight of cargo, as well as the type of wagons and their number.
Please remember that the resulting figures will be indicative only. The final amount for services is always set by the owner of the wagons, based on his tariffs for railway transportation.
What additionally affects the price of transportation?
The cost of wagons may increase due to the following parameters:
- type of shipment (wagon, container, light-tonnage, small);
- transportation speed;
- type of packaging;
- difficulties in loading and unloading goods (the need for loaders or special mechanisms);
- storage of cargo before shipment or after arrival at the station.
If you do not have enough data to calculate the railway tariff, you doubt that you correctly estimate the required number and type of cars, or you have questions about other aspects of cargo transportation, we are always ready to help you. Our specialists will answer all questions and tell you in detail about the operation of the Ezdok service. Leave your name and contact phone number and we will call you back as soon as possible.
It is necessary to immediately make a reservation that it is impossible to talk about the technology for calculating air transportation in any full extent. The complexity of this activity is evidenced by the fact that in the IATA recommendations sent out annually, the section devoted to the preparation of cost calculations takes up 110 pages of very small text. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to tell you about the basic principles and concepts of tariff calculation. Please note that the following discussion primarily applies to published tariffs (see).
Let's start with a simple example: how much will it cost to fly on the route Moscow - Frankfurt - Lisbon? It would seem that the tariff should consist of the cost of the flight Moscow - Frankfurt plus Frankfurt - Lisbon. Let's try to calculate the cost of business class: Moscow - Frankfurt = 830 USD, Frankfurt - Lisbon = 1471 DEM = 830 USD, total 1660 USD. But the Moscow - Lisbon tariff = 1289 USD! So how much does a ticket actually cost? To understand this, it is necessary to introduce the concept of a mileage (i.e., by miles) calculation system and through tariff. Many thousands of routes around the planet have so-called “maximum mileage limits”, i.e. how many air miles can you fly to get from one point to another, and “ticket miles”, i.e. direct air distance from point to point. Returning to the example: the maximum permitted miles on the Moscow - Lisbon route is 2911 miles, and the sum of the Moscow - Frankfurt (1264 miles) and Frankfurt - Lisbon (1165 miles) sections is 2429 miles. The meaning of the mileage calculation is as follows: if the actual miles along the route do not exceed the maximum allowed for the end point, then the fare for the entire route is equal to the fare from the start to the end point. This tariff is called “through”, i.e. the tariff on the route Moscow - Frankfurt - Lisbon is equal to the tariff Moscow - Lisbon - 1289 USD. The maximum allowed miles can be exceeded by 25%, but the through fare must also be increased by the same percentage (the so-called mileage allowance), i.e. when flying from Moscow to Lisbon you can fly 2911*25% = 3638 miles so that the fare remains through!!! You can fly Moscow - Kiev - Frankfurt - Zurich - London - Lisbon (the amount of miles on the route exceeds the maximum allowed by 10%) all at the same through fare Moscow - Lisbon 1289 USD, increased by 10%, i.e. 1418 USD!
Another example: the route Moscow - Copenhagen - Riga; the maximum allowed miles Moscow - Riga are 638 miles, and the actual miles on the ticket are 1414, which clearly exceeds 25% and therefore, instead of the through fare Moscow - Riga (387 USD), you will have to pay the sum of the fares Moscow - Copenhagen (764 USD) and Copenhagen - Riga (492 USD), i.e. 1256 USD!
The conclusion suggests itself - the more direct the route, the better the price!
An important point in calculating the ticket price is the presence of stopovers (Stopover - stops along the route - see). The fact is that the resulting through tariff must be compared with all tariffs from the point of departure of transportation to all stopover points.
For example: route Moscow - Amsterdam - Geneva. The first option is that you are in Amsterdam for less than a day, i.e. there is no stop. We use the mileage calculation system - miles are not exceeded - the fare is equal to the Moscow - Geneva fare (863 USD). The second option is that you stay in Amsterdam for more than a day, i.e. Amsterdam is a stopover point, and it is necessary to compare the through tariff Moscow - Geneva with the tariff to the stopover point, i.e. Moscow - Amsterdam (928 USD) and take the larger one. Therefore, the ticket costs 928 USD.
In actual calculation practice, dozens more checks and rules are used, and of course, calculating a tariff without using a computer would take a significant amount of time and effort. Currently, there are several computer reservation systems using ultra-high-speed global networks. The most famous of them are: "Gabriel", "GETS", "Amadeus", "WorldSpan" and "Galileo". All of the listed systems have both their advantages and their disadvantages, but they are united by a common communication interface implemented by SITA (global communications network) and the presence of two main components - the reservation system itself (availability, i.e. flight schedules, seat availability and etc.) and tariff calculation systems (airfare). The operator resorts to the latter to calculate the cost of your ticket. It is worth noting that the complexity of the calculation algorithm, coupled with problems of compatibility of various airlines and reservation systems, sometimes does not allow the computer to give an acceptable solution or an unambiguous answer. In this situation, the professionalism and experience of the operator will be decisive. Using his own knowledge of international tariffs and manual calculation techniques, the operator can achieve the result you need. Unfortunately, there are not many highly professional agencies not only in Russia, but also in the world. The sad experience of the author of this article with the blatant incompetence of not only agency managers, but also representatives of airlines, allows me to state this with full responsibility. It is possible that when flying simple routes, you will never know that your agent only knows how to press a few buttons, but in order to avoid getting into an unpleasant situation, it is better to entrust the calculation and registration of air transportation to real professionals.
The cost of train tickets varies depending on a number of factors. Knowing them, you can buy inexpensive tickets or choose the best option for yourself.
Find out the cost of the ticket
What determines the prices for Russian Railways train tickets?
- . One of the factors that most strongly influences the price of railway tickets for long-distance Russian Railways trains. Tariffs for reserved seat seats are lower, but you have to pay for more comfort..
- Additional services. Bed linen, meals included in the price, Wi-Fi on the train, etc.
- How far are you traveling. The general rule is: the further away, the more expensive. But due to the cost structure of Russian Railways train tickets, traveling between neighboring cities can be quite expensive. In these cases, you can use commuter trains and, if available.
- Date of purchase and number of available seats. More and more Russian Railways trains are falling under the dynamic pricing program. This means that the price of the ticket depends on how many empty seats are left and how long before departure. The tariff at the opening of the sale (90 days before departure) and on the eve of the trip may differ by half. In addition, cheap places are sold out faster. Sometimes passengers are forced to buy a ticket in a compartment not out of love for comfort, but because the reserved seat and seats have already been taken away.
At the most popular times - the most expensive tickets for railway transport. This is summer, school holidays in spring and autumn, New Year holidays and all the days before them. You can find out on the day you are interested in.
How a passenger can save
- See if there are non-branded Russian Railways trains. However, if comfort is important, it is better to go with a branded one.
- Buy tickets in advance. During periods of high demand (summer, holidays, school holidays) it is a question of not only price, but also the availability of tickets in general.
- See how much a train ticket costs for neighboring dates. The Russian Railways train schedule and ticket prices for different days of the week vary, and even on popular routes you can buy a ticket quite inexpensively.
Follow the promotions. We publish information about them on social networks. Often, if purchased in advance (a month or earlier), electronic tickets in a compartment cost about the same as in a reserved seat. So it’s better to first find out the price of a train ticket and then make a choice.
Why is it better to buy a ticket on the site?
We tried to make purchasing train tickets as simple and convenient as possible.
- Opportunity to save. If it is possible to buy cheap train tickets online, you will know about it. We publish news about all discounts and promotions - both our own and Russian Railways. And when you look at the schedule for the direction you need, tickets with the minimum price are marked with a special icon.
- Actual information. With us you can always find out the schedule, the cost of train tickets, availability of seats - and even see them on the carriage diagram. All additional trains and wagons immediately go into the sales system. If a train from Russian Railways or a foreign carrier runs between two stations, you will see it on our website.
Note! possible only at the time of payment. There are no long-term reservations with redemption before the trip.
- Customer support. On the website, we try to explain everything clearly and in detail: from how to book a ticket, to the transportation of luggage or animals, discounts for children or return conditions.
- Quality service and attention. Online purchase and issuance of tickets from any station takes only a couple of minutes. Sales are carried out around the clock, at any time convenient for you. Ten are supported. To remember about your trip, you can turn on a reminder. If you want, we can print an electronic ticket for you, and the courier will deliver it throughout Moscow. There is even a meeting with a sign from the station to the station.
No tickets? They may appear and if this happens, we will inform you. You can send an application using. If you have any questions, write or call.
Have a nice trip!
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