How can I buy Septa train tickets?

Where can I buy tickets for train going from Beijing to Moscow?

• I am looking to travel via train from Beijing to Moscow. All the indications online are for app $200USD for the tickets. But the internet businesses are much dearer. In order to get my Visa for Russia I need to buy the tickets in advance. But the intertnet sites are expensive ie: $600USD. Also the plane tickets are too expensive. Any sugestions on a cheap way to travel ie: train would be a great help.

• Answer:

  I am not sure what, if any, nationality specific restrictions are imposed on the acquisition of a Visa to Russia. For U.S. citizens, tickets are not necessary prior to the obtaining of a Visa... at least not for Business Visas; perhaps not for Tourist Visas either. Keep in mind that the designation of the Visa (tourist or business can be irrelevant to the purpose of the trip -- eg. you do not need to have business activity planned in Russia to obtain a business visa; the designations are relevant to other elements of your plans -- how long you plan to stay, how many times you would like to enter, etc.). You do need officialy residency arrangements before obtaining a Visa, but these are generally provided by agencies... www.waytorussia.com provides good, detailed, information. Be aware, though, that some of the information on the site is out of date -- eg. some information regarding Visa registration; but they also have a new section on this issue that is NOT out of date, and that supercedes the old sections. The sections on obtaining Visas seem to be at laregely quite informative; I am not sure if all details are up to date. With regard to train tickets, I have been looking for some as well! It seems that Beijing-Moscow is more expensive than Moscow-Beijing. I suggest taking a look at this site: http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm This was one of the most informative starting points that I found. One of the places that you can purchase tickets from for the China-Russia trip is CITS: according to site: You can book trains from Beijing to Moscow, Irkutsk or Ulan Bator by emailing [email protected] (you can check details on the CITS website, www.cits.net) or by calling CITS on + 86 10 6512 0507 or + 86 10 6512 0503). I have sent the office e-mail, and the office was responsive. I have not yet booked tickets, but was given the opportunity. I am not sure of current availability, as the international route, it is said, sells out in advance often. You should heed the note regarding Summer Olympics-related closures. I do not believe Beijing-Moscow is available this year June-September. But, in May it is. You can also purchase through Russian travel agencies... WayToRussia (same site, as used above) uses several agencies -- I have tried Svezhy Veter, and they are responsive. Again, I have not yet made the decision to actually book tickets. WayToRussia, by the way, provides an interface to a Visa support agency, which I have used. You can find Visa support agencies online as well... and you can get a sense of their reputeability. I do have the sense that the one WayToRussia uses is reputable (intelservice). You could also purchase Trans-Siberian tickets through other agencies... I believe Western ones may come to be more expensive, though, perhaps, their services appear or are more strongly associated with the context of group tours. To add, $600.00USD does seem to approximately represent the cost of the Beijing-Moscow train trip (I assume Trans-Mongolian route; there is also Trans-Manchurian... which of course may be similarly priced) on Second(or First?)-Class sleeper cars (four beds in room). http://www.cits.net/citsonlineWeb/online/homepage_EN/transportation/2008_inttrain.htm. Trains 3/4 are the Trans-Mongolian Beijing<->Russia trains; Trains 19/20 are the Trans-Manchurian trains. One of the numbers in each pair corresponds to Eastbound route, the other to the Westbound route (I believe the 3 is the Westbound in the first case).