Railway tickets are getting more expensive every day. Meanwhile, if you know economical fares and some subtleties, train travel can be made cheaper.
Choose wagons of the "soft" class
When buying a round-trip ticket, a 15% discount is provided, but this only works if you purchase a ticket at the Russian Railways ticket offices.
If you want to save money, never buy tickets from resellers, as they make their markup.
Buy non-refundable tickets
The government has already approved the introduction of such tickets for rail transport and will soon be on sale. The cost of such a ticket will be 10–20% lower than usual, but it will not be possible to return it either. Thus, the passenger will be able to decide for himself what is more important for him - to save on the fare or keep the opportunity to exchange the ticket. But keep in mind: non-refundable tickets can only be bought for compartment cars and SV.
Pay for your ticket later
If you are running out of money and need to go now, buy a ticket in installments. JSC "RJ" presents such an opportunity. To apply for an installment plan, you need to contact the cashier of the Russian Railways, present a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation and pay 800 rubles (this is a single commission for issuing a credit card).
After that, you will be given an activated credit card, which you use and pay for the ticket. There is no interest for using a credit card for 56 days, that is, if you return the money to the card within this period, it turns out that you bought a ticket by overpaying only the cost of the card. Tickets are sold in installments costing from 1,000 to 25,000 rubles. Interestingly, the credit card can then be used to purchase other goods. However, if you already have a credit card, you shouldn't get a second one. That is, if you need a ticket in installments, you will have to buy it, but when you return the money to the credit card, contact the Vostochny Express bank (partner of Russian Railways), which owns the card, and refuse it.
