The convenience of buying electronic tickets via the Internet is so great that one can only wonder why there are still queues at the ticket offices at railway stations. However, there are destinations for which it is really better to buy tickets at the box office.
Advantages of online purchase of railway tickets
To purchase the necessary tickets at the box office, you not only need to get to the station, but also stand in a queue, often considerable. If there are no suitable tickets or there are several transfer options, you cannot be sure that the cashier will select the best route for you. It happens that cashiers are completely wrong and write out tickets for the wrong dates. Of course, passengers themselves sometimes make mistakes when buying tickets on the Internet.
Buying tickets online can save you both time and hassle. Despite the fact that the Russian Railways website does not always work correctly (problems were especially frequent at first), it is still getting better, and its functioning is more stable.
Such an important point as the cost of tickets does not differ at all when buying at the box office or online, the main thing is to make a purchase using the official website of the Russian railways.
How to buy a ticket online
To purchase a ticket, you need to go to the rzd.ru website and select all the necessary parameters for your route there. It is important to remember that you can pay for an online purchase only with a bank card, therefore, if you do not have one, you will have to buy a ticket at a regular ticket office. True, in the modern world there are few people who do not have a plastic card.
Before buying, you will need to register on the Russian Railways website, then you will have a personal account in which you can manage all your trips, register for them, and so on.
During the purchase, you will need to enter the card number, the name of the holder and the CVV / CVC code, which is located on the other side of the card. On the website you will see a bank card scheme, by which you can easily determine where this code is located on the card, even if you have not made purchases on the Internet before.
After purchasing an electronic ticket, it is important to click at the end of the button "Electronic check-in", if available. One click of the mouse will save you a lot of further worries. When you enter the train, you only need to give your ticket number or just say your last name and show your passport. But if you do not, then before departure you will need to get a paper ticket at the station ticket office.
When you need a paper ticket
There are flights for which, for some reason, electronic check-in is not available (the site will warn you about this several times upon purchase). Such tickets must be obtained at the box office, even if you bought and paid for them on the Internet.
Usually, there are no problems with electronic registration on domestic flights, as long as you use Russian Railways trains, and not foreign ones (for example, Kazakhstani, Ukrainian and others). If you are traveling to the CIS countries, then your ticket must be with you in paper form. Do not forget to also get a return ticket at the box office, since no one will issue paper tickets for Russian Railways trains outside of Russia.
There are self-check-in machines at train stations, where you can also get a paper ticket by entering its number. In this case, it is sometimes easier to buy a ticket at the box office, and not on the Internet, because then you still have to get a paper one.
