Enough seats for everyone

From February 24 to March 26, the Federal Air Transport Agency suspended air links with 12 airports in southern Russia. Now everyone can use road transport and railways. According to 1520International, Russian Railways currently fully meets customer demand for tickets on trains from Anapa, Adler, Novorossiysk, Krasnodar and Belgorod.

Russian Railways’ Deputy General Director Dmitry Pegov reported at a briefing on February 28 that by order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia the company provided 30.5 thousand extra seats in passenger trains on the routes from the South of Russia.

According to Russian Railways, the holding company began organizing additional trains from February 24, gradually increasing their number.

On Sunday, February 27 Russian Railways sent ten extra trains with 6.9 thousand seats and on Monday, February 28, six more trains with 3.6 thousand seats. On March 1 there were some 2.6 thousand additional seats in trains and 1.6 thousand seats on March 2.

On the weekend of March 12 and 13 the holding company organized seven extra trains with 3.5 thousand seats and on Monday and Tuesday (March 14 and 15) five more trains with 2.1 thousand seats. 

"The main destinations for the extra trains are Moscow and St. Petersburg," said Nikolai Kostenko, head of Russian Railways' Passenger Transportation Department.

Today all the southern railway station complexes are operating in an enhanced mode. Russian Railways' management has organized round-the-clock duty of additional personnel at the stations; there is constant monitoring of the number of passengers and their distribution in the waiting rooms; all restrooms and mother and child rooms are open; and the number of consultants at the information terminals has also been increased.

"All tickets are offered for sale promptly, and the prices are fixed. You can keep track of updates on our website JSCo "RZD" and in the "Russian Railways to Passengers" mobile app," notes Nikolai Kostenko.

Currently additional trains are being planned and additional cars are included in scheduled trains in communication with the South of Russia for the March holidays. 

According to Dmitry Pegov, Russian Railways monitors the situation in the cities where there is no air service and will take every effort to maintain seat availability at the proper level.
It should be noted that starting from March 1, against the backdrop of increased demand for tickets, Grand Service Express, a transportation company engaged in railway transportation with the Crimea,  also scheduled an additional daily pair of trains between Simferopol and Moscow. Trains in service with Kaliningrad are in normal operations. According to the current schedule, there are three regular trains: daily Moscow - Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg - Kaliningrad departing 3 times a week, and Adler - Kaliningrad running every other day.

Sergey Volkov