Learn about our brand-new Sapsan trains and what it is like to ride them.

200 years ago, if you wanted to travel from Moscow to St. Petersburg it would mean a two day journey over snow and hills. Today, this trip has been cut to merely four hours thanks to the new high-speed Sapsan Trains.

Named for the mythical Russian firebird, the Sapsan Trains travel at a top speed of 200km/hr. German engineers from Siemens unveiled this traveling marvel in 2009, offering to the world the smoothness of an airport tram with the speed of a commercial jet in the neat package of a stable train. It is fast without being too fast, never being uncomfortable in its pace.

Sapsans provide all the luxuries of a modern-day train. Large cushioned chairs with far more space than a commercial jet liner fill both first and second class, while first class also comes equipped with WiFi and slightly more legroom. Second class, though, costs half as much as first and provides just as much comfort.

Following suit of most modern transportation systems, Sapsan offers automatic check-in. You can book your seat online and board the train simply by showing the attendant the passport number you used to place your reservation. The friendly attendants keep the trains impeccably clean and well-maintained, and take care of any luggage that may need special storage in the reserved units of each car.

The Russian Railway Ministry's goal is to implement Sapsans into new routes all over Russia, cutting travel time and increasing travel luxury. If this is indeed the future of Russian rail transportation, it is a future we want to be a part of.

Layout: click on the carriage (train car) number to open they layout in a new window:

Carriage 1 - Carriage - 2 - Carriage 3 - Carriage 4 - Carriage 5

Carriage 6 - Carriage 7 - Carriage 8 - Carriage 9 - Carriage 10