Double-decker Russian Railways cars: description, photo. Double-decker trains Russian Railways Double-decker train description
An interesting photo report about a trip on one of the first flights of double-decker trains. Let's look further at how everything is arranged inside such double-decker train cars and read further comments about such a trip.
The test drive of the train began on November 2 at 07:50 Moscow time from the first platform of the Kazan station of the capital.
Was I scared? Very scary, because... They write such things that sometimes it’s almost creepy.
And I’m not too young for such tests-)
The carriages are Russian and made at the Tver Carriage Plant.
My ticket is on the second floor and, who knew, suddenly while driving I would fall somewhere with my things...
I went in and was stunned! My first thought was that I was on the wrong train.
For a second it seemed that I was in Europe and on the Paris-Nice route, and not Moscow-Adler.
Since when did they start making such cars in Russia?
On the eve of the Olympic Games, Tver Carriage Works purchased
50 double-decker cars: 38 compartments, four each of SVs, compartment staff cars and a dining car.
Of these, three trains were formed that will go to Adler with stops in Ryazan,
Voronezh, Rostov, Krasnodar and Sochi.
A ticket to the Coupe cost me 3,206 rubles. Thanks to the increased number of seats
in the carriage it was possible to reduce the cost of travel in compartment and SV carriages.
And here is the coupe in which I have to travel 25 hours and 19 minutes.
It does not have an overhead luggage rack, but my rather large suitcase fit underneath.
The compartment has individual electrical sockets
for charging a mobile phone or laptop. Two pieces!
The fare includes: bed linen, drinking water
along the route, sanitary and hygiene kits and the press.
The whole train is packed to capacity - there are no empty seats. My mischievous neighbor Vova!-)
The car is made to high European standards using new technologies,
equipment and materials - light, clean, comfortable,
Free hygiene kit
You will be surprised, but the ticket price includes packed rations.
I had to “risk” my health and test it. Survived!
Everything turned out to be edible, although I would have replaced the chicken pate-)
Set contents: waffles, crackers, jam, drinking water, pate, mayonnaise, mustard,
sanitary and hygienic set (paper napkin, knife, fork, boat, salt, pepper, sugar, toothpick), sandwich.
And here is the first stop
The train also includes a restaurant car.
On the second floor there is a dining room for 48-50 visitors
The lower tier houses the kitchen and bar.
Have I tested the restaurant's products for myself?
Of course I tested it. For 350 rubles I ordered a business lunch of salad,
first, second, and drink! And most importantly, he survived again!
Let's take a walk on the train
In double compartments (SV), each seat is equipped with an LCD display for viewing video programs.
There is Wi-Fi on the train, but I admit, its speed leaves much to be desired.
You are not blind - separate waste collection is carried out in each carriage!
All carriages are equipped with three dry closets, which can be used during stops.
I read the following statistics from someone. A regular compartment car has 36 seats and 2 toilets.
This turns out to be 1 toilet for 18 passengers. The double-decker carriage has 64 seats and 3 toilets - 1 toilet for 21 passengers.
Allegedly, the toilets will be 15% busier.
I want to object! With three toilets and a full carriage, I never had to wait in line in 25 hours.
There was always one free toilet. The author of the statistics did not take into account that the toilets are open during stops.
Each carriage has a video surveillance system, control system, access control
and security of a passenger train, as well as an air conditioning and heating system,
which provides a comfortable microclimate.
People with disabilities have not been forgotten either.
The train has a special compartment and a wheelchair lift
Landscapes outside the window.
The view is better from the second floor!
The cars have a vibration compensation system,
which will allow passengers not to experience inconvenience when the cars rock.
And photos when moving are clearer)
The sea appeared outside the window - we were approaching Sochi
At each station everyone tries to take a photo as a souvenir with the first double-decker train
Are there any disadvantages? Of course there is, it is the lack of opportunity
regulate the air temperature in a separate compartment
(I saw something similar in Europe in Siemens cars).
Arrived in Adler. Please note the difference in the height of the carriages.
I was met by a dog-)
Very beautiful station
I'll have to say goodbye to the train and tell you about the station
The construction of the station in Adler was carried out in the image and likeness of the popular
worldwide intermodal passenger transport hubs,
where a passenger can not only make a transfer or leave luggage,
but also receive a wide range of additional services - from purchasing the latest press
to hotel service.
The total area of the seven levels of the terminal is almost 30 thousand square meters. m,
capacity exceeds 15 thousand people per hour.
Everything sparkles inside
When will such stations be in Moscow?
The station can accommodate about 2 thousand passengers at a time
The new terminal can serve 56 pairs of long-distance and suburban trains per day,
and on top of that, four Aeroexpress trains can depart and arrive from here every hour.
The station building consists of three parts: parking for 555 cars,
the sea and city parts of the building, as well as the concourse connecting them (the square where several streets converge)
So Yakunin coped with his task on the roads to the Olympics.
The train was impressive. In different ways. I didn’t leave anyone indifferent, that’s for sure. A kind of armored train made of tin foil and with plastic inside. I would like it to be made more carefully, especially since this is the first “exhibition” copy. But maybe everything has its time. And the time for truly beautiful and high-quality trains has not yet come. At least this train is better in every sense than a regular train, with the exception of one important nuance - there is very, very little space for luggage in the compartment. But first things first.
Externally, the train looks a little gloomy. Gray bunker on wheels.
2.
Maximum speed 160km/h. It would be very interesting to ride it at such a speed. 
3.
The locomotive is ordinary. It is lower than the carriages and it looks unaesthetic (I had no desire to specifically show this, but you can see this difference a little better).
I think some kind of fairing between the locomotive and the carriage would improve the appearance. And in general, the locomotive needs to match such a train, at least in color. 
4.
Clearly something is missing in the design of the carriages. Yes, it’s cheaper, but it still looks ugly. 
5.
Let's get into the carriage. 
6.
7.
8.
It looks nicer from the inside than from the outside. 
9.
10.
This is a regular coupe. The ceiling is unusually low. And there is clearly not enough space under the lower luggage racks. Only a small photo case would fit there in height, but a large one would not fit. In general, it is designed for travelers with small suitcases. And it is advisable that there should be no more than 1 small suitcase per person, otherwise there will be nowhere to put your luggage. 
11.
12.
Actually, it's nice. 
13.
14.
Let's look at the 2nd floor. 
15.
16.
The compartment is on the 1st floor. 
17.
18.
19.
Toilet on the 1st floor. Quite neat, not like the old trains. True, there is not much ventilation there, and there are no windows. And very stuffy. However, the entire carriage was very stuffy. Maybe the air will be fresher while driving. On the other hand, remembering the old trains, it is impossible not to shudder - there is generally a gas chamber there in the summer. 
20.
While we were examining the carriages from the inside, the official part of the event took place outside. 
21.
Then they started handing out gift calendars. At first there was just a crush. And then it almost turned into a real fight. I felt sorry for the worker handing out calendars and ashamed for the people pushing and snatching calendars greedily, as if it were an unprecedented value without which they could not live. 
22.
23.
Here, a little later, it was possible to forge gift commemorative coins. 
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
There are places for disabled people on the train. More precisely, 1 place for 1 disabled person. But everything seems to have been thought out. There is even a lift. 
29.
30.
31.
This is the lift, as seen from the carriage. 
32.
Compartment for a disabled person and an accompanying person. 
33.
It's the same from a different angle. 
34.
The toilet is quite spacious, with special grab bars. 
35.
There is a shower. 
36.
And this is the compartment of the SV carriage. 
37.
38.
There is even an ironing board. There is another shower in the background. 
39.
We are in the dining car. On the 1st floor. There is a bar, a kitchen and office space. 
40.
41.
42.
43.
Let's look into the service room in the dining car. 
44.
45.
Refrigerator. 
46.
The restaurant itself is located on the second floor. 
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
The impression from the train is twofold. It seems to be clearly better than the old trains. But it doesn’t cause delight either.
The last time I traveled by train was 2 years ago from Moscow to Donetsk, before that the last time I traveled was 5 years ago, and somehow I didn’t notice much difference with my childhood memories (as a child, every summer we rode to my grandmother and back, so the memories very clearly etched in my memory) - a cramped compartment, it’s blowing from the window, it’s either cold or hot in the compartment, a dirty table, vintage mattresses, for which you first need to take linen from the conductor and then hand it in (a separate quest and entertainment). It’s scary to go out into the vestibule, not to mention walk between the cars, and what is it worth waiting in line for the toilet next to the trash can, which was invariably overflowing by the end of the journey? And the dirty toilet that you couldn’t use at bus stops?
But when I was offered to go to St. Petersburg and back by train, curiosity overcame fear. It turned out to be very tempting to go from the center of Moscow straight to the center of St. Petersburg simply by sleeping at night. It's faster by plane, and sometimes it's the same price as by train, but you have to remember that you have to get to and from the airport, arrive an hour before boarding... in short, it's not the most comfortable option for relatively close distances. There was also the extreme option of going by car, but I would have to drive 800 km alone at night after a work week, without hope of sleeping in the next couple of days. So the train seemed the most reasonable and convenient way, and it was interesting to remember the sensations of the sound of wheels and the landscapes passing by outside the window.
The most unusual thing that appeared on the railway during the time I did not use their services was double-decker cars. They launched about a year ago. Now there are two trains - to Adler and to St. Petersburg, both from Moscow.
The double-decker carriage was designed to carry 64 people, and was packed to the gills with cheerful Chinese citizen tourists. We enter the carriage - it is light and clean, there is an even row of compartment doors. Do you remember when trains used to have reclining seats in the corridors in compartment cars? There are no such chairs here. There is a staircase leading to the second floor and externally the corridor of the first floor is no different from the corridor of the second.
The compartments themselves have also undergone significant changes, perhaps only the layout remains the same as before, only now the shelves in the compartment are immediately filled with linen.
Do you remember how you left the compartment one by one, allowing your neighbors to get the mattress? Cover everything, while trying to prevent dust from flying in all directions and not touching anyone with your hands? Now you can go straight to bed without unnecessary movements.
It also seemed to me that the shelves had become longer - at least this time my legs did not rest against the wall. visually there is definitely no more space here than in a regular coupe. The air conditioner was working. The windows have double glazed windows, “goodbye to drafts.” But there is another side to this - if the air conditioner breaks down, there is a chance it will boil, the windows will not open. Two sockets “the joy of an iPhone”, right in the compartment. Lamps, a mirror, the table is covered with a clean tablecloth, there are hangers It is stated that a travel set of bath amenities is included in the price, but I was too lazy to go to the conductor to get it. 
The toilet is practically a masterpiece. And this is not sarcasm. The most important thing is that you can use it at any time. It’s clean, quite spacious (although there isn’t that romantic window on the right whose handle was so convenient to hold on to), there are napkins and soap, and an almost nanotechnological flush button. There are three such toilets in a double-decker carriage (compared to a reserved seat carriage, there are more toilets per person per person, and fewer than a compartment carriage). The vestibule next to the toilets widens a little, so several people can stand quite comfortably while waiting their turn - it’s funny that they thought of this. And the display in the carriage displays the “toilet status”, meaning whether it is occupied or not. Very comfortably. True, it was possible to go further and make such an indicator right in the compartment, so that there would be no need to get up from the shelf. 
A separate entertainment is the passage between the cars. No scary accordions with a shaking floor and flashing sleepers and dirty vestibules. Now there are cheerful orange doors with silver corrugation, a hard floor, it’s quiet and not scary at all. I remember that panicky childhood fear when I had to walk between the cars - I was incredibly scared to fall through, and it was just dark and very, very noisy. Now the doors between the cars open at the press of a button with a quiet pneumatic sound, and close completely automatically, allowing you to move unhindered towards your intended goal (but smokers will suffer - there is absolutely no place to kill a cigarette here.) 
I had a goal. I don’t remember ever being in a restaurant carriage, so out of ethnographic and research interest I decided to go. The dining car also has two floors, the restaurant itself is on the second, utility rooms and a bar are on the first. They say the food is delicious and not very expensive relative to Moscow prices, but it was late, I didn’t want to eat and wanted to sleep, so after taking a couple of shots I preferred to go to bed. 
One of the nice perks is that the double-decker train has WiFi, although there is a suspicion that it simply works through a modem from a cellular operator: that is, when there is a cellular connection, there is also the Internet. And when the train rushes in the wilderness, and the base stations are tens of kilometers away, it is not there. 
I was traveling from St. Petersburg to Moscow in a two-story car (number 006). In St. Petersburg, I ended up on another train, a single-decker one (No. 004 “Express,” as it says on the ticket). Almost everything is the same there - clean, quiet, good toilet, but no wifi and one socket per compartment. But I was amazed that the passengers were offered a light dinner - in the compartment there were boxes of water, cookies and yogurt right on the table, and the conductor asked what we wanted for breakfast (there was a choice of three dishes - porridge, cheesecakes, pancakes) and in the morning she brought it - it was shock! For the first time on the train we were given normal hot food (free of charge). 
True, I had to pay 30 rubles for tea in a branded glass holder. I wonder, by the way, is this a way for the conductors to earn tips for themselves, or is breakfast and dinner really included in the ticket price on this train, and tea is an additional fee? In this case, “where is the check??”? But the price of tickets on this train is higher than on the “two-story” one. 
By the way, Russian Railways now has a flexible pricing system on some trains, almost like on airplanes - the greater the demand (the fewer seats left on the train), the more expensive it is.
Here's an estimate of the prices in a week (I suspect that this is not very far from the possible minimum): 
A compartment with a double-decker carriage departing “tomorrow” will cost more than 3,000 rubles (if the seats are sold out - and they are usually all sold out).
According to my impressions, Russian Railways has made quite a big step forward in terms of developing the quality of service and comfort, but it is not without its peculiarities. I’ll say right away that I have no complaints at all about the carriage of the branded train - everything was very cool there (though without wifi). But here are a couple of comments about the double-decker carriage:
1. Stairs - for older people and those with heavy suitcases, it is better to immediately choose seats on the first floor
2. Claustrophobia - for those who do not really like confined spaces and low ceilings, it is better not to take the upper seats on the second floor. The ceiling there is slightly sloping towards the window, and hangs very low above your head.
3. Space for luggage. I fully admit that we were somehow unlucky and had a special compartment (farthest towards the stairs), but under the bottom bunk there was some kind of metal technical box that took up almost all the space. So we barely managed to fit in my backpack (the size of hand luggage on an airplane) and Tanya’s suitcase (not much larger). I can’t even imagine what people will do with large bags, baby strollers, skis, bicycles, because there is no “third shelf” on which all this was stuffed in the old carriages. I really hope that somewhere there is a luggage compartment that can be used if necessary. If you have a lot of luggage, it is better to take another train.
4. Poor conductors. The carriage became double-decker, the number of passengers doubled (compared to a regular compartment carriage), and there were still two conductors. The conductor honestly told us that if we need something (tea or something else), then it’s better to go to him right away, and not wait for him to bring it, because it will take him several hours to serve fifty Chinese.
The first double-decker cars in Russia were created at the Tver Carriage Works back in 1905.
The history of modern Russian double-decker cars began on June 16, 2009. It was then that Russian Railways OJSC approved the technical specifications for the model range of locomotive-hauled double-decker passenger cars - compartment, SV and staff. The project is being implemented by the Tver Carriage Works.
Serial production of double-decker passenger cars began at TVZ in 2011.
At the moment, double-decker cars run on the following routes:
- Moscow - Kazan as part of the branded train No. 23/24 - launch date - June 1, 2015.
- Moscow - St. Petersburg as part of the branded train No. 5/6 - launch date - February 1, 2015.
- Moscow - St. Petersburg as part of the branded train No. 7/8 - launch date - February 1, 2016.
- Moscow - Adler as part of the branded train No. 103/104 - launch date - October 30, 2013.
- Moscow - Voronezh as part of the branded train No. 45/46 - launch date - July 31, 2015.
- Moscow - Samara as part of passenger train No. 49/50 - launch date - December 3, 2015.
- St. Petersburg - Adler as part of the branded train No. 35/36 - launch date - May 28, 2016.
- Moscow-Yaroslavl - planned to launch in 2016.
Characteristics of 2-decker cars
Compartment carriage: 64 berths (instead of 36).
SV carriage: 30 seats (instead of 18).
Staff compartment car: 50 seats (instead of 18-24).
Dining car: 44-48 people in the dining room.
The carriages consist of 4-seater or 2-seater insulated compartments located on 2 floors.
Each compartment has: a table, places to lie, stairs for climbing to the top place, mirrors, lamps, shelves for small things. The compartments are glazed with double-glazed windows.
The compartments are equipped with 2 sockets for connecting electric shavers, mobile and other devices with a power of no more than 100 W.
In 2-seater compartments (SV), each seat is equipped with an LCD display for viewing video programs.
Access to compartments is based on individual magnetic key cards.
All carriages are equipped with:
- three dry closets that can be used during stops;
- air conditioning and heating systems, which ensure a comfortable microclimate;
- energy-saving LED lamps;
- comfortable stairs with handrails;
- compartment for people with disabilities and a wheelchair lift (in the staff car);
- rigid sealed inter-car passages;
- video surveillance system, control system, access control and security of a passenger train.
The energy supply is provided by an electric locomotive, which ensures that the train is environmentally friendly.
The staff car is equipped with satellite communications and navigation equipment (GLONASS).
Advantages of 2-decker cars
- Reducing the cost of travel in compartment and SV carriages by increasing the number of seats in the carriage.
- convenient schedule and shortest travel time for a larger number of passengers;
- environmentally friendly operation (cars are created using new technologies, equipment and materials).
- The composition has become more comfortable for people with disabilities. They have a number of amenities that are not available on regular trains.
- Each compartment is equipped with electrical outlets (two per compartment).
Disadvantages of 2-decker cars
- no luggage rack
- The ceiling height in the compartment of a double-decker car is lower than in a single-decker, so you won’t even be able to sit on the top bunk.
Double decker train photos
New double-decker passenger trains began operating on the Moscow–Adler route in November, on the eve of the Olympic Games in Sochi. Despite the fact that the train has been used on this route for almost a year, it still attracts the attention of others. Moreover, there are radically opposite reviews about the two-story building - from quite positive to quite critical. I also had the opportunity to travel on this train. One of the important advantages of a double-decker carriage is its increased passenger capacity, which allowed Russian Railways to reduce fares. A standard double-decker compartment carriage has 64 berths (16 compartments), while a regular carriage has only 36 (9 compartments).
The cars are produced in Russia at the Tver Carriage Plant. So far, only one route is operating, connecting the capital with the resort Sochi. This year, another 50 double-decker cars will be purchased. They will transport people from Moscow to St. Petersburg and Kazan.
I suggest we take a ride together and see what a double-decker train looks like from the inside.
2. The train leaves at 10 am from the Kazansky station. Travel time is 25 hours. Note the difference in height compared to a regular single-deck carriage.
3. The train is driven by the latest dual-system electric locomotive of the fifth generation - EP20. Can operate on both alternating and direct current.
4. This route has a dynamic pricing system - the more empty seats on the train, the cheaper the fare. There is also a 10% discount when purchasing round trip tickets. I bought a ticket 2 days before departure at a price of 8 thousand rubles. If you buy at least a week before the trip, the price will be around 5 thousand rubles.
5. Let's go inside. Tambour. The doors open with a button and close automatically. Transitions between cars are sealed. Since June 1, smoking has been prohibited on long-distance trains, but some bad passengers have poked holes in the ashtrays.
7. There are three toilets for each carriage. These are dry toilets, and you can use them at any time, including at bus stops.
9. Passage on the first floor. The ceiling height is just over 2 meters.
10. To lock the door in the compartment there are magnetic cards.
11. General view of the compartment on the first floor. The main difference from conventional single-deck carriages is the absence of an upper luggage rack. It’s also worth keeping in mind that you won’t be able to sit upright on the top bunk with your legs dangling. There are spaces for luggage under the lower shelves.
12. In each compartment there are two sockets on the bottom row. The lighting is entirely LED.
13. Inside of a compartment with the door closed.
14. The window does not open: the carriages have a centralized heating and ventilation system. The power supply for the cars comes from the locomotive. There is a sliding curtain on the window. Ventilation grilles are located under the window and on the ceiling.
15. Let's go to the second floor. The steps are illuminated (like in a movie theater), and there are handrails. On the stairs there is another trash container and a spherical mirror to see passengers coming towards you in advance.
16. The second floor is completely identical to the first. The only difference is this small slope of the roof. And the windows are below the waist, and you have to bend over if you want to admire the scenery from the corridor.
17. Upper shelves in the compartment on the second floor. There is a ventilation grille on the ceiling and a speaker with volume control in the center. Another interesting point I noticed is that on the second floor there are two personal lamps on each top shelf. This is probably due to the slope of the roof - not everyone may be comfortable lying with their head towards the window.
18. The rest is completely identical. I don’t know how it is for very tall people, but with my height of 182 cm, the length of the sleeping place was enough.
19. Each passenger is given a personal hygiene kit, a small food ration and water. Tea and coffee are served, of course, in branded cup holders.
20. While no one was there, I went straight to the dining car to investigate. The main hall is on the second floor. By the way, the views from the window on the second floor are better.
21. On the lower floor there is a small bar and the kitchen itself. And to lift prepared dishes upstairs, two small elevators are used.
22. On the way, the train makes several stops lasting from 5 to 15 minutes. All smoking passengers run outside at the first opportunity. For carriages, it does not matter whether the platform at the station is high or low
23. On the way from Moscow to the Voronezh region there was absolutely nothing to see outside the windows. If you're bored, you can try to use the free Internet. All carriages have WiFi routers with connections from Megafon. True, everything depends on the availability of a cellular network, and this is not very good along the route. In fact, more or less stable communications and the Internet were only on the Black Sea coast.
24. At stops you can observe provincial life.
25. In motion - admire nature.
26. Another stop. Rossosh station.
27. Not all views can be photographed properly - numerous wires get in the way. Sometimes, by the way, it turns out that fewer wires come into the frame from the windows of the first floor than from the second.
28. At 2 o’clock in the morning the train should arrive in Rostov-on-Don. Travel time passes unnoticed. Compared to an airplane, the train is much less hectic, more spacious, and gives you time to work. But this is not two hours on an iron bird.
29. In the morning the train leaves for the coast.
30. Vacationers look with interest at the double-decker train. Many people take photographs.
31. The path runs almost close to the water. Definitely the most picturesque part of the route.
32. At 10 am the next day I get off at the station in Sochi and go to the “Strategic Partnership 1520” forum. But more on that in the next part.
As for double-decker cars, they are many times better equipped than conventional single-decker ones. A little tighter on the top shelf? But there are normal toilets, sockets, internet and everything else.
Have you ridden one of these? How are your impressions?