Train ticket booking time. How to buy an electronic train ticket? Step-by-step instruction. When traveling on domestic Russian trains

Hello, friends! Not long ago I needed to urgently travel from Moscow to Voronezh. Time was simply running out. And I took the risk of breaking the old tradition (I always bought tickets only at the railway station ticket offices) and booked a train ticket via the Internet.

The procedure for booking train tickets online, purchasing them and receiving them includes several stages. I will describe everything in order and tell you how I did it.

What is an electronic ticket?

First of all, a little about what it is - e-ticket(or e-ticket).

This is the same ticket as a regular travel document, but in electronic form, confirming that a transportation agreement has been concluded between the passenger and the railway company. The main difference between an electronic ticket is that it is not issued on paper and all information about it is stored in the carrier’s database.

So, in order to buy an electronic train ticket, we need a computer, the Internet, a bank card, passport data and, perhaps, a printer (the latter is desirable, but not necessary). Next, we perform a few simple steps... And we get the desired result, namely, an electronic train ticket.

Step 1. Registration on the Russian Railways website

Naturally, before you start buying a ticket, you need to register on the Russian Railways website.

Ticket.rzd.ru – The official website of Russian Railways, designed for ordering and purchasing train tickets online.

We go to this site and register. To do this, fill out a form in which you indicate your login, password, personal data (last name, first name, patronymic), telephone number, your email address, age and gender.

After completing registration, you can then log in to the site using your username and password.

After this we move on to the next stage.

Step 2. Select route and date

Go to the “Purchase tickets” section. We enter the departure station and destination station into the proposed form.

You don't have to enter the full name of the stations, since the station search directory contains a complete list of them.

Since we can order an electronic ticket 45 days in advance, we find the desired date in this interval, select the date and click the “buy” button.

From the presented number of options, we choose the train that suits us in all respects (departure time, travel time, ticket price, availability of seats, arrival time).

The route we have chosen appears on the screen, indicating the categories of cars.

The table provides information on the availability of free seats and their cost for each type of carriage and class of service.

Of all the types of cars presented, you need to choose the most suitable option.

I needed a reserved seat carriage that would have a sufficient number of lower shelves (since this was very important for me).

And, in order to finally make my choice, I looked at the seat diagram in the selected carriage.

I chose a reserved seat carriage, which had only 2 free lower seats, since there wasn’t much to choose from (I bought tickets two days before departure), with payment for bed linen and indicating the boundaries of the desired seats.

I think that if tickets were booked in advance, there would be much more choice.

Step 5. Enter passenger information

On the same page you need to indicate your personal data (last name, first name, patronymic) and enter your passport details.

The passport number is entered without spaces.

If you need multiple tickets, you can order tickets for up to 3 more people in the “passenger information” table, not including you. To do this, click on the “Add” button and fill out all the fields.

Fill out information about children in the same way. Only when entering data on a birth certificate, the first letter is always Latin, then you type the text in Cyrillic. The fare is also indicated here - full, child without a seat, child.

Step 6. Passenger data verification

We check whether the passenger data (passport details, last name, first name, patronymic), train information and departure date are entered correctly.

A check mark is placed at the bottom indicating that the passenger is familiar with the rules for issuing, paying and returning a travel document.

Step 7. Checking the order

Before completing the order and paying for it, we check again and confirm all the information and correctness of filling. After payment for the order, no changes can be made. We are shown the amount to pay and the seat number. If everything is satisfactory, the order must be paid within 10 minutes.

How to pay for an e-ticket?

I did this using a MasterCard bank card. You can also use cards such as Visa, Visa Electron, Maestro.

Payment is made through the TransCreditBank payment gateway. To do this, you need to enter the bank card details in the form provided within 10 minutes: the name of the card owner in Latin, card number, card expiration date. This information can be found on the front of your card.

On the back side there is a three-digit card authentication code on the white stripe (CVV2 for Visa bank cards and CVC2 for MasterCard cards). This code is also entered in the appropriate field. If the card does not have such numbers, then you cannot pay with such a card. We confirm, and after that a message comes saying that the payment was successful.

I paid with a Sberbank card, so the bank asked me to request a one-time password for authorization.

And after receiving the password, payment confirmation is sent to your phone.

How to get an e-ticket?

After payment, the order appears in the “my orders” column. You can see it there, open it, print the order form, copy it to your tablet or mobile phone, or write down the order number, consisting of 14 digits.

Without this number, you will not be able to issue a travel ticket, since the order form itself does not give the right to travel. It requires a boarding pass, which can be obtained electronically if you undergo electronic check-in.

But not all trains allow you to register electronically when purchasing a ticket online. In this case, you need to exchange the electronic ticket control coupon for travel documents. You can do this at the self-service terminal or at the ticket office about 30-60 minutes before the train departs.

I used the first method and issued my boarding pass electronically. In practice, this means that when boarding the train, I only had to show the conductor my passport, which I used to purchase the ticket.

Russian Railways rules allow you to purchase tickets for long-distance trains 45 days before the travel date, and for some trains - 60 days. At the Bilet123 agency you can leave a request for early booking of tickets more than 60 days in advance.

When does it become necessary to book train tickets early?

Early booking of train tickets is a popular and relevant service for several reasons:

• During the holiday season, there is often a shortage of tickets. On popular destinations they can be sold out literally 15 minutes after the sale opens. Of course, the most profitable and convenient offers end first. The early booking service allows the operator of the Bely Most company to purchase travel documents immediately after the opening of sales.
• Russian Railways has switched to dynamic pricing. This means a system in which the closer the train's departure date and the fewer empty seats there are, the higher the ticket price. The early booking service means that the passenger is guaranteed to be able to buy a ticket at the lowest price. Not to mention that he will get the best seats.
• Thanks to the early booking service for railway tickets, you have the opportunity to plan your trip in advance without worrying about not having time to buy a ticket. Our operators will contact you the day before the opening of sales to remind you about the purchase, and then carry it out. From our clients we need passport data of passengers and information about the date of travel, route and class of travel.

How does early booking work?

Our website provides a convenient form for ordering tickets. Here you can choose the optimal route and travel date. If ticket sales are not yet open, the system automatically prompts you to submit an early booking request. Here you can select the desired train, class and number of seats. If you have found a suitable train, the system will prompt you to enter your passport details. After completing the application, our operator will contact you to confirm the order and clarify the details. The day before the opening of sales, the operator will contact you again to remind you and clarify whether your plans have changed. If all these issues are agreed upon, we will buy the reserved tickets at the time of opening of sales and send a courier to a place and time convenient for you.

You can use the early booking service for railway tickets absolutely free. This is much more convenient than all other methods of purchasing train tickets!

The times when booking tickets for long-distance trains had to stand in huge queues at ticket offices are gone. Today, passengers can choose whether to book tickets traditionally, by phone or online. By booking tickets using one of these methods, you can select the desired dates and routes in advance and not worry about the fact that when the time of travel arrives, tickets will not be available for sale.

Booking tickets for long-distance trains is carried out on many online services that offer passengers convenient search forms, selection of desired destinations and various payment methods: from bank cards, Internet banking, electronic money to payment through post offices. You can use the Russian Railways website or any other services, such as Tutu (dot) ru, E-poezd (dot) ru and other similar ones.

Procedure for booking train tickets online

Most often, the official Russian Railways website is used to book tickets.

Using his example, we will consider all stages of this process. To start booking tickets on the Russian Railways website, you need to register by creating a login and password to enter the system, filling in your full name, email address and contact phone number. After logging into your personal account, you need to select the ticket purchase section, which is available only to authorized users.

The following steps are followed:

• the route and departure date are selected;
• the most suitable train based on travel time is selected from the proposed list of trains;
• the type of carriage is selected - luxury, coupe, reserved seat. For ease of choice, next to the type of carriage, the cost of tickets and the number of available seats are indicated;
• the necessary criteria for the place are selected - the boundaries of the places, upper or lower;
• The full name and data of the passenger are entered, the correctness of their filling is checked - depending on the type of identification document, an abbreviation is selected, PN - passport, SR - birth certificate, ZP - international passport, VB - military ID, etc.;
• select the desired tariff;
• payment for the ticket is carried out - payment is made according to the standard scheme, according to the bank card number.

You must pay for the ticket 10-15 minutes in advance, during which the reservation will be valid. During this time, the selected tickets will not be available to other people.

After payment, all that remains is to receive an electronic ticket, which can be found in the “My Orders” section, printed out on a printer, or received by number at the railway ticket office.

If a ticket is marked with the “ER” sign, this means an electronic registration system, in which a printed ticket is not required at all, and when boarding a carriage, it will be enough to present a passport.

Thus, the choice of tickets is simple and clear, and the procedure itself takes a minimum amount of time.

To date, an updated test version of the portal has been developed, on which purchasing tickets will be even easier, with fewer steps.

On other sites, when booking tickets, the procedure is identical; the difference may lie in some functions and available payment methods.

Most online booking and ticketing services charge a fee for their services, but it is usually small. For an additional fee, some services offer home delivery of tickets. Other additional functions, such as providing discounts to regular customers, paying for tickets in installments, depend on the imagination of service workers.

How to book a Russian Railways train ticket without instant payment

You can book tickets without instant payment using some online services that can be easily found in search engines.

Tickets are purchased within a strictly limited time, in accordance with the terms of the services - on average, booking time is about one day.

There are services that provide this service for a longer period.

There are certain days throughout the year when the usual number of trains to transport passengers is not enough and there is a shortage of tickets. These are the days before the New Year holidays (December 26-30), pre-holiday days before February 23 and March 8, May holidays, June 12, November 4. It is also quite difficult to buy good tickets (especially return tickets) for trains to resort destinations from May to August. JSC Russian Railways is aware of this situation and is adding additional trains. Everyone is also well aware that ticket sales begin 90 days in advance. However, even these measures often do not make it possible to buy normal tickets.

The fact is that exactly 90 days in advance, at eight o’clock in the morning, ticket sales open. Thousands of passengers line up at ticket offices and order tickets online. Naturally, someone in such a queue is first, and someone is not. This also applies to ordering tickets via the Internet, since operators cannot call dozens of passengers simultaneously at eight in the morning when sales begin.

However, now site visitors have the opportunity to solve the long-standing problem of ticket shortages during the holidays!

How to buy good tickets using the site

Please note that you can purchase electronic tickets. The difference between them and regular ones is that you pay for them immediately, without leaving your computer, and you can get them at any ticket office right before the train departs. An unobvious consequence of the emergence of the ability to order electronic tickets was the emergence of the ability to buy tickets exactly at 8.00, i.e. at the time of opening of sales. Now you don’t need to wait for your turn (whether it’s the line at the station ticket office or the operator’s call) - you just need to prepare in advance and buy good tickets at eight o’clock in the morning.

Procedure for purchasing electronic tickets

1. Be prepared to pay for tickets in advance

Ordered electronic tickets will need to be paid immediately by bank cards or online money. If you do not make payment immediately, the reservation will be canceled and your good tickets will go to others. Therefore, make sure in advance that you have either Internet money (Webmoney, Yandex-money) or a bank card issued by a Russian bank. If you have neither one nor the other, you can proceed as follows. Internet money can be bought in many places where Webmoney and Yandex-money replenishment cards are sold. The list of these places is indicated on the websites of payment systems. If you want to get a card, contact the bank. The card is usually issued no earlier than two weeks after submitting the application. Some tickets can be paid in cash at Euroset or through instant payment terminals.

2. Practice ordering electronic tickets in advance

In order not to waste precious time on an important day, try working with the page http://site/kupit_elektronnye_bilety (where electronic tickets are sold) in advance. Find the train you need there, see how the order is placed, how seats are selected, and what data will be required from you. Read the background information so you don’t waste time on it on the day of purchase. You can even book any tickets - if you do not pay for them, the reservation will be automatically canceled after some time.

If you are going to pay for tickets with a bank card, read the detailed instructions on how to do this. And it would be very advisable to authorize the card in advance and receive a payment password if you don’t already have one. To do this, select any tickets, enter your card details and go to step 9 of the instructions. And in step 9, instead of clicking the “continue” button and thereby buying unnecessary training tickets, click the “return” button. In this case, the order will be canceled, the money for the tickets will not be debited from you, and the card will already be activated. And on the desired day you will not have to go through the authorization procedure - just enter the recorded payment password and that’s it.

3. Buy the tickets you need at 8.00

On the billing day, 90 days before the train departure date (you can determine it here), at 8.00 am, go to the page for purchasing electronic train tickets and issue them. Once your tickets are booked, read the payment instructions carefully (you may even want to print the page to make it easier). And pay for the tickets. They need to be paid as soon as possible, i.e. immediately - otherwise the reservation will be canceled and you will not receive tickets. After payment, be sure to write down your order number - you will receive travel documents using it.

4. Complete electronic registration

When purchasing tickets, please indicate that you would like to register electronically. In this case, you will not need to receive tickets. You can board the train simply by showing your passport to the conductor.

5. Or get tickets at the station

Electronic tickets are issued at the station at any ticket office upon presentation of the order number (see clause 3) and the passport of the passenger receiving the tickets. You can get tickets in advance (at least on the day of purchase), or right before the train departs. Just factor into your plan the time it takes to get tickets - there may be a queue at the box office. The cashier will give you regular tickets, which are no different from those you are used to seeing when ordering them in the usual way. You can also print tickets yourself at ticket printing terminals. But there may be a short queue for them.