Double-decker train: composition, photos, reviews. Where do double-decker trains run in Russia?

According to the plans of Russian Railways, by 2020, almost all train cars long distance will be replaced by two floors. Their advantages for the only Russian company engaged in passenger rail transportation are obvious. Double-decker cars are almost 2 times more spacious than usual ones, and this allows you to get much more money in one trip. Yes, and the passengers themselves are new unusual houses on wheels will surely seem quite comfortable.

A bit of history

Currently, only two double-decker trains run on the roads of the country: Moscow-Adler and Moscow-St. Petersburg. The cars for both trains were assembled at the Tver plant. Such a design is by no means a modern invention. Such wagons were running on the roads of our country as early as 1905. By the way, they were produced by the same Tver plant. A century later, the management of this enterprise decided to revive the old project. Of course, the new double-deck cars of Russian Railways bear little resemblance to their analogues of the last century. They are made of modern materials and have a more perfect shape. And, of course, there can be no comparison between these two models in terms of the degree of technical equipment.

Differences from conventional wagons

The new trains going from Moscow to Adler and St. Petersburg have one more interesting feature. Types passenger cars Russian Railways are different - these are reserved seat, general, SV, KB, etc. Two-story ones are compartments. There is no reserved seat, no SV here. Tickets for such a carriage are not too expensive. You will have to pay a little more for the trip than for a reserved seat on a regular train.

The features of double-decker carriages, which are unusual for domestic travelers, include the presence of a compartment and toilets intended for the disabled, a bar (in addition to a restaurant), and magnetic cards for opening/closing the compartment. Lovers to spend free time on the Internet, you will certainly like the availability on trains free wifi and sockets for 220 V near each lower bed. The double-decker carriages of Russian Railways look very modern and quite stylish inside.

Conductor compartment

In addition to the standard sink, there is a microwave, a thermopot and a coffee machine. If you wish, you can ask the conductor to warm up the food taken with you or order coffee. The control panel no longer flashes multi-colored incomprehensible lights. IN double deck cars it is rather similar to those that are in the cabin of the steward in the aircraft. The conductor can regulate the climate in compartments and corridors, as well as administer magnetic access systems. From the same console, the power system of the car is also controlled. Among other things, the conductor's room is equipped with a video surveillance screen. The cameras themselves are installed in the corridors of both floors.

Passenger compartment

In addition to sockets, there is a radio point. You can catch your favorite channels, unlike ordinary trains, on your own. In each compartment, as in the usual composition, there is folding table and four beds. The new double-deck cars of Russian Railways are quite well equipped. However, their passengers will have to experience some inconvenience. For example, there are no third shelves in the compartment for luggage. All suitcases and large bags will have to be placed under the lower bunk. Of course, due to the design features of the cars, the ceilings in the compartment are much lower.

The sleeping berths in double-decker trains are quite long, but still somewhat less comfortable than in conventional trains. First, the windows in the compartment of the double-decker train are very low. Therefore, it will not be possible to lie down, admiring the landscapes passing by. Secondly, because of the low ceilings, there is very little free space on the upper shelves. Sitting with your legs hanging down will not work in any case.

In addition to Wi-Fi and radio, the compartments of double-decker cars are equipped with climate control systems. The doors are equipped with magnetic locks. You can open / close them using a special card. Of course, there is a compartment for passengers and individual lighting.

corridors

A passenger who has just entered a double-decker car will not see anything particularly new (except for the stairs leading upstairs). Outwardly, the corridors are very similar to those that everyone is used to seeing in long-distance trains. There are dry closets on both sides, and a carpet is spread on the floor. The difference is only in the location of the windows (almost at the floor) and lower ceilings. On the second floor there is a mirror in the hallway. It is necessary so that people going up and down the stairs can see each other in order to avoid collisions. On the lower and upper floors, the corridors are made from different sides. Therefore, the double-decker passenger cars of Russian Railways are quite convenient in terms of observing landscapes passing by while driving.

Tambours

It is safer and not as scary to move from car to car in a double-decker train as in a regular train. Passengers will not hear anything rumbling and clanging here. The vestibule doors also do not slam, but close and open automatically by means of a special button. Smoking on double-decker trains is strictly prohibited. Therefore, there are no ashtrays in the vestibules. It is unlikely that you will be able to smoke in the toilet. Control systems are installed here. Passengers who smoke can relax with a cigarette only after getting off the train at the stations.

toilets

Many passengers consider the double-decker carriages of Russian Railways to be quite comfortable for the presence of new, modern bathrooms. In my own way appearance and functionally, they are more like airplane toilets. Stops are not closed on time, which, of course, cannot but rejoice. Each toilet has a comfortable toilet bowl, a neat sink, a mirror and a hand dryer. There is no trash can that opens from above under the window opposite the bathroom in double-decker trains. Instead, several containers are installed. Garbage in them is sorted by type.

dining car

Of course, the passengers of the double-decker train have the opportunity to have a delicious lunch on the way. Actually, the restaurant hall itself with tables and comfortable sofas is located on the second floor of the carriage. On the ground floor there is only a kitchen and a bar. Meals are prepared by highly qualified chefs. They are served up on a special mini-elevator. The second one is exactly the same for lowering dirty dishes down. The cost of meals in the dining car of a double-decker train is quite acceptable for middle-class people. For soup or borsch, for example, you will have to pay about 250 rubles. Non-alcoholic refreshing drinks are available at the bar.

Service

Thus, we have found out how a double-decker passenger train car differs from a regular one. Next, let's see how service in such trains is different from service in ordinary ones. So, the price of a ticket on a double-decker train includes:

• bed sheets;
• dry ration, including yogurt, sausage, tea bag, bun and mineral water;
• magazines, newspapers.

Ticket price

Price travel document depends on when it was purchased. The fewer seats left in the carriages, the more cost tickets. The road from Moscow to St. Petersburg, when buying a travel document the day before the train's departure, will cost about 3,500 rubles.

Places for the disabled

The designers who developed the double-decker cars of Russian Railways also took care of people with handicapped. If necessary, you can get into the car without getting up from the stroller. For this, a special platform is provided at the entrance. A disabled person in a wheelchair simply rides on her, and she lifts him into the car. In addition to special compartments, special wide toilets are also provided for people with disabilities.

Russian Railways double-decker cars: reviews

As you can see, a trip in such a composition will cost a little cheaper travel in a compartment of an ordinary train. In this aspect, passenger reviews of double-decker trains are enthusiastic. Like many and introduced technical improvements. Although Wi-Fi is not available in many places along the route, it is still available in the cars. The ability to listen to your favorite music on the radio is also good news. In general, the Russian Railways double-decker cars are better equipped than even some of the old branded ones.

However, reviews of new formulations are not always so rosy. Of course, double-deck cars also have some disadvantages. Passengers primarily include:

• Service. Since there are more people in a double-decker car than in a regular car, and the number of conductors has not changed, it will take longer to wait, for example, for tea.
• Risk of injury. When moving, a double-decker train sways very strongly. The stairs in the carriages are quite steep.
• Toilets are busy. In an ordinary compartment car there are 2 of them for 36 seats (one for 18 people), in a double-decker - 3 for 64 (1 for 21 people).
• The absence of third shelves, of course, also does not add convenience to the cars.

As you can see, on the one hand, double-decker cars are beneficial for the Russian railways and are quite comfortable for passengers. You will have to pay less for a trip in such a composition. However, passengers of the new trains will still have to experience some discomfort, primarily due to crowding. For clarity, a little higher in the article, a diagram of a double-decker Russian Railways car is presented to your attention.

The cars are produced in Russia at the Tver Carriage Works. So far, only one route is operating, connecting the capital with the resort of Sochi. This year, another 50 double-deck cars will be purchased. They will carry people from Moscow to St. Petersburg and Kazan.

I propose to take a ride together and see what the double-decker train looks like from the inside.

2. The train leaves at 10 am from the Kazan station. Travel time - 25 hours. Note the difference in height compared to a conventional single-deck car.

3. The newest dual-system electric locomotive of the fifth generation, EP20, is leading the train. Can operate on both AC and DC.

4. There is a dynamic pricing system on this route - the more empty seats on the train, the cheaper the fare. There is also a 10% discount when buying 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, then the price will be around 5 thousand rubles.

5. We go inside. Tambour. Doors open with a button and close automatically. The passages between the cars are sealed. Since June 1, smoking has been banned on long-distance trains, but some bad passengers have dug holes in the ashtrays.

7. There are three toilets for each carriage. These are dry closets, 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 cars is the absence of an upper luggage rack. It is also worth bearing in mind that on the top shelf you will not be able to sit upright with your legs dangling. There are places for luggage under the lower shelves.

12. In each compartment on the bottom row there are two sockets. The lighting is fully LED.

13. Coupe from the inside with closed door.

14. The window does not open: the cars have a centralized heating and ventilation system. The power supply of the wagons comes from the locomotive. There is a sliding curtain on the window. Ventilation grilles are located under the window and on the ceiling.

15. We go to the second floor. The steps are illuminated (like in a cinema), there are handrails. On the stairs there is another waste container and a spherical mirror to see in advance the passengers walking towards them.

16. The second floor is completely identical to the first. The difference is only in this small bevel 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 hallway.

17. Upper shelves in a compartment on the second floor. On the ceiling there is a ventilation grill, in the center there is a loudspeaker with volume control. I noticed another interesting point - on the second floor, on each upper shelf, there are two personal lamps. This is probably due to the slope of the roof - not everyone can be comfortable lying with their heads to the window.

18. Everything else is completely identical. Don't know how for quite tall people, but with a height of 182 cm, the length of the bed was enough for me.

19. Each passenger is given a personal hygiene kit, a small food ration and water. Tea and coffee are served, of course, in branded glass holders.

20. While no one was there, I immediately went to the dining car for reconnaissance. The main hall is located on the second floor. By the way, the views out 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 ready meals 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 wagons, it does not matter whether the platform is high or low at the station

23. On the way from Moscow to Voronezh region there was absolutely nothing to see outside the windows. If you are bored, you can try to use the free internet. All carriages have WiFi routers with a connection from Megafon. True, everything depends on the availability of a cellular network, and along the route this is not very good. In fact, more or less stable communication and the Internet were only on the Black Sea coast.

24. At stops you can watch the provincial life.

25. In motion - admire nature.

26. Another stop. Station Rossosh.

27. Not all views can be photographed normally - numerous wires interfere. Sometimes, by the way, it turns out that fewer wires enter the frame from the windows of the first floor than from the second.

28. At 2 am the train should arrive in Rostov-on-Don. Travel time passes unnoticed. Compared to an airplane, the train is much less fussy, more spacious, and there is 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 pictures.

31. The path passes almost close to the water. Definitely the most scenic part of the route.

32. At 10 am the next day I get off at the railway station in Sochi and go to the Strategic Partnership 1520 forum. But more on that in the next part.

As for double-deck cars, they are many times better in terms of equipping ordinary single-deck cars. A little tighter on the top shelf? But there are normal toilets, sockets, internet and everything else.

Have you ridden one like this? How are the impressions?

The first double-decker train appeared in Russia. The double-decker train has already set off on the Moscow-Adler route on November 1.

The passengers of the first flight were journalists and volunteers of the Sochi 2014 Olympics. The time spent by the passengers of the new train on the road will be 25 hours 19 minutes - an hour and a little less than on a conventional train. In the near future, the train will cover the same route in just 22 hours.

Among the advantages of the new train, Russian Railways notes the smooth ride, free Wi-Fi, 3 toilets instead of two in the car, as well as a small savings on tickets. The top shelf in a compartment of a double-decker train will cost 3,206 rubles against 4,530 in a regular train, writes pro-goroda.ru

At first glance, it seems that a double-decker train has only pluses. But observant Internet users have already discussed the innovation from all sides and found a number of disadvantages, which were kept silent by representatives of Russian Railways. A user with the nickname Alexid1 on the yaplakal.com forum clearly described the shortcomings of a double-decker train.

The first disadvantage. Service There are 36 seats in an ordinary compartment car. The new two-story building has 64 seats. You will have to wait longer for service because there are no more guides. There are still two of them. And there are 28 more passengers in a double-decker carriage. Even more than in a reserved seat car, where there are 54 passengers. So tea will be brought more slowly than in the reserved seat. Also, you will have to wait longer to board the car. And you pay like for a regular one-story apartment compartment carriage. We are told that there will be more tickets than on regular trains, but this is also not entirely true. No one will drive extra cars, just if there are fewer passengers for some direction, then the number of cars will be reduced proportionally.

Second disadvantage. stairs Elderly and disabled people will be especially grateful to Russian Railways for the need to carry suitcases to the second floor. Even from the first floor there will be a small staircase to get to the exit. Only one carriage in the entire train will be single-storey. And of course the places in it will be sold out in the first place.

The third disadvantage. Baggage Speaking of suitcases and bags. There is no longer a luggage rack above the entrance to the compartment. Not on the first or second floor. Where to put large luggage for 4 passengers is not clear. Also on this shelf, the conductors usually placed blankets and pillows so as not to occupy the lower shelves. Now they will interfere.

The fourth disadvantage. Ventilation I often travel in compartment cars of branded trains. They are all brand new, but the continuous ventilation only works on one out of five rides. Typically, ventilation is turned on in the evening and turned off at night. I'm not talking about air conditioning, but about a banal influx fresh air. Sealed non-opening windows have been installed in the compartment for a long time, and when 4 passengers are traveling, and the ventilation does not work for several hours in a row, there is simply nothing to breathe. I can’t even imagine how asthmatics and heart patients endure such torture. This gross violation of sanitary standards has been getting away with Russian Railways for many years. In double-decker wagons it will be even harder, because. the volume of the coupe has become significantly smaller, due to the reduced ceiling level and the lack of space where the luggage rack was. You might think that the newest carriages will have ventilation. I doubt it very much, because even in the branded train 01/02 Moscow-Vladivostok, where they use newest wagons with twin toilets at one end of the car, the ventilation is not turned on at all for the whole trip! Many times I quarreled with the conductors - they refer to various technical problems. Thus, the risk of literally suffocating with the ventilation turned off increases even more in a double-decker car. Many people are surprised at how weak they are after a trip on a night train - if there was no headache all night, if there was no ventilation all night, and the air did not meet any sanitary standards!

Fifth disadvantage. toilets Look here. In an ordinary compartment car there are 36 seats and 2 toilets. It turns out 1 toilet for 18 passengers. There are 64 seats and 3 toilets in a double-decker carriage - 1 toilet for 21 passengers. Toilets will be 15% busier. Not the biggest problem, but in this respect it will become a little worse.

Sixth disadvantage. Tambour and smokers Tambour with opposite side the conductor was removed from the compartment altogether. And there is nowhere else to smoke. In theory, this is great. Yes and new law Russia bans smoking on trains. I don't smoke myself and I can't stand the tobacco smoke that enters the corridor from the vestibule to conventional wagons. But the reality in Russia is that many selfish smokers will still want to smoke and will do it in the toilets. And everyone will be forced to poison themselves with tobacco smoke when visiting the toilets. And in the vestibule where the entrance to the car, the conductors do not allow smoking - they often go there themselves and carry out any maintenance of the car systems.

The disadvantage of the seventh. Injury risk More about stairs. Unlike Europe, our railway tracks are not so ideally laid and the cars are not so well thought out in terms of suspension comfort and the cars shake quite a lot while driving. The risk of injury when descending the stairs when you are going to the toilet is very high. Or if you need to bring hot tea or boiling water. Yes, and swing the second floor will be stronger.

The first double-decker cars in Russia were created at the Tver Carriage Works in 1905.
The history of modern Russian double-deck cars began on June 16, 2009. It was then that JSC Russian Railways approved the terms of reference for the model range of double-deck passenger cars locomotive traction- compartment, SV and staff. The project is being implemented by the Tver Carriage Works.

Serial production of double-deck passenger cars began at TVZ in 2011.

On this moment double-decker carriages run on the following routes:

1. Moscow - Kazan as part of branded train No. 23/24 - launch date - June 1, 2015
2. Moscow - St. Petersburg as part of branded train No. 5/6 - launch date - February 1, 2015.
3. Moscow - St. Petersburg as part of branded train No. 7/8 - launch date - February 1, 2016
4. Moscow - Adler as part of branded train No. 103/104 - launch date - October 30, 2013.
5. Moscow - Voronezh as part of branded train No. 45/46 - launch date - July 31, 2015.
6. Moscow - Samara as part of the passenger train No. 49/50 - launch date - December 3, 2015.
7. St. Petersburg - Adler as part of branded train No. 35/36 - launch date - May 28, 2016.
8. Moscow-Yaroslavl - planned to be launched in 2016.

Characteristics of 2-deck cars

Compartment car: 64 beds (instead of 36).

SV car: 30 seats (instead of 18).

Staff compartment car: 50 seats (instead of 18-24).

Restaurant car: 44-48 people in the dining room.

The carriages consist of 4-seater or 2-seater isolated compartments located on 2 floors.

Each compartment has: a table, places for lying, ladders for climbing 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 not more than 100 watts.

In 2-seater compartments (CB) each seat equipped with an LCD display for viewing video programs.

Access to the compartment is carried out on the basis of individual magnetic key cards.

All wagons are equipped with:

• three dry closets that can be used during parking;
• air conditioning and heating systems, which provides a comfortable microclimate;
• energy-saving LED lamps;
• comfortable stairs with handrails;
• a compartment for people with disabilities and a wheelchair lift (in a staff car);
• rigid hermetic inter-car crossings;
• video surveillance system, control system, access control and protection of the passenger train.

Energy is supplied from an electric locomotive, which ensures the environmental friendliness of the train.
The staff car is equipped with satellite communications and navigation equipment (GLONASS).

Advantages of 2-deck cars

• Reducing the cost of travel in compartment and SV carriages by increasing the number of seats in the carriage.
• convenient traffic schedule and the shortest travel time for more passengers;
• environmental friendliness of 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 conventional trains.
• Each compartment is equipped with electrical outlets (two per compartment).

Disadvantages of 2-deck cars

• no luggage rack
• the height of the ceiling in the compartment of a double-decker car is lower than in a single-decker one, so you won’t even be able to sit down on the top shelf.

double decker train pictures

Double storey passenger trains have already received a certain distribution in our country. For example, they can be found on the routes "Moscow - Sochi", "Moscow - Kazan", "Moscow - Samara". Last year, I traveled in such carriages several times, and today I will compare them in detail with one-story branded trains. ..

I'll start with the advantages of a double-decker train. Oddly enough, they are. :-)

Mainly, it is the price of the ticket. at the expense more capacity each car, it is lower than for a similar single-decker train.
For example, let's look at the prices for the train "Moscow - Kazan" on February 2:

If a ticket in a compartment of a one-story branded train No. 002 costs 3672 rubles, then a similar seat in a double-story train costs only 2075 rubles, which is comparable to the price of a reserved seat in a one-story train. Those. for the same money, you can go on a trip in a higher class.
SW in a two-storey building is also cheaper than in a regular one. There is no reserved seat in double-decker trains.

There are other "pros" as well. For example, in the compartment of a double-decker car there are as many as 2 sockets instead of one, and they are located not under the table, but in more accessible places:

You can also note the containers for separate waste collection, which I have not yet seen in single-deck cars:

There is, however, the question of how the garbage is taken out of them: with the preservation of the division or not, and where it goes in the future - I don’t know. But the very fact that people are taught to sort is already a blessing.

And now for the disadvantages. Unfortunately, there are more of them.
Let's start with ease of entry/exit. When you are with luggage or with a baby stroller - this is of no small importance. And here the double-decker train loses to its one-decker counterpart. Even if your ticket is in a compartment on the first floor, when entering the car, you have to go down a few steps, the floor level is lower here:

The passage to the second floor looks like this:

Do not forget that getting out of the car at the end station will most likely take longer, simply due to the fact that the capacity of a standard double-decker car is almost 2 times higher than a similar one-decker car: 64 people instead of 36.

Of course, the height of a double-decker car is not 2 times higher than a single-decker one, but about 1.5. Due to this, passengers have less space to live. The top shelves on the ground floor look like this:

The severity of the problem is not very clear from the photo, so I’ll clarify that an adult cannot sit on the top shelf! There you can only sit or lie down. And climbing onto such a shelf is also extremely difficult, the probability of hitting your head on the ceiling is very high. :-)
In single-deck cars, there are no such problems, and even more so.

And, in my opinion, this is the main drawback of double-decker cars. I don't want anyone to get a ticket with a top seat..

How such a disgrace could appear in a carriage designed and built in the 21st century is beyond me. After all, in single-deck cars there is a convenient panel with a full-length folding top, with several convenient compartments:

Why was it necessary to return to these nets from the Soviet past? Mystery!

A few words about toilets. There are 3 of them in a double-decker car. Of course, bio, i.e. parking lots are closed. But by simple arithmetic operations, we get that in a one-story car there is 1 toilet for 18 passengers (there are 2 of them), and in a two-story car for 21 people. Those. the probability that he will be busy in the morning when you go to brush your teeth is higher in a double-decker train.

There is no traditional "titanium" with boiling water in double-decker cars:

Instead, there is an ordinary, office cooler in the compartment of conductors. Who cares, for me this is also a minus - what kind of romance is now with a cooler? :-)

In double-decker trains, the ticket price does not include hot meals, as in many single-decker branded trains. There are only small sets

So I saw double-decker cars. And in this short review I tried to remain objective as possible.

Ceteris paribus, in the future I will choose single-decker trains, but in the case when I need to save money, I will probably prefer a double-decker compartment car to a single-decker reserved seat. Still, in my youth, I "ate" a reserved seat for many, many years to come. And it seems like Russian Railways plans to eventually abandon reserved seat cars at all - I think this is the right vector of development.

Basically, if you choose lower places, then by and large there is nothing criminally unpleasant in double-decker cars. Yes, they lose in nuances, but someone will be able to make a trip in a compartment instead of a reserved seat for the same money.

P.S. Yes, I almost forgot about one cool and indisputable advantage of a double-decker car - there children can run in circles. Of course, this is much more interesting than back and forth along the corridor in a regular train. :-)