Double decker train. Double-decker railcars

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 a model range of two-story passenger cars locomotive traction - compartment, NE 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;
• coupe for people with handicapped and a wheelchair lift (in the 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 sockets (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-decker 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 place in double-decker train- only 2075 rubles, which is comparable to the price of a reserved seat in a one-story apartment. 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 car, 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.

In principle, if you choose the lower seats, 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. :-)

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. From June 1, smoking on trains long distance forbidden, but some bad passengers dug holes for 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 me with height 182cm length bed it 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 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're bored, you can try to use 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 other day I was traveling from Moscow to Kazan in a new double-decker train. Russian Railways has several such trains. They mainly run between Moscow and Sochi, but they also go to Kazan. It was interesting to ride. By the way, the price for it is cheaper than in a regular coupe.

So, in this composition there is no reserved seat. Only coupe and St. Since the carriages are double-decker, it is logical that passenger seats there is more in one car than in an ordinary, one-story car. Accordingly, the price should be lower. Let's see.

1. Russian Railways now new system pricing. If, for example, you watch tickets for this train, then on Friday it will be more expensive than on Monday or another weekday:

2. This is how the diagram of a double-decker car looks like on the Russian Railways website. You can choose a seat when buying a ticket:

3. On the platform of the Kazan station, the train looks, to put it mildly, unusual. In aviation terms, this squad wears the Olympic livery. Launched it to Olympic Games in Sochi:

4. We pass into the car:

5. Working space of conductors. Here, as in the old carriages, there is boiling water. There is no boiling water on the second floor:

7. At the entrance on the left there is a staircase to the second floor, exactly the same on the other side of the car. Just below the first floor compartment.

8. Since I had a ticket on the second floor, the photos will be mostly from there. The first one is exactly the same. We rise to the second floor. A mirror has been installed so as not to collide with other passengers. Trash box under the mirror:

9. Second floor corridor. There are no sockets in the corridor, because there are two of them in each compartment:

10. Coupes are opened with magnetic cards. For some reason, these cards were not handed out in our car. Perhaps because the travel time to Kazan is only 1 night:

11. I was driving in the last compartment on the second floor. One:

12. The coupe is a little cramped. This is felt due to the fact that the distance between the top shelf and the ceiling is almost the same as in the reserved seat between the passenger shelf and the luggage shelf. Well, maybe a little more:

13. For that, everything below is like in a regular compartment. The same volume. Not at all cramped. Sockets at each lower shelf, very convenient:

14. Probably the biggest disadvantage of double-decker cars is the lack of an upper luggage rack as in a regular compartment. There simply wasn't enough space. All luggage must be placed under the lower shelves:

15. There is also not much space below. There was also some kind of metal casing in my compartment. I suspect that not all compartments have it, and accordingly there is more space for luggage:

16. One of the pluses is the mattress recessed into the shelf. Now you do not need to constantly adjust your bed, which treacherously rolled down from its place in the old compartments:

17. There is a mirror on the inside of the door, as before:

18. Electronic lock. There is also a regular, mechanical one:

19. Let's go down to the first floor and see the toilets:

20. Bio toilets. Does not close at stations. There are 3 of them per car and are located in only one place. They are located at the opposite end of the car from the conductor.

21. Actually the toilet itself. Everything is clean, while new and nice:

23. It looks like a vestibule with toilets and a staircase is not the second floor:

22. And this is the conductor's compartment. By the way, you probably know that smoking on trains is now prohibited. Conductors legally sell electronic cigarettes for 250 rubles/pc. You can smoke them right in the corridor:

23. If in old cars the inter-car space was closed and air was walking there, then in new cars it is practically hermetic. You can't smoke here anymore. In addition, the doors open automatically when the button is pressed and cannot be closed from the inside:

24. This is the platform of Kazan:

That's all for now. See my next. It is also two stories.

Remarkably, just a few days ago I had the pleasure of the famous which goes from London. The contrast is very high, I hope you will appreciate it soon. While I'm working on the footage.

Double decker buses or double deckers are calling card London and about them are known by those who have not even been to the capital of Foggy Albion. What is known about double-decker trains? They can be found on the railway lines of most countries, and in Russia such transport was put into operation on the eve of the Sochi Olympics. The first was launched on the Moscow-Adler route, since then there have been more of them, they are mainly occupied on long-distance routes.

About double-decker trains

A double-decker passenger car is not an invention of the future, as they were invented at the beginning of the 20th century. at the Tver Carriage Works. They were designed to carry passengers Far East, but only the 2nd floor was used for people, and livestock was transported on the 1st. They did not stay in operation for long and for the whole 50 years they forgot about multi-storey railway transport.

Khrushchev repeatedly tried to revive a 2-story train during the Soviet era. These attempts were unsuccessful and such wagons were not used en masse. Only with the onset of the XXI century. in Russia, they began to produce double-deck trains, which were developed and produced at the same Tver Carriage Works.

A trip in such a car is almost no different from traveling in an ordinary one-story car, and in terms of safety it meets the required standards. Although in some of the countries they have abandoned the use of multi-storey passenger cars, since it is technically difficult to maintain them.

Double-decker train - general view

Characteristics of double-decker trains

A double-decker long-distance train consists of the following elements:

• compartment cars with a capacity of 64 people each;
• one SV carriage for 30 seats;
• staff car for 50 seats;
• dining car for 44 people (1st floor - bar, 2nd floor - dining room).

The development of domestic double deckers was carried out with the involvement of French specialists, and the assembly is carried out entirely at the Tver plant. The trains are capable of accelerating to a maximum of 160 km/h, and are driven by the EP20 electric locomotive. Designed specifically as a locomotive for multi-storey cars, it operates on direct or alternating current.

If we compare the dimensions of an ordinary and a 2-story carriage, it turns out that the latter does not differ much from its “little brother”: new wagon became only half a meter taller, and weighs 8 tons more. These are not such big numbers, considering that the bunk passenger train almost 2 times more spacious. The task of the designers was to create a "train of the future" for a large passenger flow, and at the same time, he had to move around the existing ones without any problems. railway lines. What was done for this? The center beam was modernized, making it more compact. In addition, I had to sacrifice the upper niches for luggage. Stabilizers protect the upper car from pitching.

Scheme of a two-story compartment car Russian Railways

Russian double-decker trains

Russian Railways put the first double-deck cars into circulation in 2013; by 2020, it is planned to provide all routes with the highest load with branded cars with 2 floors. What know-how is used in such wagons? Here are the most basic ones that cannot be found in ordinary cars:

• You can get into the compartment only with the help of a magnetic card, which is issued to each passenger individually. This guarantees the safety of luggage if a person needs to leave for a while.
• Each car has two sockets.
• The entrance to the car is automated, opens with a button.
• There are three dry closets in each car, which are open all the time. And they differ in terms of comfort, inside there is a socket, disposable toilet pads, a large mirror, liquid soap, paper towels and toilet paper.
• The cars are equipped with a unified climate control and air conditioning system.
• The staircase to the second floor is equipped with lighting and viewing glass to see those who are climbing.
• Carriage transitions are completely tight.
• For people with disabilities, there is a compartment (in a staff car), a lift for boarding transport and a toilet.
• The GLONASS system is installed in the staff car, thanks to which satellite Internet is available throughout the route.
• The train is equipped with a special control system, which is conducted from the staff car.
• Each car has an electronic scoreboard with general information(car number, time, temperature, etc.).
• The carriages are equipped with a small utility room, where there is a cooler with water, a coffee machine, a microwave. In some CB cars, you can even find a shower and an iron with an ironing board.
• Separate waste bin for glass, plastic and food waste.

Boarding a disabled person in a car

Additional Information! The price includes RZD branded bed linen, hot water for tea. You also get a dry ration (cake, muffin, nutrition bar, tea bags and a bottle of water) and a hygiene bag ( wet wipe, toothbrush, hygiene products, disposable slippers). These sets may vary slightly depending on different routes. But the cost of travel in futuristic trains is different, and significantly. The earlier the ticket is booked, the cheaper it will cost. If you need to go on holidays or weekends, then you will have to pay more.

coupe

At first glance, the compartment in such a train looks like an ordinary one, and only upon closer examination it becomes clear that there are differences. The distance to the ceiling on the upper shelves has become smaller, but this is not felt during sleep. But for the upper passengers, they added a couple of details that will make their trip easier: a limiter on the edge of the bed and a retractable step-ladder to make it more convenient to climb up.

Previously, all people, without exception, were annoyed by a radio station that could not be turned off; in double-decker trains of Russian Railways, each passenger can turn off the broadcast for himself. Each shelf also has hooks and hangers for clothes, a shelf for personal belongings, individual adjustable lighting.

Coupe. Inside view

Headquarters compartment car

In the headquarters compartment car there is a compartment for the head of the train, a control room, a control panel for security systems and climate control. In addition, this carriage is equipped with a compartment for wheelchair users. Its area is larger than that of a conventional compartment, inside there are: a lower shelf with an adjustable back, an upper shelf for an attendant, a place for a wheelchair, a table, a folding seat.

On a note! To facilitate the journey on the train for people with disabilities, the carriage has a convenient location for an automated lift, a toilet for wheelchair passengers, and the compartment has a button to call the conductor. All inscriptions are duplicated in Braille (for the blind).

SV-car

As in many trains, the 2-storey branded train has a high-comfort SV-car. The price of a ticket in such a carriage is much higher, but the passenger receives the following advantages: there are only two passenger compartments in each compartment. lower places, and in addition to a grocery dry ration, the ticket price includes two meals a day.

dining car

The "Restaurant on Wheels" is located in car 8, so passengers who want to have lunch during the trip need to buy tickets closer to this car in order to make fewer transitions. On the ground floor there is a kitchen, utility rooms and a small bar, but on the second floor there is a restaurant itself, designed for 44 visitors.

dining car

The color scheme of the interior of the restaurant car is designed in blue and pastel colors, in accordance with the overall color scheme of the entire train. From the pleasant - a decent menu, freshly prepared food and quite democratic, as for a dining car, prices.

Double decker train routes

By 2018 double-decker train branded Russian Railways launched on the following routes:

• Rostov - Adler No. 642/641: departure from Rostov at 20:55, arrival in Adler at 8:21. On the way 11 hours 26 minutes.
• Moscow - Kislovodsk No. 003/004: departure from Moscow 08:22, arrival in Kislovodsk at 08:28. On the way 23 hours 54 minutes.
• Moscow - Kazan No. 23/24: departure from Moscow at 23:08, arrival in Kazan at 10:45. On the way 11 hours 35 minutes.
• Moscow - St. Petersburg No. 5/6, No. 7/8: departure of train No. 5/6 from Moscow at 22:50, arrival in St. Petersburg at 6:47; departure of train No. 7/8 from Moscow at 21:50, arrival in St. Petersburg at 6:06. On average, the journey takes about 7 hours.
• Moscow - Adler No. 103/104: departure from Moscow at 10:00, arrives in Adler in 24 hours.
• Moscow - Voronezh No. 738/737 (with seats): departure from Moscow at 16:52, arrival in Voronezh at 23:12. On the way 6 hours 30 minutes.
• Moscow - Samara No. 49/50: departure from Moscow at 18:10, arrival in Samara at 9:45. On the way 15 hours 35 minutes.
• St. Petersburg - Adler No. 35/36: departure from St. Petersburg at 20:27, arrival Adler at 10:11. On the way 37 hours 44 minutes.
• Moscow - Voronezh No. 740Zh / 739Zh: departure from Moscow at 8:14, arrival in Voronezh at 14:34. On the way 6 hours 20 minutes.

The schedule and directions of trains are given for informational purposes, as they may be subject to change, so you should find out the current information on the official website of Russian Railways.

Train on the way

Features of double-decker trains: pros and cons

Thousands of Russians and tourists have already taken the opportunity to ride in a double-decker train, and they are on own experience appreciated the benefits of such a trip. Mostly almost everyone singled out the following advantages:

• unusual and interesting appearance;
• convenient layout of the car;
• comfort and cleanliness;
• sockets, WI-FI, magnetic key cards;
• reduction of travel time;
• increased sound insulation and the absence of "shaking" on the second floor;
• dry closets that the conductor does not close in the sanitary zone.

Although not without drawbacks, these include the following observations:

• too few guides - two for 64 passengers;
• the steps are steep, difficult to lift luggage;
• the upper luggage rack disappeared;
• there are few toilets - one for 21 people, in ordinary ones one for 18 people;
• there is a pitching on the second floor;
• low ceilings;
• windows are inconveniently located;
• lack of satellite internet.

Boarding the train

All reviews are contradictory and in order to form your own opinion about Russian double deckers, you need to “know the whole kitchen from the inside”, that is, choose one of the routes and ride this miracle of the 21st century yourself.

Double-decker trains are slowly becoming a familiar part of the interior of railway stations and cease to amaze passengers. However, the day may not be far off when the Russian Railway decides to surprise once again and put a three-story train on the rails?