Bullet Train to St. Petersburg !!

We just got back from an incredible weekend side trip to Russia's western frontier and 2nd largest City, St. Petersburg... one that is really worthy of a wholly separate blog entry (coming soon) but in the meantime the bullet train we took to get there really deserve its own love.    

Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia's 2 largest cities are separated by only 440 miles.   I use the word "only" because Russia is more than 6,000 miles across at it's widest point from east to west, and also because in the US our two largest cities Los Angeles and New York are separated by more than 2,700 miles.   Having said this, the transportation network between these two big, modern and interdependent cities was not very sophisticated until the introduction of the Sapsan high speed train in late 2009.  Previously, one would have to take a 9 hour overnight train (aboard a very old and rickety train car) or endure a very rough and tumble 9 hour car ride through severely under-maintained highway/roadway system.  Oh, and the only alternative to either of these less than desirable options was to take a risky flight aboard an old Ilushya airline with a less than spotty safety record.

Finally, about 5 years ago the Russian Railways system placed an order with Siemens in Germany to produce 8 super high speed trains capable of going up to 250 KM/Hour (160 mph) with future upgrade potential all the way to 330 KM/Hr (205mph) to to ride on Russia's 1,520mm tracks between Moscow and St. Petersburg.  The new system was completed in late 2009, and has now been operating for 18 months.   The previous 9 hour trip is now slashed to 4 hours.  The old rickety train cages have been replaced with modern, quiet, sharp looking coaches.
 
 
Our trip got off to a stellar start (we got upgraded to 1st class meaning unlimited drinks & food, complimentary slippers and magazines, movies, etc etc) that helped carry us in good spirits all the way through the weekend.   Being an engineer, I thought that I would certainly be the bigger fan of the bullet train but I think Anastasiya, with the extremely quiet ride, comfortable seating, large tables, big picture windows to gaze at her countryside, rapid arrival at our destination, and great service aboard the train, enjoyed the experience ever more so.  I think she's going to push for high speed bullet trains to be deployed all over russia (as well as back home in Los Angeles!)

Here's some photos and a video from our journey below as well as more at this link (fair warning - at this speed everything is blurry) photos: Bullet Train Photos

Video at 230 km/h !

 

 

at this speed - everything is blurry !