Rail bus RA-1 with a diesel engineThe train is an electric train. Swallow and Sapsan, in theory, trains, but they are long-distance trains (and Swallow is also a suburban). Therefore, when we speak about an electric train, we usually mean a commuter train with a ticket without fixing seats. That is where you can stand. But not all of this set of electric trains, because there are rail buses, railcars and diesel trains - for example, between stations Krivandino and Ryazanovka just goes RA-1.
There are trains with places, but this is the average between a regular train and a train. There are usually all the benefits of commuter trains. But at the same time a ticket is sold to places through the cashier, as to the far one.
There are electric trains with luxury cars: you get on an electric train and you can get into a special car, pay the fee right inside the train. There you can sleep in fresh linen or sit in a softer and larger chair. For example, in some trains on the Gorky Railway.
At which station to buy a ticket?
It is assumed that you buy a ticket at the station, where you start your journey, and then show it to the controller on the way or to the turnstile at the arrival station. For this they let you into the city.
However, it is far from advantageous at every station to keep a cashier with a cashier, provide collection and so on. Therefore, it so happened that at many stations cashier banal was not. It was assumed that you buy a ticket from the controller in the train or at the station of arrival, and then leave. The obvious vulnerability of this method is if you sat down at the station without a ticket office 100 kilometers from Moscow and the controller did not notice you, then you can buy a ticket from the station at the arrival station 20 kilometers from Moscow, where there is no ticket office either. Prices will be different.
What to do if you sat at the station with a cashier, but without a turnstile? For example, did not have time to buy a ticket or did not take it for other reasons. Also buy from the controller or at the train station of arrival, but at the same time, carriers officially charge a service fee - for the service that helped you buy a ticket on the road. Usually it is 100-200 rubles. That is, it’s like a small fine for not buying a ticket.
Accordingly, the passengers began to en masse to sit on the train at their stations without tickets and try to sniff from the controller to the nearest station without a ticket office. The result was a discount for the trip (if it caught it - from the station without a ticket office, the ticket is sold without a service charge) or an even larger “discount” if it was possible to hold out to the nearest station without a ticket office to the final destination.
When there were too many such hackers, the controllers changed tactics and began to ask the passengers of the neighbors when he entered. “Let me not believe you” is a typical situation when the controller wants to sell you a service charge for 200 rubles. You can swing your rights for some time, but the testimony will still be an important argument. A colleague told a story.
Once I had to go from 43rd to 33rd kilometer, I got into the car, almost immediately the controllers came up. And there the ticket office did not work. Controller:
- You did not sit there!
I:
- Well, ask others what sat down.
They thought and said:
- We will come to you after the 33rd kilometer, we will visit.
Maybe they came, but I already left.
However, while one passenger is indignant, the rest run away from the car. Waves of migration of “hares” and “semi-hares” can be observed in almost any direction.
The next round of thought - you need to reduce the number of stations where there is no cash. Accordingly, they began to put ticket printing machines. If there is no automaton, then another turn of thought - it is necessary to give the passenger a ticket at the entrance to the platform, that he really was there. That is, you take a ticket at your station without a ticket office, get on the train and drive. The controller comes up, says: "But I think that you are coming from the farthest station, I still remember your sly smile there." You take the coupon out of your pocket and say: "But no, nice man, get out of here peacefully." He sells you a ticket without collecting and goes peacefully from here. The problem is that the legality of such coupons is incomprehensible. In the rules of transportation it is written: either a payment terminal or a cash desk. Talonov there yet. Therefore, it is possible to argue, but it is better to do everything correctly.
This system of service charges creates strange situations. One of them - for example, if a pensioner, a labor veteran, was traveling along the route Dmitrov - Savyolovsky station, he has a free ticket. It must be issued at the ticket office at the departure station, if there is no ticket office, then at the controller or at the arrival station ticket office. If you accidentally drive through a stop (in our example, drive past Savyolovsky Station and get to Belorussky), then you can fly 200 rubles - because the ticket is still free, but there will be a charge.
In general, if you honestly buy a ticket, then you don’t need to think about it. If everyone had always bought tickets, then they would not need to have turnstiles, pay controllers' salaries, and the cost of tickets could be lower for everyone. I traveled by train in Germany and Sweden - for all the time I have not met a single controller, although they say they are there. And in Finland, if I am not mistaken, a similar system in the subway (without turnstiles). In Russia, while driving from Zhukovsky to Moscow, 2-3 times a ticket was checked, the controller already knows in person who sat where and checks the tickets only from the newly logged in.
Differences in electric train cars
The first question is what is the difference with the metro? As a rule, in the method of removal of current, but not always. Electric trains also go underground, but we do not call them electric trains. The contact rail is not a defining sign of the metro (there is a metro with a different catering service, and there are also underground trams). Usually, a suburban electric train in Moscow removes the current with a pantograph, and the electric train of the subway - with a contact rail.
By the way, a carriage with a pantograph ("horns") differs from a regular carriage by noise. The current collector and related equipment are buzzing, and therefore a little quieter ride in cars without pantographs. Although, of course, in some areas there is no particular choice.
There are different seats. The most comfortable ones are in the Sapsan electric train (but this is a special case). And in Swallows, not all, of course, but there are some:
But the "wooden" cars are also good. The fact is that in the carriages with wooden seats the distance between the edges of the seats is greater and there it is much easier to sit more freely.
Unfortunately, to lie in the train with comfort will not work - just with legs crossed and if there are very few passengers. Although here in India even buses are with upper shelves for lying, almost like in our reserved seats, only with curtains.
And the train is not always a train at different stations. There are hybrid express trains: for example, Vladimir - Moscow in the section Zheleznodorozhnaya - Moscow. When the train leaves, it is, simplifying, the express with the provision of seats (commuter train) and tickets are taken at the train ticket office, landing without a turnstile, other standards. But in this direction, electric trains go to Moscow full of chops, and the train goes underloaded - not all the places are redeemed. Therefore, from one of the medium stations it is sold as an electric train, that is, from the ticket office of suburban trains and just before departure, and put through a turnstile. On travel cards like Sputnik (in fast trains) you can also sit down. It turns out that, on the one hand, the inconvenience of the big does not bring anyone, because it is only 30–40 minutes from Zheleznodorozhny. On the other hand, new passengers do not pretend to sit down, in this direction there are 40 people in the vestibule.
There is another type of car. Tickets are sold as a long-distance train, the carriage travels as part of a long-distance train, then uncouples and goes further like a suburban train. For example, on the October Railway in the north there is such a route St. Petersburg - Sukkozero - Lendery.
The composition and length of the platform
The normal composition of the Moscow region - 11 cars in an electric train. Nevertheless, even 14-car trains can go to popular destinations, because all sufferers do not fit into an ordinary train.
Historically, platforms in our main areas were made for 12 cars, because this number is optimal in terms of payload ratio, traction parameters and maneuvering complexity. In general, this is a magic constant that was once really very, very good (within the power of the then substations, the Soviet passenger traffic, and so on), and now it is a bit outdated. However, there was a period when dual “dacha” electric trains went. For this purpose, at some stopping points, for example in Vykhino, long platforms for 24 cars were built. But this practice was abandoned due to technical difficulties in electricity supply and logistics. Yes, and gardeners have become less to ride the train.
The cars, of course, of different lengths: for example, the total length of a train depends strongly on the width of the tambour of the car and on the type of car. But in the general case - 12 cars per platform plus a pair of meters of stock. The driver stops at the mark and knows that the passengers from the last door of the train will go to the platform and not suddenly break their legs.
When they began to let the long trains, naturally, not all the platforms turned out to be completed instantly. And not all platforms will turn out to be lengthened in principle, therefore, sometimes, on a 14-car train, getting out of the rear two cars will not work. And from the USSR we got several special stations with very short platforms, therefore, the landing there is quite artistic.
Landing past the platform is unacceptable, but in fact it sometimes happens. Someone is jumping. Sometimes the train is served not to the platform (it almost does not occur in the Moscow region), but there are areas where the suburban train is accepted where it is more convenient for the station. It so happened that our platforms are usually coastal, that is, on the side paths. The train on the arrow on the side track is often a complication of its passage through the station. Or here's a familiar situation: at the station on the side track there is a freight train of 50 cars in one direction, on the other side - from 50 cars in another. To pull out such a freight line and drive an electric train into its place - this is also juggling. Therefore, they can apply to the center, and passengers will either have to walk around the entire platform, or climb between the cars, which is prohibited. In winter, generally fun. But! The main thing here is not to complain. Because the typical reaction in this case is that if there are many complaints, then it is generally forbidden to stop until the infrastructure is improved.
If you have more questions on the train - please ask. We have eaten a dog on them, because we have been
doing the most exact schedule since 2003 .