Transporting bike from Irkutsk to St Petersburg
 

Planning trip to Mongolia for June/July 2016, planning to ride to Mongolia then on to a rally in Sweden. (Originally was going to fly bike back to UK but now have a chance to continue on to a rally in Sweden)


Has anyone used the Trans Siberian railway from Irkutsk to either Moscow or St Petersburg to transport themselves and a bike.


As looking at the map I can then ride to Tallin and catch the ferry to Stockholm which I have done before. Does it also means I will have to get a multi entry visa for Russia as my planned route into Mongolia is via Turkey, Georgia ,Kazakhstan and Russia.


Any help or advice would be great.

Yes ... and no. I transported my bike from Moscow to Irkutsk by rail in early July. The cost was about 22,000 roubles, plus 2,000 roubles for the crate (though I may have been given a discounted price for that). My own advice would be to break the journey and travel on a different train. A local transport company should be able to sort you out a crate and deliver the bike to the rail depot. You must be sure to empty the tank (as close as possible) of fuel. It's illegal to carry more than the bare minimum on a train ... and the railway staff will check (by rocking the crate and tapping the tank to listen for any sound of swishing fuel).

Don't know anything specific about St. Petersburg, but the process will be the same. All pretty straightforward. I went with a Russian friend to deliver the bike to the rail depot in Moscow, and they asked me when I wanted it to arrive in Irkutsk. I allowed myself an extra couple of days to break my journey, then went to the station and booked myself a sleeper compartment. I chose to travel 2nd class, in a 4-berth 'kupe', rather than 3rd class, which is quite crowded and cramped (and the berths are shorter/narrower). My two tickets (one from Moscow to Omsk, and one from Omsk to Irkutsk) amounted to about 18000 roubles.

Tip: if you aren't particularly young and agile, make sure you book a lower berth. They are a bit more expensive, but you have to be an athlete/contortionist to get into the top ones!

Tip: Avoid using the station ticket office unless you speak Russian or have a Russian friend to help. If you are travelling on your own, you can book online using an English-language version of the official RZD site: Passengers.

Tip: The whole Russian railway network operates on Moscow time - even in Irkutsk, i.e. you will need to add 5 hours to the time shown on the ticket to calculate the departure time.



Hope this will prove helpful.

Please read this:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...re-train-71580

If you plan to enter Russia from Kazakhstan this might be good to know:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ase-read-58589

Thanks mrsroynie that is really helpful especially the tip about the lower bunk as I am well over 21 and not as athletic as I used to be!.lol

Another option would be to put the bike on a truck and fly to Moscow. In my opinion sitting on the train for several days is boring and a waste of time that could be spent enjoying Moscow, which is an awesome city.

I've used this trucking company three times now: Транспортная компания ПЭК - грузоперевозки, доставка и отправка грузов |Транспортные услуги по перевозке грузов

This summer they shipped my bike to/from Almaty from Moscow. They charged 25k rubles to Almaty but only 18k from Almaty (presumably because there is less cargo going to Moscow than from Moscow). Takes 10-14 days by truck from Almaty, probably a few days less from Irkutsk.

Hello motoreiter.

Do you know if this Russian company ships bikes from UlanBator also?
I'm doing now some research...

Thanks
Cristian / Bob

They do not, they only transport within Russia and to Almaty, but they have offices all over Russia, here is a list (in Russian, but also viewable on a map):
Адреса отделений

But they do ship to/from Ulan Ude, which is only a day's ride from UB (I did this in 2013). I've fixed my previous post, which said that they shipped my bike to Bishkek, actually they shipped it to Almaty, and I rode to Bishkek.

Like I said, I've used them three times, they are pretty good--you show up to their office/warehouse, and they crate the bike and wrap it in plastic, and off it goes. Then you pick it up at their warehouse in the destination city. IIRC, their Moscow office is open 24 hours a day. My bike is currently enroute back from Almaty, will post if any problems emerge upon receipt.

Ok, thank you. I have a friend who's in Mongolia right now.

Cristian

Hi Bob
When are you planning to be in UlanBator?, if same time might get a better deal for 2 bikes

Cheers for that, will look into it, how long does the train normally take from Irkutsk to Moscow?

Forget exactly how long, but I think four days. Four very long days.

Motoreiter knows far more about these things than I do, but I would caution against using road transport for bikes in Russia. We sent our bikes from Mariinsk to Moscow by road, and they arrived in a shocking state. It's possible that this was down to the people who built the crates, rather than the truck company, but you should bear in mind that the roads in Russia can be extremely uneven and are constantly under repair, so bikes have to be expertly packed to prevent damage. As it was, both our bikes arrived at the Moscow depot looking as if they had spent most of the journey on their sides! Roynie had quite a lot of superficial damage to his (broken indicators, missing bar end weights, broken heated grips, missing headlight protector ...). The crate of mine was completely smashed. The bike didn't appear to have suffered too much, but needed a new battery, as the electrolyte had drained out of it - presumably after being tipped on its side.

Also, shipping by truck will be much slower. Our bikes took 10 days from Mariinsk to Moscow, whereas the train journey would have been 3. You don't have to travel with the bikes on the train. There, I would agree with motoreiter. Indeed, why not fly?!

I don't know the mileage from Moscow to Almaty, but 25k roubles isn't cheap, when you consider that Moscow to Irkutsk cost 22,300k by train.

I've shipped my bike three times by truck (actually six times including there and back) and have never had this kind of problem. You just need a reputable shipper; I gave the link for the one that I've used all three times.

The crates they've built every time makes it pretty much impossible for the bikes to tip over, indeed it is kind of a chore to uncrate them at the end.

I agree that trucking takes longer than train.

Hallo,

what about Car shipping on this route? (Tynda or so - Moscow). It is possible?
We have big wxpwdition car (Ford Bronco). 3000kg of weight, 5400mm long, 2200mm wide and 2300mmm high. It is possible? We want to make trip to Magadan and then it is tooooo long back to Europe

But boat shipping is quite expensive...

thanks a lot for informations!!!

Martin & Susana

FB: www.facebook.com/bronconamiestohotela