Russia: Eastward Train Adventures

Photo by Emmanuel Smague

Adventurous Cheapos who love rail travel will find the fledgling projects of Russian State Railways very exciting.

Most ambitious is the newly-announced plan to build a tunnel underneath the Bering Strait to connect Russia with Alaska. If constructed, the rail tunnel will be the longest in the world, at 100 km.

The second glamorous plan of RDZ is to extend the four-day journey from Berlin to Novosibirsk train journey on to Irkutsk, the town nearest Lake Baikal. This projected journey will eventually take five days to complete.

As rail travel in Russia is still good-value, Cheapos may soon find themselves able to cross most of Europe and onwards to one of the jewels of Asia for the price of a low-cost air journey.