Ukraine (UZ)

Country info: Ukraine (Україна)

Rail companies: UZ (Українська Залізниця)

Train Ticket purchase - www.booking.uz.gov.ua

Ukrainian Rail Network Map

Currency: 1 euro = app. 30 Ukrainian Hryvna (UAH) 

 

Train travel in Ukraine: train types, tickets, fares, discounts & other useful info

 

National Train Service:

Train types in Ukraine: City (міський), Suburban (приміський), Regional (регіональний), Regional Express (регіональний експрес), InterCity, InterCity+ & long distance overnight trains (Night Passenger (нічний пасажирський), Night Fast (нічний швидкий), Night Express (нічний експрес))  

uz_dmu

Long distance overnight trains (Passenger, Fast or Express) can also be 'upgraded' & have so-called 'brand', thus making these trains 'Branded Trains' (фірмові потяги). UZ 'branded' trains are easy to recognize since they usually have special train name (e.g. 'Lviv' for Kyiv to Lviv, 'Chornomorets' for Kyiv to Odesa, 'Oberig' for Kyiv to Kharkiv), painted in their own unique livery, have newer carriages & faster travel time compared to other trains on the same route

(Besides the above train categories Ukrainian Railways also have additional international train categories of EuroCity (EC) and EuroNight (EN) trains, although currently niether EC or EN trains are in service)

Types of carriages in UZ trains:

 

Discounts, special offers & ways to save money for passengers traveling by train in Ukraine (UZ):

Although Ukraine is one of the cheapest countries in Europe when it comes to train ticket fares (e.g. passengers can easily travel to/from all the major cities for as low as 5-15 euro using fast daytime train or overnight sleeper train), but still it does not mean that potential passengers have no options when it comes to saving some money. We offer here a few tips on how to make your train journey with UZ even cheaper:

  1. Train type matters: it sounds rather logic when we say that taking regional or suburban train will be cheaper than using InterCity or Night Express. But what to do when cheap regional or suburban trains are not available for long-distance connection or using them will require change(s)? On long distance journeys in Ukraine passengers can save money by giving preference to 'non-branded' Night Passenger or Night Fast trains instead of 'branded' Night Fast & Night Express. Trick is that on many major lines in Ukraine rather often happens that Night Passenger, Night Fast and Night Express trains duplicate the same route (and even travel time isn't that different either), but on the contrary price passenger pays differs a lot (sometimes 3rd class couchette ticket in 'branded' train can cost the same as 2nd class 'kupe' sleeper in ordinary Night Passenger train). To give an example, let's take popular Kyiv to Lviv connection - 'kupe' in the fancy branded 'Lviv' train (# 91/92) making the journey in 7:25 cost roughly around 325 UAH (base price), while with the less fancy # 143 train making the journey between Kyiv and Lviv in 8:30 it's 240 UAH. Why to pay more if you ok sleeping an extra hour on the overnight train?
  2. Day of the week matters: Ukrainian Railways (UZ) differentiates ticket fares depending on the day of the week your trip starts. What it means is that for trains departing on Tuesdays or Wednesdays (off-peak days) passenger pays 10% less, while at the same time for trains departing on Fridays and Sundays (peak days) 10% more. For trains departing on Monday, Thursday & Saturday ticket fare is at the base level. For the daytime InterCity trains (Kyiv to Lviv, Kyiv to Kharkiv, Kyiv to Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv to Odesa) base fare applies for departures on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, 10% discount on Thursdays & Saturdays, while 10% more expensive on Fridays & Sundays.
  3. Period of the year matters: Besides day of the week difference in ticket fares UZ as well has special seasonal coefficients. It means that during 'low-season' periods passenger pays less, while during 'high-season' periods more - same route & same trains, but different ticket price just because it is different day in the calendar, and obviously knowing coefficients table can save passenger some money:  
    uz_local

Train Departure Period

Number of Days

Indexation Coefficient

01.01 - 20.01

20

1,02

21.01 - 31.01

11

0,86

01.02 - 29.02

29

0,95

01.03 - 31.03

31

1,01

01.04 - 27.04

27

1,02

28.04 - 08.05

11

1,03

09.05

1

0,80

10.05 - 31.05

22

1,01

01.06 - 31.08

92

1,07

01.09 - 30.09

30

1,02

01.10 - 24.12

85

0,93

25.12 - 30.12

6

1,10

31.12

1

0,70
uz_fast


International Train Service:

Tariffs for the international tickets used by Ukrainian Railways:

a) Regular discounts

b) Special offers (SparSchiene)

Not available

c) CityStars

 Ukraine-Slovakia, Ukraine-Serbia/Montengro (via Romania, Bulgaria), Ukraine-Bulgaria (via Romania)

 

For passengers planning rail journeys from Ukraine to Russia or Belarus it might be good to know one small trick which can save quite a lot of money. Ticket fares on journeys between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus are calculated with help of 'interstate' (MGPT) tariff that has Swiss Francs as tariff currency, while Ukranian domestic ticket fare is calculated in Ukrainian hryvnia and is way cheaper compared to Swiss Francs based 'interstate' to Russia or Belarus. Thus the 'trick' consists of minimizing leg for which passengers pays using interstate tariff, while maximizing the one for which UZ domestic tariff is applied. 

To give some examples how such 'trick' actually works: for instance Lviv to Moscow 'kupe' ticket (train #74) costs at the moment roughly 3250 UAH (-->huge sum for the train ticket in this part of Europe), but how can we bring down our expenses for the journey? Very simply, first purchase domestic UZ ticket for the same Lviv-Moscow train till the last Ukrainian station before Russian border (in this case it will be Khytir-Mykhailivsky) for 230 UAH, while as next step just buy second ticket (now it will be already 'interstate') from Khytir-Mykhailivsky to Moscow (1820 UAH) for the same train #74 with which you'll arrive from Lviv. It won't be difficult to purchase second ticket even for the same carriage & berth as your first Lviv to Khytir-Mykhailivsky ticket. What we doing here is minimizing interstate ticket leg and maximizing domestic Ukrainian ticket leg, such operation gives us a difference (3250 UAH for direct ticket Lviv-Moscow or 230+1820 UAH for the combination Lviv to Khytir-Mykhailivsky & Khytir-Mykhailivsky to Moscow) of roughly 1200 UAH of saved money. Same 'trick' works with all other connections UZ-RZD/BC where Ukrainian leg is lengthy enough to "break" the ticket (e.g. from Odesa to Minsk with train #94 (direct 'kupe' ticket is 2380 UAH) vs. same train #94 but two tickets - Odesa to Chernigiv (470 UAH) & Chernigiv to Minsk (1060 UAH))

 

How to Buy Train Tickets in Ukraine:

National (domestic) & 'interstate' (to Russia, Belarus, Moldova etc.) tickets can be purchased via UZ website - www.booking.uz.gov.ua

lviv_train_station

Step by Step Guide on How to Purchase Tickets via UZ Online Ticket Shop - europetrainsguide.com/Advice/How-to-Buy-Train-Tickets/Ukraine-UZ.html

 

Do you still have further questions or want to share your own travel experience? You are welcome on our Forum page


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