Ukraine-UZ

 

Step by Step Guide to Buying Train Tickets in Ukraine

 

Recently Ukrainian Railways (UZ) developed new ticket booking system, it is not very complicated to deal with and, what is more important, finally have working English interface, but still there are few tricky things to be aware of while buying Ukrainian train tickets. That is why we present here our short step by step guide on how to purchase tickets for trains in Ukraine (& from Ukraine to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova)

In many cases passengers just have to buy train tickets in advance, since most of the long-distance trains require compulsory seat/bed reservation and tend to be pretty busy, especially during 'peak' periods, as result if passenger didn't purchase necessary train ticket in advance, tickets might be sold out once trying to buy them right before departure 

1) Open UZ Ticket Booking page, it will look like this --->

 

2) Next just enter destinations (though remember that UZ uses transliteration of names from Ukrainian, so it will be about Kyiv (and not Kiev), Lviv (and not Lvov) 

Once you've entered the destinations you need just click big blue button 'Search for Trains'

 

3) And list of trains with available tickets will appear --->

Trains in the list might be a transit one, so from/to might differ from you entered, nevertheless departure & arrival times are always for the route you need. Take a look at the trains available

 

4) After you've decided dep/arr you like, it's time to choose seat/bed category --->

With UZ sleeper trains letter 'П' stands for open compartment couchette coach, letter 'K' for 4 bed 'closed' compartment (2nd class) & 'Л' for 'Luxe' 2 bed 1st class sleeper. With daytime InterCity & other daytime trains 'C1' stands for 1st class seating coach, 'C2' - 2nd class & 'C3'- 3rd class

Once you've made a decision click blue button 'Choose' on the right from seat/bed category

 

5) Now you'll see actual scheme with carriages & free bed/seats to choose from --->

On the top level it is possible to select carriage that has free seat/beds (number of the later indicated next to it carriage number), while on the carriage scheme below all the free seat/beds will be highlighted and available for selection

 

6) On the next page it is possible to select ticket details --->

Tick 'Buy' box (a), that way you will purchase your train ticket right a way (while 'Book' in UZ terminology means that you reserve (paying just small reservation fee) ticket & in certain amount of time (few days) will need to visit UZ ticket counter and pay for reserved ticket). Next tick 'Full' box (b), meaning that full standard fare ticket and 'Bed Linen'(c) to include bed linen distributed by conductor during the journey (in case you travel during day time and only for a few hours it might make sense not to buy bed linen, in that case don't tick the box) in the price of your ticket. And finally enter name & surname of the passenger traveling, check the price (in Ukrainian gryvna) and click 'Add to Cart' button

 

7) Following order details page will should look like this --->

First of all make sure you've checked all the details of your journey (route, date, train/carriage/seat number, ticket fare). For ticket payment UZ gives clients 15 minutes, so mind the time. If everything is correct then click blue 'Pay' button

8) Before you can actually pay for your ticket, you'll be asked to enter your email (ticket reservation number will be mail to this email) and tick the box that you agree with Ticket Shop rules & Ticket offer

 

9) On the next page you'll once again confirm you desire to purchase ticket --->

 

10) And finally you will be redirected to UkrExim Bank webpage for the actual payment --->

For some reason the page is in Russian (hopefully will be in English at some point), but it is standard one, so really easy to navigate and pay. Just enter all the card details and click 'Оплатить' (Pay) button

Once the transaction went OK, you should receive your order immediately. It will look like this (if you choose 'Buy' at step 6, then yours is 'Order form to print the paid documents', if 'Book'(=reserve) - 'Order form to purchase travel documents' with indicated time until when you should buy out your reserved ticket)

With payed tickets (option 'Buy') you need to present received 16 digit/letter code (either printed order form or simply code on a piece of paper) to UZ ticket counter where your ticket(s) will be printed for free. With reserved tickets (option 'Book') you again will need to visit tickets counter and pay full price of the ticket