Booking time for Ukrainian and Romania Trains.

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

I hope you don't mind me making this into a super-thread for my trip? But I have some questions about the Moldova and Romania leg, if I may?

Sure, why not )))

I would like to travel by train from Chisinau to Iasi, on a Thursday. How accurate is the Moldovan Railways site? It states that a train runs every day (105, the Chisinau to Bucharest train), from 16:56 - 22:21. Do you have any feeling if this info is right, or more or less right at least?

It looks a bit weird indeed, but if one knows how to use it, then it's possible to extract all the necessary info. Regarding the overnighter Chisinau-Iasi-Bucharest info is correct, it's basically a flagship train for Moldova Railways.

I assume that I will be able to buy some sort of ticket a day or two before?

Actually it's possible to purchase ticket even online on their website (however the interface is either in Moldavian/Romanian or Russian). Since this train is kind of expensive option for locals (frequent minibuses & buses are much cheaper) you hardly will have any problems buying your ticket at the counter already in Chisinau.

And do you know if the train has the classic Eastern Europe set-up (every carriage a sleeper)?

Yep, it's pretty short & only sleepers (i.e. 2nd class 4 bed compartment ("kupe") or 1st class 2 bed (SV/Lux)), you can see the price difference yourself (see link above).

I think this train goes to Iasi station proper, and the weekend train only goes to Iasi Socola - am I right?

Yes, it's related to the fact that weekend DMU runs on wide gauge, while with 105 they change the bogies to 1435

the link for Moldovan Rail schedule on the main page is broken (no problem to click through from the main site though) just FYI and maintenance.

Thanks for pointing it out, fixed it

I know you said that the Lviv to Odesa route sold out quickly in summer, but ALL the decent (i.e. not aisle) 3rd class berths sold out by 9 am on the day of sale. Crazy!

Well, that's what happens when you have super cheap rail tickets & summer peak season. Which date you are looking for? There might be a few tricks in order not to hunt for a good tickets right after the sale starts

Great, thank you!

I figured that there might be some tricks re. the Lviv to Odessa train, but I booked first class anyway and I am happy to do that - at least I will be well rested and ready to enjoy Odessa, even if I do miss out on the experience.

I'm hoping to travel in 3rd class in winter / next year. I read that Russia is phasing out platzkarti, but I hope the process will be slow, and even slower in Ukraine. It's something I've never experienced, so it's a must do for me

Think I will just book the Chisinau - Iasi train when I get to Moldova. To be honest, I can't see how to book it only to Iasi, but it seems like I won't need to, anyway,

Only two trains left to book now! (Iasi - Timisoara, and Timisoara - Budapest / Bratislava). Thanks for all your help! 

It's something I've never experienced, so it's a must do for me

Having no doors indeed looks and feels a bit weird at first, however this type of carriage is way more spacious than usual 6 berth couchettes somewhere in Europe, passenger can easily seat on the lower berth, bigger distance between the opposite berths, huge table, lots of space for luggage, etc. So in some sense, and especially if the journey is more than standard 7-8 hours overnight, platskartnyj might be more comfortable than 2nd class couchette.

Think I will just book the Chisinau - Iasi train when I get to Moldova. To be honest, I can't see how to book it only to Iasi, but it seems like I won't need to, anyway,

It's only two weeks in advance sale (i.e. today it's max June 15) and in the "Destinație" section you need to select blue "Iasi" & not "Iasi-Socola", then it's relatively straight forward (i.e. on the next page you enter name & passport #, while next comes the bank card details info)

I have a question for the Iasi - Timisoara sleeper: I want a 2-berth compartment (we are a male and female) and when I get to 'select gender' it gives me 3 options: M, F, and L.

Never seen this before (I normally see just M and F and usually just select M + M as it doesn't really matter) but what do you think I should select here? Had a look at the FAQs but didn't find anything.

Aha, I have it. It is I for indifferent - so I will book that one.

Yep, the overall logic in situations like this would suggest that "I" (or any other third option) should stand for mixed/indifferent or something alike, meaning not just M or F. However in the CFR version it indeed looks somewhat confusing