How do foreigners buy train and Sapsan tickets between Russian cities?
Buy on rzd.ru or in the RZD app: enter each passenger’s passport details exactly as printed, then pay by the Russian payment network or with a Russian-issued card — global payment methods are rejected. Station ticket offices sell the same tickets for cash. Sapsan runs from Moscow to St Petersburg in about 4 hours.
Updated September 2026
Where train tickets are sold
Russian Railways (РЖД) runs every intercity train. Its site rzd.ru and the RZD app are the cheapest way to buy: usually no booking fee, sales open about 90 days ahead, and both have an English interface, though some screens stay in Russian.
Resellers such as Tutu.ru and Yandex Travel (Яндекс Путешествия) sell the same seats, sometimes with a small fee. Station ticket offices (касса) sell them over the counter; bring your passport, as the clerk types its details into the ticket.
Your passport goes on the ticket
Every long-distance ticket in Russia is personal. The conductor (проводник) checks the details against your passport at the carriage door, and mistakes in the name or document number can mean being turned away, so copy the passport exactly. An e-ticket on your phone is enough; nothing needs printing.
- Surname and given name in Latin letters, as printed in the passport
- Passport number and citizenship
- Date of birth and gender
- Document type: choose 'Foreign document' (иностранный документ), not 'Foreign passport' (заграничный паспорт, which is a Russian citizen’s international passport) and not a Russian internal passport
- A phone number or email for the e-ticket
How to pay when foreign cards are rejected
At checkout rzd.ru offers Russian bank cards and the Russian payment network. As of 2026 a card from global payment methods issued abroad does not go through — the block is on the network, not on your card — and Apple Pay and Google Pay are not offered.
Choose the Russian payment network and pick Pay in Russia in the bank list: the app opens on its own and you confirm with one tap. Where a reseller asks for a card instead, the number, expiry and CVV shown in the app work like a Russian-issued card. The basic card holds up to 15 000 ₽, enough for most single fares; verify before booking a family or a long sleeper.
Cash always works at a station ticket office. For Sapsan, buy early: weekend and holiday departures sell out, and prices usually rise closer to the date.
Sapsan, Lastochka and overnight trains
Sapsan (Сапсан) links Moscow’s Leningradsky and St Petersburg’s Moskovsky stations in about 4 hours, with departures through the day. Lastochka (Ласточка) trains cover shorter routes such as Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod; overnight trains serve the rest, with open-plan platskart (плацкарт), four-berth kupe (купе) and two-berth SV (СВ).
