Traveling children in long-distance trains

You are going on vacation with a child, or your child is going to study in another region of Russia, your child is going to participate in competitions that are taking place in another area or is preparing to go to a camp located far from your home. Whatever the circumstances, parents are interested in the rules for children's travel on long-distance trains. We will try to tell you in as much detail as to what documents will be needed, whether you need to pay for a children's ticket and whether the minor is entitled to benefits when traveling by rail.

All the rules are detailed in the decision of the Government of Russia. The law has undergone several changes, the latest edition is dated 2015 and is valid to this day.

According to the document, children can travel on trains with their parents, and accompanied by a stranger adult (coach, teacher). In addition, minors can use rail transport alone, but on the condition that they have all the necessary documents and at the age of ten.

So, when traveling with parents, the child will need a birth certificate.

If the child moves in a group with an accompanying adult, he will also need a birth certificate. Formally, parents do not need any power of attorney or consent for such a trip within Russia, however, in reality it is better to issue such a document. It can be useful if a child needs, for example, medical assistance on the way.

And now we offer you to watch the release of the program “child on the train”, nuances and what to take with you.

Rospotrebnadzor does not allow group transportation, in which there are more than 8-12 children per adult.

Any journey by rail begins with the acquisition of travel documents. Parents often wonder if it is necessary to take a ticket for a child. In any case, the difference is only in price.

Separate shelves free ticket for kids does not mean to go, spend time and sleep the baby will be on the same shelf with an adult family member. If this option does not suit you, the baby will have to acquire a separate place at the established children's rate.

If you have not one, but two children under 5 years old, then you can get a free ticket only for one child, as it is stipulated by law that only one child is allowed for one adult. The second will have to buy a children's ticket according to the fare.

These rules apply to tickets in a coupe and a reserved seat, because if you have to travel in a luxury car, the “critical” age is raised there - you are allowed to travel up to 10 years for free.

All other children need to buy a children's ticket. It operates from 5 to 10 years in long-distance trains. It’s quite difficult to answer unequivocally the question of how much it costs: it all depends on the direction, the train, the class of the carriage. On average, a train ticket for a child is 35-50% cheaper than an adult travel document.

From the age of 10, children are supposed to buy a regular ticket, just like adults, but a child can count on a travel document at a discount. So, for schoolchildren and students of pre-university institutions of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, cadet corps, boarding schools of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, a 50% discount on tickets is paid for the entire period of study (up to 17-18 years). It operates from January 1 to May 31 and from September 1 to December 31, in other words, the whole year, except for the summer holidays.

In Russia now there are not so many trains that carry international transport. But if the child needs to travel to the CIS or Baltic countries by rail, the package of documents necessary for the smooth passage of documents will significantly expand.

• If he is 14 years old, he must have his own international passport.
• If a child under 14 travels without parents, he also needs to obtain a foreign passport, transit or guest visa (depending on the purpose of the trip).

When traveling abroad without parents, notarized consent from mom and dad for such a trip will be mandatory. It is necessary to indicate the name of the accompanying adult and his passport data. If these rules are not followed, the child may be dropped off the train and left at the police station until his parents arrive.

In addition to the fixed benefits for children, Russian Railways offers promotions and discounts that are affected by seasonality. Thus, special reduced tariffs (minus 10%) operate in 2017 on most routes in the periods from January 9 to February 21, from February 27 to April 26, from May 10 to 25, from September 18 to November 2, from November 7 to December 16th. The exceptions are trains that use the so-called dynamic pricing.

For organized groups, there are special fares that apply only to travel in Russia. You can get a discount from 20 to 50% on certain places in certain cars of specific trains and directions on the indicated dates. A detailed schedule of special fares can be found on the official website of Russian Railways in the section “Passengers” - “Promotions”.

You can see the price of train tickets at the station or via the Internet. Many sites offer a free virtual route planning service with prices and available seats on trains. However, it is better to use the site of the carrier - RZD.

You can buy a train ticket for a child directly at the station’s ticket office, or you can make a purchase on the official website of Russian Railways. And in order, and for another way you will need a birth certificate of a child. At the station, the cashier is sure to ask for the original of this document.

In the electronic ticket that you fill out when ordering via the Internet, there are special columns in which you need to specify the number and series, the date of issue of the document. To purchase an adult ticket, you need to enter passport data.To buy a children's ticket, you need to simultaneously with an adult, click "Add a passenger."

If a ticket is entitled to a discount, the system will automatically calculate it.

And now a video tutorial on how to buy a ticket on the Russian Railways website.

If for some reason the trip was postponed or canceled altogether, you can easily return the children's ticket. After logging in, go to "My Orders" and update the status of the desired ticket by clicking on "Post the status of the order", and then click on "Check out".

Here are just the amount of compensation will depend directly on what time frame you applied.

If you come to take a children's ticket less than a day, but more than 8 hours before departure, you put all the amount paid for it minus the cash collection.

If the train leaves in 2-8 hours, the passenger will be returned about half the cost of the ticket, regardless of the ticket to which class of the car he originally bought.

If you have to return a ticket to an international train (Baltic countries, CIS, Abkhazia), then if you call the ticket office in advance, the fare and the cost of the reserved seat fare will be returned. If he came with a request more than 6 hours before the departure of the train, he was charged half the cost of the reserved seat.

When returning an international ticket, you will have to pay a special fee of 1 euro, but for children’s tickets (free for kids under 5 years of age) this amount is not charged.

Under the existing legislation, independent travel of children on long-distance trains is strictly prohibited if the young passenger has not turned 10 years old. Send one such child does not work, even if he has a paid ticket, birth certificate and permission from the parents. At this age, an adult attendant is required.

Products that you take on the road should not be perishable, so that the child is not poisoned. This is especially true when traveling in the summer, when in a stuffy car the food deteriorates many times faster.

It is good if the child visits the restaurant car at least once a day to eat hot first courses. From personal stocks it is better to feed the child with breakfast and dinner. It is best to take smoked sausage, hard cheese, fruits and fresh vegetables, cookies. Eggs, fried chicken is better not to take at all or to eat in the first hours of travel, while these products are not spoiled.

Avoid hot pies and other pickles, which at exorbitant prices are offered to passengers by traders at stations and stations. No one controls the quality of this food, and you can poison it strongly and for a long time.

And now a video of what to take with the child to the train of food.

The child will quickly get tired of looking out the train window at the landscapes passing by, and then the situation can be strained to the limit. So that the parents are not nervous and the neighbors in the compartment or second-class carriage are not complaining, it will be better if your child is busy with something interesting.

Road activities should be chosen based on the age of the child. The baby needs only a couple of bright rattles, the child will be useful coloring and pencils from the year on. Children from 3 years puzzles and books with your favorite fairy tales and poems will be interesting. All children, with the exception of infants, will enjoy watching cartoons that you load into your the tablet or smartphone.

In general, parents know better what their children love, tips will not help here. I will say only one thing, verified by personal experience. It is not necessary to take clay into the train, as in the constant pitching mode even the very neat at home child gets dirty himself and smears clay all around. From the same considerations inappropriate paint and gouache, as well as markers.

And now a video of how to take a child on the road.

Washing a child from traces of markers under conditions of a long-distance train (with the exception of water-based markers) is an extremely difficult task. You should also avoid toys for kids that create a strong noise background (tweeters, rattles and so on). And already unfriendly neighbors in the car under the influence of such sounds very quickly go to the real hostilities, and they agree, you can understand.

From what should be taken in any case, I can mark the child’s favorite soft toy. It will be much easier for him to fall asleep in unfamiliar surroundings, in a shaking and bouncing car, if there is a familiar teddy bear next to him.

It is best to stock up on hygiene products for the baby, because washing it in the public toilet of the train, even if you are traveling in a luxury car, is not safe: there are billions of different bacteria. The child must have a good supply of diapers, wet wipes without perfume.

There is no problem with the boiled water for breeding mixtures of problems in the train, but there is an opportunity to sterilize the bottles and the nipples. Therefore, buy an inexpensive sterilizer, the size of a glass that works from the outlet. In it, you can quickly boil baby dishes.

There are not many things to take on a train journey. And their specific list depends on the time to be spent on the road. There is a certain standard of travel accessories, you can change the details at your discretion. So, usually take the road:

• Comfortable light clothes and slippers. It is better if it will be a tracksuit and a pair of T-shirts and rubber slates, as rag slippers can get dirty, get wet. Set of underwear for the shift.
• Personal hygiene items. Wet wipes, toothbrush, toothpaste and soap, cotton pads and cotton buds. Be sure to take toilet paper.
• Drinks and going on the road.
• A small child can take a stroller, compact and lightweight, that will not block the aisles. The stroller cane will be ideally suited.
• Travel kit with the most essential medicines for various occasions. Be sure to put there drugs against motion sickness.

Traveling by train is not a safe thing in itself. If the child goes without adults, he needs to explain the rules of behavior. But even if you move from point A to point B along with your child, it will not be out of place to remember the safety of the child in time. The train is pumping, it can slow down quite sharply, then falling from the shelf and fractures will be difficult to avoid.

Good protection for a small child - playpen meshwhich stretches around the perimeter of the shelf. Her free provide guides on request passenger with a child. These simple devices will help to avoid accidental injuries. They are issued to passengers, regardless of which car you bought a ticket for - in a reserved seat or a coupe.

In addition, be sure to ask how things are going with ventilation. Open windows are not the best way to travel with children, they can be blown out. Be sure to check with the conductor whether the air conditioners are working (when traveling in the summer), require them to be repaired, if there is a breakdown, or to provide you with another place in the car where the air conditioner works. It is your right! And then the journey will turn into an adventure that will leave only pleasant memories for adults and children.