Tashkent - Samarkand - Dushanbe train Q&A

[Milad]

http://pass.rw.by/en allows you to search for "any day" and is not geoblocked, so I was very happy to discover it here in a previous post. I didn't find anything about infos relating to railway companies, though...
Sebastian

Thanks a lot! This page was geoblocked too a few months ago, but good to see that it's back!

[Rufio]

Anyone know if this train has a dining car? I ask because I just took the 24 hour train from Astana to Shymkent and there was no dining car according to the staff which I thought was really strange because the Almaty to Astana train had one.

[Milad]

I found a Tajik news report (in Russian) saying the train has a restaurant car ("вагон ресторан"). I'd assume that it's correct, although I would still bring some instant noodles to prepare with the samovar so that you don't go hungry in case there is a problem (e.g. restaurant car broken, cook ill, ...).

https://asiaplustj.info/ru/news/tajikis ... e-tashkent

[Devron]

How can one book this train? I tried to look at the uzbek railway website (https://e-ticket.railway.uz) and can`t find the train?

Thanks

[Milad]

I could find it easily on Uzbek Railways website. Keep in mind that it runs only weekly, leaving Tashkent every Tuesday.

[Devron]

I could find it easily on Uzbek Railways website. Keep in mind that it runs only weekly, leaving Tashkent every Tuesday.

Strange I do not get to select Dushanbe from the drop-down list

[RollingTreeHouse]

Strange I do not get to select Dushanbe from the drop-down list

It works for me in the Russian version by entering "Душанбе" and "Ташкент".
Maybe the English version doesn't have the transliteration available. Make sure to select "ТАШКЕНТ" and "ДУШАНБЕ" from the drop-down suggestions.

Here are the available berths and their prices for the departures next week (platzkart/kupe):

• 301З Dushanbe-Tashkent: 333/56 available for UZS 333440/407880
• 302З Tashkent-Dushanbe: 340/56 available for UZS 333440/407880

[Devron]

Strange I do not get to select Dushanbe from the drop-down list

It works for me in the Russian version by entering "Душанбе" and "Ташкент".
Maybe the English version doesn't have the transliteration available. Make sure to select "ТАШКЕНТ" and "ДУШАНБЕ" from the drop-down suggestions.

Here are the available berths and their prices for the departures next week (platzkart/kupe):

• 301З Dushanbe-Tashkent: 333/56 available for UZS 333440/407880
• 302З Tashkent-Dushanbe: 340/56 available for UZS 333440/407880

Thanks, still not for me . Maybe they do not wan tforeigners on the train? Would fit with the story of people not being sold tickets? I would valid with a Uzbek VPN but that is a bit too much work. I`ll book a ticket via a travel agend (I no not want to book via Belarus railway).

[RollingTreeHouse]

To be quite honest, judging from the number of available seats for the trains in a week I think you can just try to buy the tickets once you arrive in Uzbekistan.
If that feels like too much of a gamble to you, you can try to buy them them via any other CIS train operator (e.g. Kazakhstan), since the connection does support e-tickets.

[trikolka]

Thanks a lot! This page was geoblocked too a few months ago, but good to see that it's back!

may be a good idea to install a VPN for travelling along Silk Road. For example, the english version of this russian site https://transport.marshruty.ru/?fr=travelmenu was geoblocked, and even seems to have disappeared now. The russian version still works, it is convienient for searching train or plane schedules and prices in former SSSR countries, if you read russian.

Several reliable VPN providers have a limited free version which may be enough for basic needs like searching train schedules, reading e-mail, and a bit more.