Restored Tallinn-St. Petersburg train service

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored. I am writing this from the train, as they even have free
wireless internet for the duration of the trip, an amazing service.
It is train number 650 from Tallinn and 649 from St. Petersburg.

A coupe ticket bought in Estonia costs 531 Estonian kroons, or roughly
$45. A seat in a regular wagon is about 300 kroons, or roughly $28.

Their website is gorail.ee but the English part of the site is not up
yet. Please support this train and let them know how wonderful it is
to have a day train! The overnight train from years ago was
miserable. There is talk that they may go back to an overnight train,
so please let them know the day train is a much better option! The
overnight train requires waking up twice at 2 and 3 pm for border
checks.

This train leaves Tallinn at 3:30 pm and arrives in St. Petersburg at
11:45 pm. It arrives in Talilnn from St. Petersburg at 1:30 pm. It
is very convenient, and the service is wonderful, especially the
wireless! I am posting this so that others like me, who were trying
to find out if the service is running, will know in time to use it
this summer.

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga (at
least according to the brochure I found in my hotel room in Tallinn, I
was on a guided coach tour so I did not really care). Apparently there
are THREE rail companies in Estonia (which has more or less the same
inhabitants as Milan), but none of them runs train to the neighbouring
EU member countries.


--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
is a newsreading account used by more persons to
avoid unwanted spam. Any mail returning to this address will be rejected.
Users can disclose their e-mail address in the article if they wish so.

"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message
oengr.vans.vg...
On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga (at

Because the Estonians privatised the railway as quickly
as possible to rid themselves of the need to pay for its
rebuilding.

But the privatised company are only interested in running
profitable(?) freight routes.

Then, when there was EU money available for investing in the
Baltic's railways (which LIT/LU has used), it is only available
to government organisations not to private companies .

I understand that the Estonian Government are looking at
repurchasing some of their railway so that it can receive
EU money. I think that this is how the current small network
has been funded

tim

tim..... wrote:

"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message
oengr.vans.vg...
On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga (at

Because the Estonians privatised the railway as quickly
as possible to rid themselves of the need to pay for its
rebuilding.

When all the road building/resurfacing has finished, I imagine the bus
service will be a lot better too.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

The road between Tallinn and St. Petersburg was resurfaced by the EU
right after Estonia became part of it. So the bus is much better than
it used to be, but it still is not as nice as the train. You have to
take all your luggage off the bus at the Russian border, and the bus
stops several times along the way. The train is the best route
available! Let's hope it stays in business!

On Jul 9, 9:54 am, (David Horne, _the_ chancellor
(*)) wrote:
tim..... wrote:
"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message
zoengr.vans.vg...
On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga (at

Because the Estonians privatised the railway as quickly
as possible to rid themselves of the need to pay for its
rebuilding.

When all the road building/resurfacing has finished, I imagine the bus
service will be a lot better too.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgatehttp://www.davidhorne.net- real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

tim wrote:

"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message

oengr.vans.vg...

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga (at

Because the Estonians privatised the railway as quickly
as possible to rid themselves of the need to pay for its
rebuilding.


Historically the three Baltic states have never been close,
practically to the point of disdaining/ignoring one another, so not a
real high demand for passenger rail travel between them...

--
Best
Greg

"Gregory Morrow" wrote in message
oups.com...
tim wrote:

"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message

oengr.vans.vg...

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga
(at

Because the Estonians privatised the railway as quickly
as possible to rid themselves of the need to pay for its
rebuilding.


Historically the three Baltic states have never been close,
practically to the point of disdaining/ignoring one another, so not a
real high demand for passenger rail travel between them...

Except by tourists, who reasonably might want to spend
a two week holiday across all three states. Presumably(?)
tourism is going to become a bigger share of the region's
economy and I suspect that many potential visitors are put
off by the idea of using a long distance bus.

tim

tim..... wrote:

[]
Except by tourists, who reasonably might want to spend
a two week holiday across all three states. Presumably(?)
tourism is going to become a bigger share of the region's
economy and I suspect that many potential visitors are put
off by the idea of using a long distance bus.

I think it _highly_ unlikely that tourism alone will get that kind of
rail service going. The bus from Riga to Tallinn is non-stop, but still
takes too long. It's the roads that get in the way at the moment, and
they're getting worked on. It's worth remembering how relatively small
the populations of these countries are. Much as I'd love to see a better
rail transport, I don't see it happening.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

tim wrote:

"Gregory Morrow" wrote in message

oups.com...





tim wrote:

"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message

nzoengr.vans.vg...

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga
(at

Because the Estonians privatised the railway as quickly
as possible to rid themselves of the need to pay for its
rebuilding.

Historically the three Baltic states have never been close,
practically to the point of disdaining/ignoring one another, so not a
real high demand for passenger rail travel between them...

Except by tourists, who reasonably might want to spend
a two week holiday across all three states. Presumably(?)
tourism is going to become a bigger share of the region's
economy and I suspect that many potential visitors are put
off by the idea of using a long distance bus.


Tourists won't cut it for regular rail service...

Investing in new rail infrastructure is a *huge* investment, even with
EU help and the rising economic tide in all three states the states
will serve their own domestic transport needs first...

Buses will serve for inter - Republic travel in the meantime, they can
be quicker, faster, and comfortable. It's a lot cheaper for a private
operator to buy a new bus than it is for the state railway systems to
tender new offers for rail carriages (even used ones from Deutsche
Bahn...), upgrade rail beds and stations, etc....

Citizens of one Baltic state simply don't travel much to the other
Baltic states, this has been true for a long time. The Lithuanians
are oriented somewhat towards Poland and even Russia, the Lats toward
Germany, the Estonians towards Finland and Scandinavia...and they all
have the somewhat disdainful attitude towards each other that the
Czechs and the Poles have had historically towards each other. Rather
curious since they all seemingly would have a lot in common, but there
you are...


--
Best
Greg

"Gregory Morrow" wrote in message
ps.com...
tim wrote:

"Gregory Morrow" wrote in message

oups.com...





tim wrote:

"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message

nzoengr.vans.vg...

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 wrote:

The train service between Tallinn and St. Petersburg has been
restored.

I wonder why then there is no train service between Tallinn and Riga
(at

Because the Estonians privatised the railway as quickly
as possible to rid themselves of the need to pay for its
rebuilding.

Historically the three Baltic states have never been close,
practically to the point of disdaining/ignoring one another, so not a
real high demand for passenger rail travel between them...

Except by tourists, who reasonably might want to spend
a two week holiday across all three states. Presumably(?)
tourism is going to become a bigger share of the region's
economy and I suspect that many potential visitors are put
off by the idea of using a long distance bus.


Tourists won't cut it for regular rail service...

Regular as in frequent? I agree, once a day is
enough.

Investing in new rail infrastructure is a *huge* investment, even with

It's not new infrastructure. It's existing infrastructure that needs
repair. 4/5ths of the work has been done. EST have restored
services as far as Tartu and LV run services to the border town
of Lugazi. The Riga - Vilnius service having been restored a
couple of years ago. Only a 60km gap now remains.

EU help and the rising economic tide in all three states the states
will serve their own domestic transport needs first...

There are 'local' towns on the route that could usefully
use a restored track.

Buses will serve for inter - Republic travel in the meantime, they can
be quicker, faster, and comfortable. It's a lot cheaper for a private
operator to buy a new bus than it is for the state railway systems to
tender new offers for rail carriages (even used ones from Deutsche
Bahn...), upgrade rail beds and stations, etc....

I don't disagree. But rail travel is much more attractive
to a lot of people.

tim