Shipping a bike from IRKUTSK to anywhere by train.
 

So, A few have done it before, but also the information found here is unfortunately not up to date anymore so here is the latest one, from 3 days ago. Since I knew I would make a post about this, I took some pictures so at least you can visualize the whole thing once there.

At the main train station of Irkutsk:

http://www.wanderingsouls.be/wp-cont...8/IMG_2506.jpg

you go to the right about 200m to these coordinates:

N 52°16.859
E 104°15.603

It's at the back of the building and at that point you should see this entrance:

http://www.wanderingsouls.be/wp-cont...8/IMG_2501.jpg

Go in, you will see a few cashregisters and then turn left, 5 meters further you will see this door on your right:

http://www.wanderingsouls.be/wp-cont...8/IMG_2502.jpg

Go in and on the left side there is a desk with two computers. (as you can see on the picture) One of the guy's called Rostislav and he's the one you need. His english is almost non-existent but he will use google translate with you to talk. He's really a good guy that will go out of his way to help you. He's the guy for the shipping of the bike, and he will also build the "crate" your bike needs to be in.

Rostislav is in the middle of this picture with the bike ready to be put on the train:

http://www.wanderingsouls.be/wp-cont...8/IMG_2514.jpg

If you're lucky or if you have time you can get on the same train as the bike. For us this was unfortunately not possible so we had to take a train 2 days before the bikes. (high season, trains are rapidly full)

You pay by weight and the tank needs to be (nearly) empty and disconnect the battery. That's it. Paperwork is half an hour, and it's cheaper to put the bikes on the train than to drive them and an experience and more relaxing. Trying to figure out on what train you will be and on what train the bikes will be can take way longer.

Rostislav's details, I told him that I would make a post of this but please keep in mind he's 'just' a clerk and not the boss of the company or anything before calling/texting or mailing him. If you call or text do it with a Russian number so he doesn't have to pay for receiving it!

Rostislav Vetrov
phone: 89041260772
email: ROSTHELP <<{AAATT}>> MAIL <{DDOOTT}> RU
the company is www.fpclog.ru

Something went wrong with the previous post, everything after the url has gone...
Anyway, here the short version:

Rostislav is also on CS so you can stay with him if you want and we ended up paying 155€ for two DRZ400 incl crating for Irkutsk to Novosibirsk (2000km).

Hope this helps and if there are any questions, you know where to find me... :scooter:

Very nice post Seb :thumbup1: cheers

Nice job. I'm sorry you couldn't get hold of Alexei, I didn't stay in touch with him so I don't know what happened to him.

I hope you get sorted as easily at the other end. Finding where to get the bike in Moscow was my biggest problem. Seeing those pics of Irkutsk took me right back to my trip.

Happy Days

:thumbup1:

Hey no need to apology!
It's because I saw last year that you did it that we looked around on how to do it, although it were a few stressful days to be honest!

We stopped at Novosibirsk and won't go to Moscow, as we're heading down to the Pamir now but we didn't fancy a 2000km main road on the DRZ's... Train should arrive tonight and I'll be waiting to get the bikes off, as we are supposed to do that ourselves... :rolleyes2:

Will let you know tomorrow if it was smooth, but I hope so!

I just hope this will help some others as I've seen that some are looking to do it...

We waited on the platform for the train to arrive and stayed with the bikes once the luggage-wagon was opened. Initially they wanted some money for taking the bikes off, but since we saw them unload everything else without anyone paying for it, and I went in to help them, we got the bikes out the train without paying anything. Which should be the way anyway...

The only thing is, received the bikes like they were: crated and no way they had any (or gave them in any case) tools to help to get rid of the crate. So just used my tire lever to uncrate the whole thing and within an hour we were on our way.

So my conclusion is: No problems doing this, if ever needed again, I will certainly do it again! The method of working is the same all along the TransSib so you should be able to put the bike on the train from Vladivostok to Moscow the same way!

Afterthought: Should have done this trip the other way around, first the Pamir, then Mongolia, then to Irkutsk so we could have taken the train back to Moscow... as it was that "easy" to do this.

Thanks for the tips, useful info.

Good to hear you didn't have to bribe anyone to get the bike off the train! :thumbup1:

:D

Thanks so much for this useful info :-)

Thanks much for this!!

Everything went like you said. We had a grill party with Rostislav last night, and it looks like we will be taking a train along with our bikes tomorrow!

The only recent info I can add is that the logistics companies are working with reduced capacities as a number of their wagons are stuck in the east because of the flooding. For this reason we could not be guaranteed transport a few days ago.

--Adam

Happy to have been of some help and that it worked out for you!
:welcome:

Well done Seb, thanks!

Now, if I could persuade you to do a quick post on the shipping the bike page with a link back to here for the photos that would be super cool! :)

See here to create a new Shipment:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/node/add/shipping

thanks!:clap::clap:

Thou asked and ye shall receive...

I made a new shipping entry about it. :D

Seb,

Great post thanks very much!

Did you have to book the train in advance or did you just turn up and book on the spot?.

Tom.

Did everything on the spot.
You could book it in advance, but I didn't as first through an agent it's always more expensive and second I wanted to be sure the bikes would get shipped out... once I knew (more or less) on what train the bikes would be, we bought the train tickets for us on what was left available...

hope this helps!

Seb, How long do you think I should allow in Irkutsk to get this organized and get a train? 3-4 days? More?

Cheers,

Tom.

Hi tom,

Yep, I think that is a realistic timing.
Actually you can fix it all in a few hours, but all will depend on availability of the trains and if you can/want to put the bike on the same train as yourself.

Crating the bike will take them half a day (or a full day depending).
Sorting out what train to take: 10 minutes to 2 hours...
Buying the tickets 10 minutes.
Waiting for your train... good question, from a few hours to a few days.
We were in high season so it was more difficult, but I'm confident you should make it out of Irkutsk within 4 days.
When we enquired in the morning at 9 on how to do it, Michael who was with me could take the train in the afternoon with his bike. So it can go fast but we had more time... ;-)

What I would do:

When you arrive in Irkutsk, sort all the train thing out and if it's a few days later, just take your bike and go to Olchon Island in Lake Baikal (it's only a few hours from Irkutsk) and stay there for the few days you wait. Then go back the day before your train is due and you should be fine!

Thanks, this has been probably the most informative thread I have found on HUBB. Super easy to follow.

Your plan sounds spot on, I want to have a good look around Lake Baikal. Hopefully the guy you met is still working there next July!.

Seb very useful thread! I will be looking at transporting our bikes from Irkutsz or UB next August all the way to Moscow, so this is very useful and specific info.

We will do the Pamir Highway on the way to UB! Seems more logical :)

Maria,

Yep it is.
The reason why we didn't is that in June there were elections in iran and then you never know if they close the borders as most of the times they do and I didn't fancy the boat from azerbaidjan.

You'll be better off sending the bikes from Irkutsk to Moscow than from UB in my opinion.

Maria,
Its a lot easier to ship domestically ... from Ulan Ude or Irkutsk (both in Russia) than to transport from UB.... which would mean your shipment has to cross a customs border - complicating things a lot.

As mentioned already in post 13 at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ope-trip-57891 I strongly suggest you don't freight from UB to anywhere. The Irkutsk train connection is seemingly very good. It certainly won't be close to being worse than UB as a freighting point.

Hi Seb, Super post and thanks for the info, Would you be so kind and let us know the full costs of bike transport and your ticket costs. Thanks once again for your super post.:thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1:

The ticket cost for us I can't remember anymore honestly. But I think we paid around 70€ each, I remember that in total I paid less than 300€ for two people and two bikes (inclusive crating) from Irkutsk to Novosibirsk.
It would cost the same (or even more) if you would ride the 2.000km and stay for 2/3 nights in a hotel.

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. I will be looking at making my way to Irkutz, and if we have time, have a little ride round before we ship the bikes to Moscow.

Maybe ride to Novocibirk if the road is nice. My brother has a friend there so he could help with translation.....

Has anyone got any up to date information regarding the train back to Moscow from vlad or Magadan ?? If bike and passengers are allowed etc. How much ?? Is it direct ??

Thanks

:thumbup1:

Thx Seb for the info. It came handy as we just did the same.
Just to confirm, as Seb said. Nothing to add else than the "crating" is very flimsy and you should be there when they do it.

There were 5 bikes on the train with our two, so seven in total. One got damaged during the trip.

Make sure you remove mirrors and windshields and all stuff fragile yourself!

Supervise the crating. If you can, buy cables with ratchets to secure the bike.

The guys in Irkutsk built very flimsy crates. I will try upload pictures. One bike fell during the trip onto another one. Not one of ours.

Then here is detail of where to pick up the bike in Moscow.

Train station Yaroslavsky. Nearest Metro Komsomoslkaya.

Now to find the depot where the bikes will be, look at the station, go on the right side of the station, inside, walk toward the extreme right platform, go to this platform, you will see a metal steps and a metal ramp on the right, ( parallel to the rail) take it, then that passage go through some parking. Take it. It will take you toward the right then turn left as soon as you can so you follow the rail line!

You will walk past the huge post Office Depot. Continue past it. The rail line will be still on you left hand side. You will not see it as there is a concrete wall with barbed wire on top. Continue until the end. It is eventually a cul-de-sac.

Go to the office and show your docs and passport. They will give you a small piece of paper.

Then go inside the depot and try locate your bike. Hand over your paper if asked. You should not be asked any money!

Now if someone try to stop you getting your bike out of its crate, inside the depot, and tell you to do it in the street, unless you can do teleportation of your bike, as no one will help you move your crated bike, just ignore the shouty blond woman! Bring tools to brake the crate and do it in the depot. Take the wood pieces to the bin outside so you don't make it harder for others bikers. I got shouted at a lot that day by blond woman and workers at the depot! Not nice people on that day and no help!




That is all. Sorry for bad typing. Sitting at reception desk of stalinian type hotel with wedding in full blow around!

Few pictures of "crates"!

Ted only few trains can take he bikes, but you do not need to take that train. We took it, but the owners of the other five bikes (3 Fins and two germans) were not on the train and we never met them.

We got to Irkutsk the 11th of July. We were told only the train on the 12th and the train on the 18th could transport our bikes. We found space for us and our bikes on the train last saturday and got to Moscow on Tuesday. Although long boring journey, best flying if you can! See details on my blog and fb.

Price from Irkutsk to Moscow.

We paid 8,000 roubles for our two bikes based on weight (150 and 160 kg)

Then 4000 rouble per crate. expensive for what it is! Make sure you are in reserve, if not they will make you drain the fuel! We did!

Great stuff Maria!

How long from Irkutsk to Moscow
 

Hi Maria,

I was just wondering how many days the train took to reach Moscow from Irkutsk?

Also does any know how long it would take to ride from Irkutsk to Moscow comfortably doing 8-10 hr days?


Cheers,

Zac

I think it took me 3 days and 3 nights on the train when I did it.

The train takes 3 1/2 days.
Riding it would be over 5000km between Moscow and Irkutsk, by road.
That's a long way of straight roads through silver birch and pine trees!

Sept. 25, 2014.
Tynda > Moscow
G650X Challenge
with the help of one of the local riders in tynda. he contacted the local rail station, the bike had to be under "X" kgs (i forget at this moment), and crated to be accepted as baggage. we weighed my bike and it was over by about 10kgs. at this point the official rail company would not accept my bike...

the worker in baggage "contacted" the "guy in charge" in the baggage rail car. and through this "guy" he would take the bike "unofficially" for the same price, and no need a crate. so, day before the train was due to leave tynda, we lifted the bike onto the train car, parked it, paid the guy.
next day, i got on the train. 5 days to moscow. arriving in moscow at the main passenger terminal, i left from the passenger car, walked up to the front of the train to the baggage car and entered it. train left the station, short trip to another terminal, pushed the bike out, hush hush past the security, and into moscow.
easy peasy...

together the bike and my ticket cost RUB13,000'ish
no "extra" charges or bribes either in tynda or moscow.

Hello

I'm planning a trip through central asia and mongolia (may-august 2015) and I'll need to take the train from Irkutsk to Moscow to return in Europe. Anyone have a recent contact to have some information on the transport ? :helpsmilie:
I've tried to contact by mail Rostislav but I've got no answer.

Thanks

First off; Was your mail in Russian?
Second, as is stated, he's "just" an employee, I'm not really sure if he would like to get a lot of mails asking what I and other have described above.
Just follow the explanation with pictures once you're there and you should be fine. If it has changed in the meantime, I'm pretty sure someone there will inform you of that... bier

No my mail was not in russian. Next time I'll use a translator doh
I'll try to follow your picture when I'll be there in July. Thanks bier

Train West
 

Seriously looking at the option of missing 3500 miles of Tarmac and chancing the train west.
Having just read maria41's Blog. I guess I just turn up and take pot luck. Guessing as one isn't posted, their isn't a web site. "put you bike on the train to Moscow.com"?

Just turn up and take your chance. Find the office as explained here, and follow the motions. Use google translate with your phone or prepare few sentences that may help. Not many people speak english. There are not necessarily trains taking freight every day so if you trust the company you could prepare the bike, arrange all and fly or leave before your bike and wait for it in Moscow.
We prefered to travel with our bikes (As we tend to be rather unlucky travellers! I don't take any chances!) ) but no obligation. :mchappy:

I shipped my bike from novosibirsk few days ago to Moscow. I should receive it today or tomorow. :thumbup1:
I had help from local, they contact the transport company etc...
I'll give some more information later, waiting my bike for now :cool4:

A couple days ago I was at the station in Irkutsk and here is some more useful info they have given me. The furthest they ship to is Moscow, they do not ship internationally. Sending one motorbike from Irkutsk to Moscow costs 7000rub for shipping and 5000rub for crating, with todays exchange rate that totals around 160€. They ship every saturday and the bike should be at the station one or two days in advance to prepare it for shipping. In Moscow they can store it for a couple days but not for a longer period. They furthermore do not handle anything outside the shipment so if you want to store it in Moscow you have to arrange everything yourself.

Cheers!

car shipping
 

Hallo,

what about Car shipping on this route? (Tynda or so - Moscow). It is possible?
We have big wxpwdition car (Ford Bronco). 3000kg of weight, 5400mm long, 2200mm wide and 2300mmm high. It is possible? We want to make trip to Magadan and then it is tooooo long back to Europe :)

But boat shipping is quite expensive...

thanks a lot for informations!!!

Martin & Susana

FB: www.facebook.com/bronconamiestohotela

Hi,

There are lots of car-carrier trains from Vladivostok and other such places to Moscow, St Petersburg etc.

Quick google: Отправка автомобилей из Москвы, Владивостока и Хабаровска they have custom containers, car-carrier railcars, etc., and they ship straight from Magadan to Moscow.

Let me know if you need help with Russian. ;)

-A.

Update?
 

Hello all,

Old thread I know... just curious if anyone has recently (since the last post, anyway) used a train to get their motorcycle from Tynda or Irkutsk to Moscow. If so, any extra details would be greatly appreciated (number of days, frequency, cost, etc.)

Kind regards, thank you in advance.

Just to show how utterly sad I am - I frequently use a specialist railway website - seat61.com. As an alternative to using my motorbike this website inspires travel by train and I will, all things being equal, be going from the UK to Malta by train this summer.

https://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm. The link will take you to the trans-Siberian page and there is lots of advice about getting tickets etc - however the page also states quite clearly that motorbikes are not carried. the information on the website is normally pretty reliable and it would appear likely that there is no “guards van” to put a motorbike - bicycles are allowed but have to go into your sleeping compartment. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

BackpackerMoto, get in touch with Yuri from Links in Vladivostok, he will be able to provide all the info and services you need in that part of the world:

Links Ltd | professional packing and moving services provider in Vladivostok, Russia

Yuri's email:

ymelnik@links-ltd.com

cheers
dooby

I appreciate your input, and no worries, I've perused Seat61 a few times myself. :thumbup1:

I did receive an email today from a Polish fellow who claims he put his Yamaha on a train in Irkutsk just last year. Says the train that takes bikes only comes once a week (Saturdays), the bike has to be crated (as also reported here) and if I understood the Google translate correctly, that the Saturday train really isn't part of the normal Trans Sib passenger network. He had to ride a different train to collect his bike upon arrival in Moscow, which somewhat echoes the older experiences here. I hope to get some concrete info out of him; I'll update here if so.

I do get the feeling that lots of what can be arranged at the train station goes beyond official policies. I approve of such activity!

Dooby! Good to see you. :clap: Yes, Yuri is on my list of people to contact as well, thanks!

You can consider using a lorry if all else fail...I'm thinking do the same this summer, please report after your trip!

Link for lorry service

https://m.dellin.ru/