As many as three railway routes to Vienna Central Station (Wien Hauptbahnhof) - a huge transport hub not only in Austria, but also in Europe as a whole, are offered by Ukrzaliznytsia. For which of the three options do passengers vote primarily with tickets and hryvnia Oddly enough, but for a direct option with the Sovdepovsky service. But why?

The new Kyiv-Budapest train has become a real alternative to the long-standing Soviet service on the Austro-Hungarian route of international communications. At the same time, the mega-demand direct train from Kyiv to Vienna continues to remain the most delicious morsel for corrupt officials and shadow business operators due to the almost impossibility of purchasing tickets for it without resellers.

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Incredible: tickets available.

On December 15, train No. 9/10 Kyiv—Budapest departed from the main station of the capital of Ukraine for its first flight Transcarpathia. On its way it will cover 1,170 kilometers and will stop in Lviv, Slavske, Mukachevo, Chop, Zachon, Nyiregyhaza, Debrecen and Szolnok. The train does not consist of RIC cars running to Warsaw and Vienna, but of modern compartment cars and a luxury car, convenient and comfortable for long journeys.

The Kyiv-Budapest train schedule will allow passengers to transfer to trains that will take them to Vienna (the trip will last less than three hours), Salzburg, Munich, Innsbruck, Zurich. In addition, there will be a new opportunity to transfer to Romania and Slovenia. The time between transfers will be no more than two hours. Passengers will in any case travel under normal conditions. And for those who can afford the cost of a ticket in a luxury carriage, the travel conditions will in some ways exceed European standards.

But the main thing is that there are no problems with purchasing tickets for this train. After all, it consists of six carriages in the format of a regular compartment and one carriage in the luxury standard (a luxury double compartment).

Passengers traveling to Vienna on a Budapest train can transfer to a RegioJet train directly at the East Station (Budapest Central Station - Budapest-Keleti) of the Hungarian capital. The ticket price in this case will be about 18 euros.

Trains of the Austrian Osterreichische Bundesbahnen also run, they are more comfortable, but a ticket for them will cost three times more.. Therefore, it may be more optimal to use the services of a Czech carrier that practices a kind of low cost railway.

The time of arrival in Vienna, as well as the time of the return trip from the Austrian capital to Budapest, is convenient for the passenger. There is no check-in or check-out for those who will be staying at a Vienna hotel. This makes this train significantly different from another option for traveling in the Austro-Hungarian direction with a transfer at the hub in the city of Chop, which has a fantastically inconvenient schedule for travelers.

In addition, the hub option in Chop has many other “anti-tasties”:.

— two-hour customs clearance directly at the station;

— your carriage may simply not arrive at the platform; you will be allowed on the train, but you will have to sit not in a compartment, but in the corridor of the car on the floor; 2nd class carriages will be provided instead of the paid 1st class (Hungarian railway workers are responsible for all this).

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Obviously, both routes were introduced as alternatives to the direct direct train No. 749 Kyiv-Vienna, which uses the notorious Regolamento internazionale per le Carroze (RIC) format cars.. (After all, only Hungarians, Bulgarians and Romanians give consent to the plying of Ukrainian standard cars on European routes. Austrians and Poles are categorically against.

First route: through the hub in Chop, which is constantly criticized by passengers and which is clearly not intended for passengers with children, the elderly and people with disabilities. After all, we are talking about tough economy from the Hungarian carrier: nine hours, to put it mildly, not in the best conditions (sitting), which not everyone can do.

The second: “fresh” December with wonderful Ukrainian service from “Ukrzaliznytsia” to Budapest and the opportunity to then get to Vienna on comfortable Czech or Austrian trains running around the clock and at purely symbolic intervals, as for this type of transport.

But, despite the alternative, passengers agree to the “Soviet Department”. Train tickets through the hub in Chop are sold out of desperation, and they can often be purchased even today for today. And buying tickets for direct trains from Kyiv to Vienna is almost the same as finding a hundred dollar bill on the sidewalk. And this despite the terrible, Soviet-like service. When three passengers in one compartment are forced to sit or lie down at the same time, the height of the shelves does not allow otherwise.

In general, on international passenger routes demand exceeds supply by 60 times. At least this is the figure announced by representatives of the National Police. That is, the potentially lost profits from the “passenger” are simply gigantic.

The national police explains that the situation with tickets for direct trains to Vienna (as well as for another, slightly less problematic, but no less scandalous direct Kyiv-Warsaw with the same RIC type cars) is a bonanza not only for resellers, but also for “ clients"

But despite everything, buyers, hoping to still catch the desired ticket, sometimes click on the app every morning. The result of such a hunt is usually zero, but even those passengers who have not purchased a single ticket are often classified by the Ukrzaliznytsia software system as potential resellers and blocked.

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Reasons for popularity and compliance with competitors.

Tickets are selling out for all three routes. Their prices differ insignificantly. Travel time is also approximately the same. But the least friendly attitude of the national railway carrier is precisely towards the customers of the scarcest direct train, which is most popular among passengers.

The reasons for this popularity are obvious:.

— direct route;

— when crossing the border, customs officers come directly to the carriage;

— convenient schedule — passengers from Lviv have dinner in their home city and drink morning coffee in Vienna;

— check-in and check-out at the hotel is just perfect;

— the ticket price is relatively low.

Although it should be noted that tickets from Ukraine are sold only for one carriage (the other in Austria), which is largely reserved by the relevant officials. It turns out that the latter, like ordinary passengers, prefer direct communication, even with terrible service. This is why this flight is known on the Internet as the “ghost train.”.

To be honest, this is the only option to get to Vienna:.

- without being in seated carriages;

— without customs at the station (as with the hub in Chop);

— without transfers (as provided for by the new Budapest route).

As a result, there are few carriages and, accordingly, tickets to popular international destinations.. Although this is not surprising, because the demand borders on rush. It is well known that an “international” woman is capable of earning money not only for herself, but also for:.

— new cars and routes;

— social function of “Ukrzaliznytsia” within the country;

- increasing the poor wage fund of ordinary railway workers;

— reduction of the overall unprofitability of domestic passenger transportation.

That is, in a situation of rush demand, state revenues not only from one Hungarian-Austrian route, but also from the entire already quite profitable international railway service can be increased multiples.

Moreover, the need to get to Vienna is a need not only for women and children, but also for the military (who are going for treatment), international volunteers, diplomats, and, in the end, just foreigners visiting Ukraine in these difficult times.

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In general, passengers understand that it is better to lie down at night than sit on a bus. But due to the chaos with tickets for international transport, the state-owned Ukrzaliznytsia, unfortunately, lost a gigantic piece of the international market to other carriers. I could earn a lot myself.

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