002ЩА Irkutsk to Vladivostok Day3 was my 7th and last full day (and bit) on board the Trans Siberian Railway.
Vladivostok is 7 hours ahead of Moscow so 002ЩА arrived, on time, at 7:05am local, which is 12:05 Moscow time. Coast to coast in Australia there is only 2 hours difference between the East and West Coast, helps to put into perspective the size of Russia.
Day 3 was from Svobodnyy to Vladivostok a distance of 1525 km. It was overcast with a few specs of blue, no rain. My first Siberian Trek is nearly over.
Meals
Breakfast
I asked for scrambled eggs and ended up with sunny side up. Even pointing to the item on the menu does not always work, could be the English translation in the menu I guess. At least the eggs are fresh and look a lot better than some I get around Asia which have very pale yokes and look fake.
Dinner
For dinner I had French style pork, though I not sure why this is French style. By this time of the trip they had started to run out of some of the menu items, no more Chicken Schnitzel for one, also think that certain beers were out as the other passengers were drinking Bud instead of Lowenbrau.
This was my last meal on board 002ЩА and whilst the dinning car is about USD10 in total over the three days more expensive than the prepaid meals, it is definitely worth it.
The Countryside
Belogorsk
Water
What amazed me was the power of the current in the rivers. The amount of water that is flowing from up stream, possibly Lake Baikal, is significant, this all ends up in the Pacific Ocean.
Khabarovsk-1
Khabarovsk was the last “interesting” station 002ЩА Irkutsk to Vladivostok Day3. The next few stops there was not much more than a ticket office and platform
Vyazemskaya
Ruzhino
Ugolnaya
The penultimate station on my journey. We stopped here for 2 mins.
Causeway
As we approached Vladivostok the road network started to develop into highways and freeways and this causeway which is a part of the A-370 highway. The Russians call this a low level bridge. The de Vries-Sedanka bridge opened in 2012 and is about 7.5kms in length with around 4kms over the water.
Vladivostok
We arrived in Vladivostok on time at 7:05am. Whilst for me it was the end of an experience for most of the other passengers on board it was the end of just another train trip.
Itinerary
Station | Arrival | Stop | Departure | Distance (kms) | Journey time |
Svobodnyy | 0:12 | 3 m | 0:15 | 7817 | 5 d 0 h 27 m |
Belogorsk | 1:08 | 30 m | 1:38 | 7875 | 5 d 1 h 23 m |
Ekaterinoslavka | 2:48 | 2 m | 2:50 | 7954 | 5 d 3 h 3 m |
Zavitaya | 3:31 | 2 m | 3:33 | 7994 | 5 d 3 h 46 m |
Bureya | 4:13 | 2 m | 4:15 | 8039 | 5 d 4 h 28 m |
Arkhara | 4:56 | 1 m | 4:57 | 8090 | 5 d 5 h 11 m |
Obluchye | 6:51 | 15 m | 7:06 | 8200 | 5 d 7 h 6 m |
Birobidzhan | 9:42 | 5 m | 9:47 | 8360 | 5 d 9 h 57 m |
Khabarovsk-1 | 12:01 | 30 m | 12:31 | 8533 | 5 d 12 h 16 m |
Vyazemskaya | 14:22 | 15 m | 14:37 | 8661 | 5 d 14 h 37 m |
Bikin | 16:06 | 2 m | 16:08 | 8766 | 5 d 16 h 21 m |
Luchegorsk | 16:46 | 1 m | 16:47 | 8813 | 5 d 17 h 1 m |
Dalnerechensk-1 | 17:41 | 3 m | 17:44 | 8885 | 5 d 17 h 56 m |
Ruzhino | 18:29 | 15 m | 18:44 | 8942 | 5 d 18 h 44 m |
Spassk-Dalniy | 20:14 | 2 m | 20:16 | 9059 | 5 d 20 h 29 m |
Muchnaya | 20:50 | 1 m | 20:51 | 9101 | 5 d 21 h 5 m |
Sibirtsevo | 21:10 | 2 m | 21:12 | 9119 | 5 d 21 h 25 m |
Ussuriysk | 22:11 | 3 m | 22:14 | 9187 | 5 d 22 h 26 m |
Ugolnaya | 23:25 | 2 m | 23:27 | 9266 | 5 d 23 h 40 m |
Vladivostok | 0:05 | 9299 | 6 d 0 h 20 m | ||
Total Day 7 | 1525 |
002ЩА Irkutsk to Vladivostok Day3
Day 3 on board 002ЩА was another relaxing and comfortable day where we changed time-zones one final time and travelled 1525 km . I enjoyed the country side, though the stations were a bit low key.
Looking forward to the three “S’s” again and a decent bed. From the little of Vladivostok I had seen from the train it looks like a place that I would need more than a couple of days to experience.
As I had travelled from Moscow to Irkutsk on board the 070Ч train, the distance I travelled was slightly longer than the 9288 kms on the sign post, it was 9299 kms.