“Lastochka” will fly to Minsk by charter – Kommersant FM

A charter train “Lastochka” may be launched between Moscow and Minsk. The Republican Union of Tourism Industry of Belarus is discussing this issue with Russian Railways; they hope to present the results of the negotiations in the summer. According to the authors of the initiative, such trains will help solve the logistics problems that arise when holding large events in Minsk, including those organized by Russian companies. Now both business and Russian Railways are interested in this, the Belarusian Union of Tourism Industry emphasized.

Such trains can really be in demand, says Kirill Yankov, chairman of the interregional public organization Passengers’ Union: “The classic format of aviation charter on the railway does not take root for many reasons. First of all, the passenger capacity of a train is several times greater than that of an airplane. If the train is equipped even with compartment cars, then this is 500-600 seats; only the largest wide-body aircraft will carry so many people. But running a train with, say, four or five cars is not economically profitable.

But railroad charters can be understood as charter trains, which were historically designed to transport children in the summer. Therefore, when it comes to large events, running a special special purpose train (let’s not call it a charter train) can be justified if a sufficient number of people are expected. A ten-car Lastochka has 600-700 seats; it makes no sense to launch specially tourist Lastochkas from Moscow to Minsk.

It’s probably worth talking about increasing the number of regular “Swallows”, and travel companies could buy tickets in blocks. Let’s say we buy 20-30 seats on existing electric trains and try to organize a tour.”

At the same time, charter Lastochkas are unlikely to be interesting for tourism purposes, noted Sergei Romashkin, general director of the Dolphin tour operator. And many companies, according to him, are now opting for an airplane: “Between Minsk and Moscow there are Lastochka and regular trains, but, according to the experience of our company, most tourists use an airplane. The time gain is significant: the flight to Minsk is just over an hour. Prices are relatively low, and our tourists prefer to arrive in the morning and begin their excursion program on the same day.

To be honest, I don’t quite understand why there is interest in the charter “Swallow”, because such a train probably takes 500-600 people. I have not encountered such groups in practice, even if it is some kind of corporate event, not a single large company will place employees in a seated car to spend eight hours in it. I think the companies that do off-site events, and we see them, also use the plane, despite the costs.”

Now regular Lastochka trains run between Moscow and Minsk twice a day. Ticket prices start from 2.5 thousand rubles, at the end of April the cost exceeds 4 thousand rubles.

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Elena Ivanova