Ticket, boarding and documents

Under the Carriage rules a travel document is a contract of carriage, not a receipt. Most of what follows comes from that.

When sales open

Booking begins 45 days before the train departs. For some trains sales may open 90 days ahead, and for regional trains on multiple-unit stock 10 days ahead. Periods shorter than 45 days are announced by the carrier separately.

Seat availability and the price are confirmed at the moment of booking. Between the time you saw a seat in the search and the time you pressed "pay" it may be gone: the seats are held in the UZ system, not in ours.

How many tickets in one order

In one visit to a ticket office, one person may buy up to 9 tickets. With us, one order holds up to 6 seats; beyond that, place separate orders.

Whose surname and first name are entered

The surname and first name of whoever will travel are entered by whoever books the ticket. They may be shortened to 20 characters - that is how the automated system works, and it is not a mistake.

On tickets for regional trains (other than concession ones) and on suburban tickets no surname is entered at all.

A surname cannot be corrected after booking. The Rules do not allow an exchange with a change of surname or first name in any circumstances. So check the spelling before you pay: the only way to correct a mistake is to return the ticket and buy a new one.

What an electronic ticket is

After payment you receive a boarding document - the visual form of the electronic travel document. You can print it or show it from your phone screen; the attendant reads the QR code with a device.

Boarding is allowed only with a document in the "paid" state. The states "used", "cancelled" and "refunded" make a ticket invalid for travel.

An electronic ticket can be printed on a form of the prescribed pattern at a ticket office for a separate charge - rarely needed, mostly for accounting.

What to bring

The boarding document and an identity document. The Rules accept, among others: the passport of a citizen of Ukraine (the ID card included), international, diplomatic and service passports, a seafarer's or crew member's identity document, a permanent or temporary residence permit, a refugee certificate and a refugee travel document, a certificate of application for protection in Ukraine, and a foreign national's passport document. Conscripts board on their military identity card.

For a child under 16 a document showing their age is needed: a birth certificate, a notarised copy of one, a parent's passport with the child entered in it, or the child's own passport.

A concession ticket requires the original document establishing the entitlement - a copy or a photograph is not accepted.

When you will not be let into the carriage

• There is no ticket or no identity document.
• The surname and first name on the ticket do not match the document. Slips of up to three characters are tolerated.
• The ticket is invalid: the state is "used", "cancelled" or "refunded".
• Hand luggage exceeds the allowance by weight or by size.
• The requirement as to the type of compartment - men's or women's - has been broken.

A passenger on the train with neither ticket nor documents counts as travelling without a ticket: they pay a fine and the fare from the station where they boarded to the destination, or leave the train at the next station.

On Intercity+, documents may be checked after boarding rather than before.

If something goes wrong

Two tickets for one seat. The attendant must let you into the carriage, and the train manager must find you a seat and draw up a report in triplicate; one copy is yours.

There is no seat. You must be given a seat in another carriage. In a higher class - with nothing to pay; in a lower class - the difference in price is returned after the journey. If there is no seat on that train, you will be transferred to another free of charge; if you decline, the fare and the services are returned in full.

You missed the train. Report it no later than an hour after departure - the validity of the ticket part is then extended. The berth charge will have to be bought again.

Illness or an accident. The ticket together with a certificate from a medical institution is produced no later than 10 days after recovery; the new journey is booked within twenty-four hours of the endorsement.

You boarded the wrong train. Get off at the next station: the train manager draws up a report that entitles you to return to your station of departure free of charge.

The ticket is lost. Lost and stolen travel documents are not reissued. This does not touch an electronic ticket - it is always in your account, under "My tickets", and in the message sent to your inbox.

Breaking the journey

One stop at an intermediate station along the route may be made without losing the ticket. Within an hour of arrival, present the ticket to a representative of the carrier at the station for the endorsement "Stopover with extension of ticket validity". The journey may be continued within 10 days; the berth charge is paid again.

If the journey is given up for good, the endorsement must be obtained within an hour of the train's departure - the ticket amount for the distance not travelled is then returned.

Exchanges

A ticket may be exchanged for a train leaving earlier, for a carriage of a different class, or for another seat of the same class. This is done at a ticket office and only where the new train leaves within 24 hours. The difference in price is paid or returned; a charge is made for the exchange itself.

Tickets paid for by card or bought online - that is, all of ours - are not exchanged with a change of the station of departure or destination. Such a ticket is returned and a new one bought.

A child's ticket is only re-issued as a full one when the child has already turned 14 on the date of departure.

Types of compartment

Men's and women's - sold only to people of the corresponding sex; children under 6 of either sex travel in them without a seat of their own. Mixed - no restriction by sex. Family - a fitted compartment sold as a whole to three adults and the children under 6 travelling with them.

If a ticket was bought online in breach of the compartment-type requirement, you will, with your agreement, be given a seat in another compartment of the same class.

When booking may be refused

The Rules allow the carrier to refuse in two cases: there are no free seats on the train, or the customer does not agree to the terms of the Rules.