The news of a direct train flight to Minsk took the Belarusian diaspora in Crimea by surprise
Next year, a direct train “Tavria” will be launched between Crimea and Minsk.
Alexander Ganov, head of the rail transport company to Crimea Grand Service Express, announced this at the Transport of Russia exhibition, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In 2024, our trains will depart on a new route – connecting Nizhny Novgorod and Simferopol, and the first international flights of Tavria will go to Belarus,” the company’s press service quotes Ganov.
There are no details about the launch of the lineup yet. Grand Service Express purchased 130 new cars for passenger trains, and is gradually receiving them. The chairman of the regional national-cultural autonomy “Belarus of Crimea” Roman Chegrints also has no details.
“We asked for clarification, because so far even in Belarus they can’t say anything concrete. Perhaps the information simply has not yet reached bureaucratic circles. We will find out in the near future, because the question is of interest to many,” he noted.
In any case, a passenger train from Crimea to Minsk will be in demand, since in the village of Koreiz (Yalta) there is a state sanatorium “Belarus”, which receives vacationers all year round.
“Since 2014, vacationers have been transported by buses; up to 80% of passenger traffic were tourists from Belarus. Only earlier these were irregular flights, but recently a regular flight “Yalta – Minsk” has appeared. And as soon as it appeared, the price dropped from 7 thousand rubles per ticket to 5,5 thousand. In the case of a train, everything will depend on the price - if it is high, then business travelers and financially wealthy people will use the train. Although now travel to Minsk with a transfer in Moscow, in a compartment, will cost 13 thousand rubles,” Chegrinets clarified.
He added that the journey to Belarus by bus takes 40 hours, by train with transfers – 38-40 hours. Therefore, the train journey should not take more than two days, so that passengers do not pay with time for comfort.
At the Rest 2022 exhibition in Minsk, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov expressed his desire to connect Belarus and Crimea by rail. For this purpose, he proposed extending the route of the Simferopol - Smolensk train. Two weeks later, the chairman of the board of the Republican Union of Tourism Industry of Belarus, Philip Guly, announced the launch of direct railway communication between Crimea and Minsk from May 26. However, on this date the carrier company “Grand Service. Express" has appointed the launch of the route "Simferopol - Smolensk".
On October 23, a regular bus service was launched from Yalta to Minsk. The bus leaves Yalta at 16:30, and is scheduled to arrive in the capital of Belarus at 10:05 on the second day. It passes through Crimea through Simferopol and Kerch, across the Crimean Bridge it reaches Krasnodar, and then through Kursk, Orel and Bryansk, Gomel and Bobruisk it reaches Minsk. Over the week of operation, the flight has shown its popularity and now departs every other day, whereas the carrier initially planned a schedule once a week.
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