RUSSIA: Power showers, caviar on luxury Trans-Siberian train

Once considered the preserve of scruffy backpackers, hardy adventurers, and vodka swigging businessmen, a new train on Russia's Trans-Siberian route aims to lure wealthy tourists with luxury. Prince Michael of Kent on Thursday (April 26) at a Moscow station unveiled the Golden Eagle which offers passengers en-suite bathrooms, underfloor heating and plasma screen TVs in every cabin along the 9,300 kilometre (5,778 miles) Moscow to Vladivostok route, one of the longest train trips in the world. "I am looking forward to travelling on the Golden Eagle, so that I can experience myself the pleasures of elite railway tourism," said Prince Michael, a Russian speaker and related through his grandmother to Tsar Nicholas II, in a speech. The Trans-Siberian railway, built between 1891 and 1916, travels from Moscow through vast pine forests, over the Ural mountains and across the Siberian tundra to the Pacific Ocean. A single ticket on the Golden Eagle will cost up to 9,595 British pounds (19,235 U.S. dollars (USD)) for the 13- to 15-day journey. A ticket on a normal Russian train costs around 10,000 roubles (400 USD) for the seven-day non-stop trip. The Golden Eagle, operated by British firm GW Travel, will take double the time from Moscow to Vladivostok by stopping for excursions. The Trans-Siberian rail traveller previously had to cope with random compartment companions, a restaurant menu that stretched from beetroot soup to dried fish and no shower. Not problems the Golden Eagle traveller will have to worry about. GW Travel already operates high-end rail journeys in the former Soviet Union and other parts of the world. Most of its clients are from the United States and Europe and the average age is 66. BRITISH ROYALTY

ITN Source | April 27, 2007

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