From the Globe:
Russian officials opened a terror investigation Saturday, saying that a homemade bomb planted on the tracks of the high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg route caused a derailment that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens more.
I never rode that particular line to St. Petersburg. I exited Russia via the Moscow-Riga (Lativa) line.
However, somewhere near the Mongolian border I was rustled out of my compartment in the wee morning hours and outside on to a non-descript platform. Russian border police with dogs were pouring over the train searching for something. I never received a clear answer to what exactly was going on, although one of the car attendants mumbled the word “bomb” and that this was either a training exercise (at the expense of passengers) or a legitimate search. Either way, none of the Russian passengers appeared to surprised by the search. About 30 minutes later, we were allowed back on to the train.
Some random Trans-Siberian shots from 2008.
How long did that whole trip take you?
About 15 days. Normally a TS trip will take about 9 or 10, but I stopped in Irkutsk for about 4 days. Although, because of the 9 time zones (10, if you include the train’s own temporal zone), time has no meaning on this train.
‘time has no meaning on this train………’ That would make a great song!