OREANDA-NEWS. The Golden Eagle left Paveletsky Station in Moscow with Australian tourists bound for Dostuk at Druzhba Station in Kazakhstan, reported the press-centre of  Russian Railways. This first private tourist train was organised and is serviced by the state-owned company “Trans-Siberian Express” and LokoTrans, with support from Russian Railway’s Federal Passenger Board, which worked out and agreed the route, timetable and stops. The Golden Eagle will be stopping at Volgograd, Urgench, Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent and Almaty, where excursions have been specially arranged for the tourists. The trip will take 12 days.


The train consists of 20 coaches, including 12 coaches with extra comfort, 2 coaches with banquet rooms, a kitchen wagon and a coach bar where passengers can read newspapers, drink coffee and listen to live music, as well as a technical wagon for servicing the train. All compartments in the passenger coaches have two wide beds, a capacious wardrobe, sink, shower, WC, TV, DVD player and air conditioner. The passengers can use hot and cold water and the toilet while the train is in motion and during stops. Each compartment can be locked electronically using plastic cards. On the return leg of the journey beginning on 18 April 2007, the Golden Eagle will take a different group of tourists from Australia following the same route.