OREANDA-NEWS. April 09, 2014. The duty-free shop Aero-Trade LLC opened for Allegro train passengers at the Finland Station in St. Petersburg at 19:25 Moscow time.

This follows an order supplementing the list of activities that can be undertaken within railway crossing points which was signed by the Government of the Russian Federation on 5 April 2012.
This regulation provides new opportunities for providing services to passengers on international services and increasing the comfort of their stay at stations.

As part of the preliminary work on the project, the Directorate of Railway Stations has, in cooperation with representatives of the services involved and competent authorities, developed ways to provide services to passengers crossing the Russian Federation's state border. This excludes people not actually travelling from benefitting from duty-free facilities.

Since only passengers travelling on the international Allegro services between St. Petersburg - Helsinki are entitled to use the duty-free shop, it is only open while passengers are still boarding the train.

The first passengers able to purchase items in the duty-free shop will be those who bought a ticket on Allegro train No. 157, departing today at 20:25 Moscow time. The shop will open its doors at 19:25 Moscow time this evening.

The duty-free shop at the Finland Station has a total area of 84 square metres and offers a wide range of items, such as perfume, cosmetics, toys, confectionery and other food products and low-alcohol drinks.

After receiving the necessary permits, the shop will increase its range and include strong alcoholic drinks, which will enable it to switch from its test period to permanent operations.