Some questions about buying train tickets in Moldova

[ricohallo]

Hi everyone, I'll be off to Moldova soon, the least visited country in Europe. Since information on the internet about Moldovan trains is very sparce, I hope someone here will be able to assist me with some questions I have.

1. I'll be taking a local train (#828SZ Ungheni - Chişinau) from a small station in Moldova which very likely has no ticket office (Bucovăț). Just to be sure: can I buy a ticket from the guard? Can I just sit down and wait for the guard to come to me or do I have to go to him/her right away?

2. I've found a very interesting itinerary from Iași to Chişinau with a 9 minute change in Ungheni from a regional Romanian train (1062) onto train 341FJ from Moscow to Chişinau, which I would like to try in the future. Would it be possible to buy the train ticket from the provodnik or do I have to go to the ticket office?

3. I might decide to return to Bucharest from Bălți. Would it be possible to buy a ticket to Bucharest at the station there or at Ungheni?

Hopefully somebody here knows more about train travel in Moldova. All help is much appreciated!

 

[Mike99]

There is a decent section in "The Man in Seat 61" website, coupled with info you may get here.

 

[ricohallo]

Thanks a lot for the tip! Seat61 is a gem, it's a great source for all kinds of information about train travel all over the world and I use it a lot. But unfortunately it does not answer my questions this time.

 

[30907]

Thanks a lot for the tip! Seat61 is a gem, it's a great source for all kinds of information about train travel all over the world and I use it a lot. But unfortunately it does not answer my questions this time.

Worth asking on www.drehscheibe-online.de (German or English works, Nederlands might not!) as there are members there who head to that area.

 

[dutchflyer]

LOng time ago since Ie been there but some ideas:
1.works like any local ´elektrishka´-even its just a humble ´dizel´ anywhere in the old CCCP: pay on board, unless forced to do it before by barriers and checks. Varies an enormous lot as to how eager staff is to collect the utterly low fares. Have small money.
2.Is it not that once has to pass MOL immigration at Ungheni before being allowed to travel onward? This would make it thus useless.
BTW; local Iasi citybuses also run till right at ROM side of the border-road-checks. Much more often as trains. Plus there are near hourly minibuses/marshrut from Iasi to Chis.
3.for this train/trip you need to speak enough of the local lingo to make your wishes clear-or write it all down-and a station which has the classic EKSPRES ticket issueing system-and Balti (main)_ does of course. THey will sell much more of such tickets on the trains toward mother Rossye. Check first if online booking is now available, this would cut out a lot of potential hassles. But why wait till there if your travelling around a bit before?

 

[ricohallo]

Worth asking on www.drehscheibe-online.de (German or English works, Nederlands might not!) as there are members there who head to that area.

Thanks for the tip! I considered posting it there first but since my German is worse than my English I thought I'd post it here first.

LOng time ago since Ie been there but some ideas:
1.works like any local ´elektrishka´-even its just a humble ´dizel´ anywhere in the old CCCP: pay on board, unless forced to do it before by barriers and checks. Varies an enormous lot as to how eager staff is to collect the utterly low fares. Have small money.
2.Is it not that once has to pass MOL immigration at Ungheni before being allowed to travel onward? This would make it thus useless.
BTW; local Iasi citybuses also run till right at ROM side of the border-road-checks. Much more often as trains. Plus there are near hourly minibuses/marshrut from Iasi to Chis.
3.for this train/trip you need to speak enough of the local lingo to make your wishes clear-or write it all down-and a station which has the classic EKSPRES ticket issueing system-and Balti (main)_ does of course. THey will sell much more of such tickets on the trains toward mother Rossye. Check first if online booking is now available, this would cut out a lot of potential hassles. But why wait till there if your travelling around a bit before?

Thanks a lot, that's some really useful information, very much appreciated! This helps a lot.
Regarding 2, I indeed didn't realize the Moldovan border checks probably still have to take place at Ungheni, so indeed the chance of making this connection is pretty much nonexistent. I'll just take the sleeper train to Chisinau instead, but for others the more frequent Marshrutkas can be of good use! Some of them also seem to stop at Ungheni station. I wouldn't try taking a bus to the border though, as I've read reports that crossing the border on foot is definitely out of question and you'd have to hope somebody is willing to give you a lift to the other side of the border.
3. That makes sense, Balti is of course pretty close to Ukraine and has quite some trains headed to Russia. The alternative would indeed be to book the tickets in Chisinau, but I might do Balti on another trip without going to Chisinau at all, so that's why I asked. When booking tickets in this part of Europe I indeed always write down what I want on a piece of paper, wouldn't say it solves all language barrier problems but it makes things a lot easier!