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Turkmenistan railway website (and app!)
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trainmania100
Established Member
I can vouch for that... My phone comes up with the option to translate it to English but it only makes it worse!
Struner
Member
You mean you understood the Turkmen better than the English translation?
AlbertBeale
Established Member
Though if you at least know the Cyrillic alphabet, the Russian is slightly understandable here and there because of some vocabulary overlap / loan words etc, especially where the context helps, as in train info etc; Turkic languages - such as Turkmen - seem to make less use of loan words recognisable by western Europeans.
AlbertBeale
Established Member
Is there any cross-border rail traffic from Turkmenistan to Iran? But the site does at least seem to work in terms of giving timings of trains - I've just tried a couple of routes on the main line through the capital (luckily there's a drop-down menu of places, since I don't have a Cyrillic keyboard).
No sign of Serakhs in either the Turkmen or Russian place menu - but maybe its name's changed like a lot of places have in recent years? Like Krasnovodsk - as I've always know the Turkmen port on the Caspian Sea - some other name entirely now I think (though I can't remember what!).
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U-Bahnfreund
Member
On this page http://railway.gov.tm/passengers/#apps there's a map and it shows that the line to Sarakhs is either not included in the app or trains don't go there anymore
AlbertBeale
Established Member
Aha - thanks for the map link - so that's the bit of the border concerned! I'd have expected, if there was a cross-border rail link, that it would be somewhere which makes more sense in terms of linking major Iranian and Turkmen population centres, rather than there. (Though that is on the historic silk route, so no doubt a very traditional crossing point.) But any link would require a gauge change - so maybe they're a pair of adjacent countries which have always only had minor rail links.
Though I doubt I'll ever be out that way looking for a train...
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Turkmenbashi (Türkmenbasy).
Apparently it's the title of the president (Leader of all Turkmen).
Much like Astana in Kazakhstan is now named Nur-sultan for its former president.
Not a lot different from colonial Georgetown/Jamestown/Charlestown and even Victoria.
It is supposed to have some sizeable cross border freight traffic.
From Mashhad, iranian railways serves the place, without crossing the border, twice a day, last time I looked.
siemensdesiros
New Member
I found this interesting thread and thought that i would make a comment as i am a railway enthusiast who has travelled extensively across the Turkmen and Iranian rail networks as well as other countries in the region.
This website is pretty useless and is missing a massive amount of trains and routes and stations. It only seems to show the major fast intercity trains only. There are a huge amount of slower trains and regional trains that are completely missing. I have the big official timetable book which i picked up when i was there late last year (it was extremely hard to get hold of but luckily with the help of a Turkmen friend and speaking to the Station Master in Ashgabat i managed to get one) and there are so many more trains than what are shown.
There is still a weekly train between Mary and Serakhs and backs again. It runs once a week in both directions and has done for years. Although note that it terminates on the Turkmenistan side of Serakhs and then you have to make your own way across the border to or from Iran to connect with the trains on the Iran side of Serakhs to continue your journey.
So the Serakhs to Mary train is still running. Also note at Mary there is frequent trains to and from Ashgabat and most other major cities. I think the website only shows the major trains that can be pre booked. This service between Serakhs and Mary is a very basic train and you buy your tickets onboard from the Guard as even ticket offices don't sell tickets for these basic slow regional services. It is extremely cheap though (less than £1.00 for a ticket) like most things in this region.
The train numbers are 6423 for the Northbound one and 6424 for the Southbound one. It leaves Mary at 07:10 and arrives Serakhs at 11:40 and in the other direction it leaves Serakhs at 19:10 and arrives Mary at 23:40 so it is about four hours and thirty minutes journey. Both of these journeys are on Monday only. The train sits around in Serakhs on Monday all day.
During my last visit to Turkmenistan late last year i took the Serakhs to Mary train in both directions as i was trying to do Tehran to Ashgabat entirely by train (which i did other than the small gap across the border between the two Serakhs in each country) which is possible with careful planning.
There are plenty of other services missing as well so it is a shame that the website doesn't show these.
Turkmenistan is well worth visiting. It is a strange place though. You can easily spend the whole day walking around Ashgabat and barely see a single other person other than some people sweeping the streets. It is like North Korea but a bit more freedom (especially as i have always travelled independently on a Transit Visa with no guide) so it is worth a visit. Iran is most certainly worth a visit as well. It is by far my favourite country and i keep going back. You won't find a friendlier country anywhere.
This website is pretty useless and is missing a massive amount of trains and routes and stations. It only seems to show the major fast intercity trains only. There are a huge amount of slower trains and regional trains that are completely missing. I have the big official timetable book which i picked up when i was there late last year (it was extremely hard to get hold of but luckily with the help of a Turkmen friend and speaking to the Station Master in Ashgabat i managed to get one) and there are so many more trains than what are shown.
There is still a weekly train between Mary and Serakhs and backs again. It runs once a week in both directions and has done for years. Although note that it terminates on the Turkmenistan side of Serakhs and then you have to make your own way across the border to or from Iran to connect with the trains on the Iran side of Serakhs to continue your journey.
So the Serakhs to Mary train is still running. Also note at Mary there is frequent trains to and from Ashgabat and most other major cities. I think the website only shows the major trains that can be pre booked. This service between Serakhs and Mary is a very basic train and you buy your tickets onboard from the Guard as even ticket offices don't sell tickets for these basic slow regional services. It is extremely cheap though (less than £1.00 for a ticket) like most things in this region.
The train numbers are 6423 for the Northbound one and 6424 for the Southbound one. It leaves Mary at 07:10 and arrives Serakhs at 11:40 and in the other direction it leaves Serakhs at 19:10 and arrives Mary at 23:40 so it is about four hours and thirty minutes journey. Both of these journeys are on Monday only. The train sits around in Serakhs on Monday all day.
During my last visit to Turkmenistan late last year i took the Serakhs to Mary train in both directions as i was trying to do Tehran to Ashgabat entirely by train (which i did other than the small gap across the border between the two Serakhs in each country) which is possible with careful planning.
There are plenty of other services missing as well so it is a shame that the website doesn't show these.
Turkmenistan is well worth visiting. It is a strange place though. You can easily spend the whole day walking around Ashgabat and barely see a single other person other than some people sweeping the streets. It is like North Korea but a bit more freedom (especially as i have always travelled independently on a Transit Visa with no guide) so it is worth a visit. Iran is most certainly worth a visit as well. It is by far my favourite country and i keep going back. You won't find a friendlier country anywhere.
Struner
Member
I can second that.
I would love to do so, but have so far been unable to convince the wife... Also, it is quite regrettable that there are no cross border passenger trains whatsoever. Being able to enter the country via, for example, Uzbekistan, and leave it via Iran (both lines physically exist, it's just that there are no trains) would allow for a quite memorable journey.
AlbertBeale
Established Member
Ah - thanks - I'd assumed that any rail link from that part of Iran into Turkmenistan would go northwards, towards Ashgabat; if there isn't, and there's no proper passenger service on the route which does exist (at Serakhs) either, then that suggests little population transit between the two countries, or not by rail, anyway!
If there's a lot of cross-border freight at Serakhs, is it cross-shipped between wagons, or do they use wagons with adjustable axles? I can see that it might be the obvious freight route for anything from Iran to countries further east, along the historic "silk road" route.
AlbertBeale
Established Member
Thanks for so much local info about travelling in Turkmenistan - fascinating.
As to the friendliness towards visitors in Iran, others have told me of the great hospitality of ordinary people there (though the experience for women is a bit different in some situations). However, they - and my Iranian friends over here (some of them effectively in exile here) - point out that though this is true with regard to many "ordinary" people, it's certainly not true as far as much of Iranian officialdom is concerned ... unless you keep your mouth shut about anything controversial (ie what those in power in Iran deem controversial!). If you're someone who thinks it normal to refer openly to the worldview you have, and the principles you live by - or (depending on which it is) which sex you are attracted to - then in many cases you might find Iran threatening rather than welcoming.
As far as I know, essentially minerals coming from turkmen deposits and exported to ships via the port of Bandar Abbas.
I have been in Masshad 10 years ago, came there by train from Kerman, but did not have a chance to look in detail at their freight operations. Would love to go back. Lots of things still to see, not only rail related.
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