ZSSK CityStar tickets

[Please Explain]

Hello all,


I don't know whether to post this here or on the ticketing forum but here goes;

Do any of you happen to have any experience with the mythical "CityStar" tickets?? I have heard much of these over the years, particularly from one Herr Helmut Uttenhaler of ÖBB and the legendary Wien-Pyongyang blog fame who had a separate blog about these supposedly dirt cheap Slovak ZSSK issued through return tickets to Russia, but this info has since disappeared. To quote Helmut himself; "due to a number of different reasons" and the site is now blank..
However, from what I have read recently elsewhere on the net, I believe that these now may no longer be available or no longer offer the same value as they once did, due to the fact that the RZD have now set several international and internal trains such as the train #001/002 "Rossiya" -(Moskva-Vladivostok at "Global Price" tariff.

Any info on these would be most welcome.

 

[dutchflyer]

Explain; there is nothing to be found on it anymore, as it was years ago this was possible (probably the last century). It was a remnant of the old socialist SMPS-International tariff system and too long prevailing unrealistic exchange rates-and probably even before there was a Byelorus or so.
It ws replaced by an adapted TCV (the western INTnational tariff) but with sizeable discounts% in the participating countries (dont jump-this means maybe 30% OFF of a fare that is 3 times as high as domestic-making it thus double), still incl. SK, also HU/UA/RO and some more.
Due to the disagreements between RU and UA there are no more the old style through trains between/via them, which of course affects SK very much.
However, City* still exist and is comparable to German DB style ''Europasparpreise'', which are in effect advance fixed train tickets with some group/family extra discounts. Now limited to the few most populair destinations out of SK.
Aside: tickets for these so overhyped ''TransSiberia'' express are very limited and in normal seson all snapped up by travel agents, who get access 2 weeks before John Smith (or Pitr Pjotrková) can and sell them on with hefty surcharges.

 

[Please Explain]

Hallo dutchflyer -(kom je uit Nederland?! )

Interesting bit about it being from the last centaury.. There were people discussing it being still available from the ZSSK as recently as 2013 on another forum, and helmut discussing using it to get to Russia on his blog from 2008 here: http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/ .

I guess it was the recent Ukrainian crisis as you mention and the fact that the RZD made a number of trains global price that killed it off, C'est la vie...

Anyway, bedankt voor je antwoord!

 

[provodnik]

RZD switched to "global prices" for tickets sold by European railways a few years ago (in 2015, I think).
This concerns domestic trains inside Russia as well as the few remaining international trains to/from Europe. The prices if bought in Europe are more or less the same as in Russia, also the dynamic pricing applies as if bought in Russia.

"global price"-tickets now also exist for trains to China... I saw a scan of a Almaty - Urumchi global price ticket sold by RZD.... however, such tickets can't be booked via any European railway, as there is no common tariff agreement.
The SMPS-agreement doesn't cover European railways, the SCIC-EWT agreement doesn't cover China, Mongolia, etc.