Poland By Train

We traveled by train from Kiev to Warsaw, Poland. We traveled in a “coupe” this is compartment that can be made up for sleeping, as it is a 17-hour trip. We took food and beverages for the journey and tea (at 20 cents per cup) is about the only item we could order on the train.
The train left Kiev at 1:10Pm and arrived in Warsaw at 7:00AM the next day. The train is not fast at any time but there are delays when leaving Ukraine as immigration officers come onto the train and take all passengers passports, they stamp an exit stamp and remove the tourist registration card we received on entry into Ukraine. Customs officers pass through the train asking if we are taking any antiques out of the country.

We moved on a for a short time and then stopped in order to have the train wheels changed to the wider gauge (width) required for the train tracks west of Ukraine. The train cars are disconnected from the locomotive and taken into a shed. The train cars are jacked up and the wheel sets are pulled out one way and the replacement wheels are pulled in from the other end. We passengers are on the train while this 2-hour operation is taking place! Once again the train traveled a short distance to the Polish border where a more modern immigration process took place. The officers come onto the train with an electronic device that scans the passports quickly and we were stopped for perhaps 30 minutes. These stoppages all took place after 10:00PM, so there was not a lot of sleep until after 12:00PM!

We arrived in Warsaw at the central train station. The platform areas are more modern than Kiev and it was much less crowded than Kiev Station. We noticed that Warsaw is much less crowded than Kiev, it is about 1/3 the size of Kiev and is much easier to walk and ride the public transport when there is less people. The weather was wet and grey, so we did not see many photogenic opportunities!

The return trip left 7:00AM and it was daylight for perhaps 8 hours, so we could more of the countryside from the train windows. Much of the country looks to be very similar to Ontario, Canada! The flat farmlands have many of the same trees and bushes. Poland and western Ukraine are quite flat.