One of the best ways to move between cities in Central Asia is to take the train. You get to look at the changing landscapes passing by and get an impression of how large the distances can be without being forced to take part in the crazy road traffic of the region. The following links have been used by me for planning train journeys and purchasing tickets.
Generally useful sites
- Poezdato (Russian) is a useful third-party site listing train connections all over the former Soviet Union You can search for direct connections between two stations or a full listing of all trains arriving and departing a given station or city. Both Cyrillic and Latin input is supported.
- Belarusian railways sell tickets for trains in all CIS countries and the Baltics, supporting all kinds of international payment providers while not charging commission.
- Caravanistan about trains on the Silk Road lists all kind of information about train travel in the region. Some of the details might be out of date, be sure to check the forum threads linked in each article.
Kazakhstan
The Kazakh railways sell tickets online but for some international or even domestic connections it may be cheaper to buy them from the Belarusian railways instead.
- official website of the Kazakh railways (multilingual)
- official schedule and ticket sale site of the Kazakh railways (multilingual)
- Caravanistan about trains in Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
The Kyrgyz railways currently do not sell tickets online, but their ticket office at Bishkek-II station sells both domestic and international tickets using their Express-3 terminals.
- official website of the Kyrgyz railways (Russian)
- official schedule of the Kyrgyz railways (Russian)
- Caravanistan about trains in Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
The Tajik railways currently do not sell tickets online.
- official website of the Tajik railways (Russian)
- official schedule of the Tajik railways (Russian)
- Caravanistan about trains in Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
The Uzbek railways sell tickets online but some people report trouble while registering or during the payment process. If you can’t buy your electronic ticket from them you can try your luck with the Belarusian or Kazakh railways.