ВведениеSaint Petersburg - Tsarskoe Selo - Pavlovsk

Today we’ll take a journey along the very first railway line of Russia. At its opening, it was named “Tsarskoselsky” which means the "Tsarskoye Selo Railway". This line connected St. Petersburg to two residences of Russian emperors – Tsarskoye Selo (which means the Tsar’s Village, nowadays the city of Pushkin) and Pavlovsk.

Vitebsky Rail Terminal, the start of our journey, was formerly named like the road – “Tsarskoselsky”. On October 30, 1837, the first train departed from this station, it was still made of wood at that time. That date is considered the birthday of Russian Railways.

At first, the road was a kind of entertainment, but it gradually became clear that railroad lines were a thing of the future in Russia considering the wide spread of the country.

The Tsarskoselsky Railway expanded and developed over time. In 1900, it was merged with the Moscow-Windau-Rybinsk Railways. The old Tsarskoselsky station building was replaced by a beautiful modern complex that we call Vitebsky Rail Terminal today.

We are going to make almost 30 kilometers along the route of the first Russian train. The author of the railway project himself – Austrian engineer Franz von Gerstner – served as the first locomotive driver.

Of course, a lot has changed since then. The very fact that it was possible to cover such a distance in forty minutes (which is the same duration today) – was a sensation at the time.

Today it is  quite a feat to ride in an electric train car and listen to a story about what we can see through the windows, and the buildings and places we pass by.

This audio guide is designed for the journey from St. Petersburg to Pavlovsk. Directions “left” and “right” are given from the stand point of a person  looking to the front of the train.