Four hours and six blinis on Russia’s high-speed rail service.
The journey between Russia’s two largest cities has always been arduous. In the 18th century, Alexander Radishchev took a trip from Saint Petersburg to Moscow that lasted an eternity, taught him everything about the Russian soul, and resulted in one of the great travelogues in the history of the country. A decade ago, the 400-mile journey between Saint Petersburg and Moscow was still laborious (R&K’s co-founder did a video breakdown of the road trip for TIME Magazine in 2008). Traveling by road meant a rutted highway past an endless string of villages that often didn’t have paved roads, a drive that still takes up to 12 hours today. Train journeys were drawn-out affairs too. Transit between Russia’s two largest cities involved overnight sleepers for 8+hour trips (although it could be done—and still can—in luxury cabins.)
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