Krasnaya Strela High-class Service Train

Categories / City Services/Transportation/Railway Stations, Railway Transport
KRASNAYA STRELA high-class service train is the first high-class service train in the Russian railway system, travelling along Oktyabrskaya Railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg (Route #1 from St. Petersburg, and Route #2 from Moscow). The train made its maiden trip from Moskovsky Railway Station in Leningrad on 10 June 1931 at 1:30 a.m. (driven by I class engineer V.M. Ivanov) and arrived to Leningradsky Railway Station in Moscow on the same day at 11:20 a.m. The cruising speed was 69.8 km/h, a record speed at the time. The train consisted of 12 blue wooden carriages. At the beginning of World War II the traffic was stopped for two years and nine months; on 24 June 1941 the first train was put in the 96th carriage depot, previously used for Imperial trains. The traffic on Oktyabrskaya Railway renewed in January 1944; on 20 March 1944 train #1 departed for Moscow. Because the danger of air raids was still present, an armoured platform with an anti-aircraft mounting was added to guarantee the safety of the passengers. The new train consisted of one post carriage, seven second-class carriages, three first-class carriages and one sleeper carriage. In 1949 the blue colour of the carriages was changed to dark-cherry. Since December 1957, diesel locomotives have been used in the train. Locomotive engines were not changed during the trip, and the crew worked in shifts. In 1962 electric locomotives were introduced, first ER-1-107s, and later ChS-2Ts and ChS-200s. The train has 18 cars, and reaches its destination in 8 hours 30 minutes. Krasnaya Strela # 3/4 (introduced in 1976) departs four minutes after Krasnaya Strela # 1/2. Since 1965, the Krasnaya Strela departs to the music of Hymn to A Great City by R. M. Glier, broadcast on the station’s radio.

I. A. Bogdanov. Glier Reingold Moritsevich
Ivanov V.M.
Богданов И. А. Московский вокзал // Новый журн., 2002 Oktyabrskaya Railway
1931