Starting from Monday, March 18, long distance train tickets to Austria via the direct Kyiv–Vienna route can only be purchased through an app published by Ukrzaliznytsia, the state-owned railway company, supported by identity verification through Ukraine’s Diia eGovernment portal.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia’s announcement, the new measure currently only applies to the tickets purchased for the direct Kyiv–Vienna service, while journeys to Vienna originating from Ukraine’s western border city of Chop can be purchased both online and at physical ticket offices.
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The changes mean that non-residents of Ukraine will likely need to solicit help from locals to purchase such tickets, as the Diia portal is only available to Ukrainian citizens and those formally registered as temporary and permanent residents.
At present, the 749D direct train between Kyiv and Vienna costs Hr.3,844 ($99) and takes 23 hours, departing Kyiv at 1:20 p.m. and arriving in Vienna at 11:20 a.m. the next day.
It is also possible to make a transfer at Chop, lasting 2-3 hours, taking the total journey time to around 26 hours at a cost of Hr.2,182-3,112 ($56-80).
Tickets can only be purchased up to 20 days in advance to avoid overbooking, which is similar to the restrictions applied to other rail connections.
Ukrzaliznytsia says it plans to introduce online purchases for other connections through Hungary following an agreement with Austria and Hungary.
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“At the next stage, tickets for the Ukraine-Hungary connection will also be available online for trains going through the territory of Hungary in transit to Austria on the Kyiv-Budapest-Vienna and Chop-Budapest-Vienna routes. Direct connections Ukraine – Hungary (Mukachevo – Debrecen, Mukachevo – Budapest, Chop – Zahon) will be added to the application a little later,” the announcement read.
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