New, cheap train to Ukraine from Poland
 

Starting today, December 23rd, there will be a new train connecting Polish border city of Przemyśl in the southeast with Lviv and Kiev! The train will be a new comfortable Hyundai Rotem set travelling as an intercity. This is an extension of the existing Lviv-Kiev fast trains.

The train leaves Przemyśl around 2:30 PM local time and gets to Kiev before 11 PM. On the return, it leaves Kiev at 6:45 AM, Lviv at 12:17 PM and gets to Przemyśl at 1:30 PM. All border checks are to be done on-board the train, so very comfortable.

This is a great option for many people who want to travel cheap from the EU to Ukraine without flying, as it will be a lot cheaper than taking the expensive international trains.

The prices are in and they are: Przemyśl - Lviv €7,10 and Przemyśl - Kiev €13,40.

Tickets can be bought at the international ticket offices at any train station in Poland (and probably Germany, but that might be more difficult to convince the ticket agent to do so ;) ). There are rumors that it will be possible to buy them from the Ukrainian' railways website, but not confirmed yet.

Here's the full time-table:
http://i.imgur.com/5uFSSbO.png

THought I'd share this good news for cheap travel in this part of the world as it might be interesting to some who would like to go to Ukraine but are a bit scared off travelling by the mini-buses, pedestrian crossings etc and are not willing to pay €100-€150 for a return sleeper ticket!

That's a great new option indeed. Thanks for sharing!

3 hours from Przemysl to Lviv is slow. You can get there by minibus in 2 hours, even allowing for the border crossing.

Interesting to note that the reverse direction takes just over an hour.

Given that neither Poland nor Ukraine uses the euro, are the prices actually set in euros and will the złoty amount change if the euro exchange rate changes?

Is this a fixed price which is the same whether you buy in advance or just before boarding, and do you need to reserve seats?

Seems like they are building in a lot of padding for Ukraine entry checks.

The timetable shows local time - so since Ukraine is one hour ahead of Poland, the Przemysl to Lviv journey time is about two hours each way. (Note the departure from Mostiska at 13:27 with arrival at Przemysl at 13:25).

Thanks for the clarification, railways. That's an elementary oversight on my part. Even less forgiveable when you consider that I've done this journey on more than one occasion. At least when I travelled on Russian Railways it was always fixed to Moscow time!

This is standard operating procedure for international tariff between European countries. Prices are set in euros and złoty (or hryvnia, if bought in Ukraine) amount depends on the railway exchange rate.

It is a fixed price which is the same whether you buy in advance or before boarding. Seats are reserved and that reservation is required.

Apparently, from January 15th, tickets are supposed to be available through Ukrainian railroad website in the form of e-tickets - we shall see!

Also, somewhat of a novelty, the Ukrainian side of the border stop takes only 7 minutes, as the checks are done on the way between the border and Lviv - the Ukrainian border guards enter at Lviv on the way to Poland and do their checks as the train moves. Saves quite a bit of time!

Has anyone taken the train from Przemyśl to Lviv?

Ryan Air was supposed to start offering non-stop flights from KRK to LWO, but the deal fell through, so I'll have to investigate other options.

There's an overnight train from KRK as well as a number of buses.

I doubt I'd get much sleep on the overnight train, so I'll likely take a train from Krakow to Przemyśl, then take a train from there to Lviv.

I'm considering: Krakow-Przemyśl train, bus to border, cross the border on foot, then bus to Lviv just for the experience. My only concern is that I've heard the wait at the border can sometimes be long. Not sure I want to spend hours doing that.

Przemyśl to Kyiv via Lviv, Ternopil and Vinnytsia.
 

Some train-spotter info on the latest service:
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/p...-expanded.html

Well, I am going next week on an (certainly) odd path which is mainly attributed to me being an av geek and few non-local people (like me) in the knowing of that option ...
As part of my trip from Frankfurt (Germany) to Kiev (Ukraine) I will fly FRA to KRK (Ryanair) and continue by train to Radom, Poland from where I will take a flight (Sprintair) to Lviv on the next day.
Downside is that flight RDO-LWO goes only twice a week (thursday/sunday).
"Upside" is the flight is dirt cheap comparably.
One-way incl tax is between 34,27€ (promo restricted) and 80,27 (full flex) but always including 1pc hand luggage (max 5kg) plus 1pc checked luggage (8kg free for promo /12kg free with other fares). Any weight above charged at 7,-€/Kg.
Aircraft is a small Saab 340 (turboprop / 30seats).
Sprintair background: It´s basically a cargo airline but has three aircraft in pax /quick change config. used for regional passenger flights out of RDO (cargo flights operate from various locations, though).

So, maybe this flight/train combo could be an option if operational days fit your schedule.
Train from Krakow to Radom takes +/- 4hrs on a direct train and Radom airport is pretty close to the train station accessible by bus or taxi (20/10 mins resp.) ...

That's definitely Av Geek territory if you go out of your way to fly from RDO. You'll probably be the only pax in the airport! I think Sprintair is the only service running out of RDO these days. Lodz is almost as sad but I think they still have Adria.

I don´t think I´m the only passenger.
Seems that quite a number of flights are full or at least with promo fare sold out.

Btw.: Sprintair does fly 3 routes from RDO (Prague/Gdansk/Lviv) and you´re right they are the only carrier at RDO.

But something tells me there´s a reason why tickets are relatively cheap.
Sprintair has also its own flight school and maybe they offer their cadets (after they receive their wings) to "raise" their number of flight hours under supervision of experienced captains because few airlines would hire pilots with less than 500hrs logged.
So, the young pilots work for little to no salary which helps keeping costs "competitive".
Looking at their operations scheduled passenger service is obviously not the main focus of their business model.
Such practice to offer young pilots to gain experience would not raise a flag for me.
Ultimately there´s an experienced captain in row 0 ...

Re Lodz: no Adria Airways but Ryanair up to two daily flights.