Can I pre-order a meal on a Russian train? How?

Question

I have Russian railway tickets in classes 2Т and 2К. In class 2Т, there is at least some meal included in the price, I'm guessing supper (see this answer by artptr and this webpage on Types and classes of service by RZD). This answer by columbien links a Russian language review about pre-ordering meals, including an option for ужин-вегетарианский, which meaning supper-vegetarian, which would suit me well, in particular since I should apparently not assume such an option to be available by default.

Can I pre-order meals with my class 2Т tickets on trains 042В and 041М? If so, how? I looked under my orders at my online account with rzd.ru but did not see an option for it, and the Russian language version did not appear to have more options than the English language one.

Answer 1

Yes, you can pre-order a meal you have paid for. On some trains, you may also be able to pre-order snacks and even souvenirs.

To pre-order a meal you have paid for

in the menu, go to Пассажирам | Услуги | Сервис выбора предоплаченного питания.

In the form, under «Поиск билета», fill in the form. The entries correspond to what it says on your e-ticket or to your personal information:

• «Номер билета»: E-Ticket Number: this is a 14-digit number at the top of your e-ticket
• «Фамилия»: last name / family name
• «Место №»: seat number
• «Имя»: given name
• «Тип документа»: drop down menu for document type. For foreign citizens, this will be «иностранный документ» (foreign document)
• «Номер документа»: document number (i.e. passport number)

Tick the box in front of where it says «Настоящим подтверждаю согласие на передачу персональных данных для обработки.». This is your agreement for them to process your personal data for the purposes of providing you with a special order meal.

Click «Найти» (fetch).

Now a new menu should appear where you can choose your meal type:

In the example above, the alternatives are standard, bird (rice with chicken), or meat (pasta with meat).

Vegetarians are out of luck!

Make your choice, then click «выбрать».

When I try this (even though none of the choices suit me) I get:

Неверные параметры запроса. Пожалуйста, измените требования. 2040 (ОШ W: UN13: ВЫБОР ПИТАНИЯ ПО ДАННОМУ БИЛЕТУ НЕДОСТУПЕН)

Which means it didn't work, and I'm not sure why, but it may be a transient server-side problem — I'll try again later. But I'm pretty sure it's supposed to work this way.

To pre-order snacks:

in the menu, go to Пассажирам | Услуги | Оформление услуг к билетам.

Enter your ticket and personal details as described above and click «Найти» (this button will appear after clicking the agreement checkbox).

You will get a link of services associated with the ticket:

When selecting товары, you can pre-order some drinks and snacks — but not full meals. Click on «Купить товары» gets you to an online shopping portal. The tabs «Снэки», «Десерты», «Напитки», and «Горячие напитки» contain foods and drinks:

But clearly this not a replacement for a meal, and arguably, a traveller well organised enough to order snacks in advance is well organised enough to bring their own...