The Confederations Cup 2017, the football tournament among national teams, held under the auspices of FIFA, which will be held from June 17 to July 2 in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and Kazan. These days, as well as during the FIFA World Cup, the audience of sports events will be granted free travel.
The general general director of the Russia-2018 organizing committee, created for the FIFA World Cup, Alexei Sorokin, said that this initiative gives fans the opportunity to adequately plan their trip, save money and plan their journeys between cities as comfortably as possible. "Of course, transportation within cities will also be very popular. The system is extremely simple and does not involve any additional electronic media, it is extremely convenient for all holders of tickets for the Confederations Cup. Of course, there will be less foreigners than we expect to be at the World Cup. But it will change at the World Cup, when thousands of football fans will arrive here and will be moving between and within the host cities," Sorokin said.
The Confederations Cup will be attended by the national teams of Russia, New Zealand, Mexico, Portugal, Chile, Australia, Cameroon and Germany.
Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Nikolay Asaul specified that the free transportation service will begin its work on June 15: "On this day, the first additional train will be launched, which we specially designed for the Confederations Cup fans. These are modern zero-fare trains, couchette cars providing superior level of comfort. Each train has a dining car. In some cases, you can save on a hotel. The schedule of additional trains is specially designed in such a way as to arrive on the day of the match, and after it is completed, one can take the train and go to the next city".
According to the deputy minister, the government decided to expand the time of using the free train service to three days: "A spectator who bought a ticket and issued a fan ID will be able to use free railway travel for three days before a match and three days after each match... To date, 35 thousand boarding tickets have already been issued, 28 trains are more than 90% full. But there are places for later departure dates".
There is also the possibility of free travel between the airport and the city center. "Aeroexpress train services will also work for free in Moscow, Sochi and Kazan. There is no aeroexpress service in St. Petersburg, so special buses will operate there to transport fans to the city center after they provide a fan ID. Special public transport routes will be launched. In Moscow, the use of Moscow Central Circle, suburban passenger trains and routes closed to stadiums and venues, will be free of charge. One does not need any additional coupons or other documents to use a public transport service without paying a fare, just show a ticket, a fan ID and use a bus, a tram, a trolley or train for free," Asaul said.
