How to Book Train Tickets in Uzbekistan (railway.uz Guide 2026)

Trains are the easiest way to travel between Uzbekistan's Silk Road cities, and booking them yourself is entirely possible. The official Uzbekistan Railways website and app sell every domestic train, accept foreign cards most of the time, and issue e-tickets you can show on your phone. The difficulty is not the system but the demand: the best trains sell out early in spring and autumn.

This guide explains how to book train tickets in Uzbekistan step by step as of November 2026: where to buy, what to enter in the passport fields, paying with a foreign card, when sales open, which class to choose, how e-tickets and boarding work, the refund rules, and what to know about the overnight sleeper trains to Khiva, Nukus and Termez.

For the high-speed train itself, its routes and fares, see our guide to the Afrosiyob train. Our route guides from Tashkent to Samarkand, Samarkand to Bukhara and Bukhara to Khiva compare trains with the road for each leg.

Where to buy Uzbekistan train tickets

You have four options, and the first two are the ones we recommend:

• The official website. Uzbekistan Railways (O'zbekiston Temir Yo'llari) sells tickets at eticket.railway.uz. As of November 2026 that address forwards to the company's newer ticketing domain, eticket.uzrailpass.uz, and you can also reach it from railway.uz. Prices are the official fares plus a small booking fee.
• The official app. Uzbekistan Railways has a ticketing app for iPhone and Android that sells the same tickets and stores them on your phone. Search the app stores for Uzbekistan Railways and check that the developer is the railway company before you install it.
• Station ticket offices. Any station sells tickets for any train, with your passport. They accept som in cash or local cards, not foreign currency.
• Agents and resellers. International platforms such as 12go and Bookaway, and local tour operators, can buy tickets for you. They usually accept foreign cards without trouble but add a service fee, and they cannot sell seats that are not available on the official system.

Avoid ticket sellers on the street or in messenger groups. Every ticket is issued in a passenger's name and passport number and checked at the station, so a ticket bought in someone else's name is useless.

How to book on railway.uz: step by step

The website and the app follow the same steps. Allow about ten minutes the first time.

• Open eticket.railway.uz and switch the language to English at the top of the page. If the page drifts back to Uzbek or Russian, your browser's translate function helps.
• Create an account. You register with an email address or phone number and confirm it with a code. Have the code arrive somewhere you can read it while abroad.
• Search. Enter your departure and arrival stations and the date. Tashkent has two main stations, so if you search for Tashkent the results show which one each train uses.
• Choose a train. The results list train numbers, names (Afrosiyob, Sharq, Nasaf, Jaloliddin Manguberdi and others), departure and arrival times and the fares by class. Greyed-out classes are sold out.
• Choose the car and seat. A seat map shows what is free. On sleeper trains you choose the type of car and then a berth.
• Enter passenger details for each traveller, exactly as in the passport (see the next section).
• Check everything, accept the terms and pay by card.
• Receive the e-ticket. It appears in your account and arrives by email as a PDF with a QR code. Save it to your phone.

A few tips: book each passenger with their own passport details, even children; search one leg at a time; and if the site is slow when a popular date opens, wait and try again rather than repeating payments.

Passport details: what to enter

Ticket and passport are checked together at the station entrance and at the carriage door, so the details must match. When you enter a passenger:

• Document type: choose the foreign passport option, not the Uzbek ID card or internal document.
• Surname and given names: in Latin letters exactly as printed in the passport, including middle names if they are part of the name line.
• Passport number: letters and digits without spaces.
• Citizenship, date of birth and sex: as in the passport.

Use the passport you will carry on the trip. If you renew your passport between booking and travel, the ticket will not match the new number, and you will need to cancel and rebook or have the details amended at a ticket office.

Children travel on their own tickets with their own passport details. Children's fares and the age limits for them are shown during booking.

Paying with a foreign card

Visa and Mastercard cards issued abroad generally work on the official site and the app, and the railway has also listed other international cards and wallets in the past. It is not always smooth, though. Travellers regularly report:

• A card declined on the first attempt, then accepted later
• The bank's 3-D Secure check timing out
• Slow processing when sales for a busy date open

What helps:

• Tell your bank you will make payments in Uzbekistan, and keep your banking app at hand for approvals.
• Try a second card, or switch between the website and the app.
• Do not press pay repeatedly. If money leaves your account but no ticket appears, check your account's order list before trying again, and contact the railway's e-ticket support (the refund page lists +998 99 190-50-05 and e-ticket@railway.uz).

Russian bank cards have been reported as not accepted. If no card works, a station ticket office, a reseller or a tour operator can buy the ticket for you.

When do Uzbekistan train tickets go on sale?

Sales for most domestic trains open up to 60 days before departure, although some trains are released later, closer to 45 days or less. You cannot book before sales open, so if your dates fall more than two months away, set a reminder.

How quickly trains sell out depends on the season:

• Spring (April and May) and autumn (September and October): the early Afrosiyob trains between Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, and the new high-speed train to Khiva, can sell out within days of opening.
• Public holidays: Navruz in March, the May holidays, Independence Day on 1 September, New Year and the two Eid holidays are the hardest dates of all.
• Winter and high summer: usually easier, though weekend trains still fill.

If a train shows as sold out, keep checking. In May 2026 local media reported a familiar problem: the system can show no seats while trains run with empty places, because unsold group reservations are released back into sale, sometimes only hours before departure. A sold-out train a week ahead often has seats again later. Our guide to the best time to visit Uzbekistan helps you weigh crowds against weather.

Train ticket classes explained

Uzbekistan's trains use several naming systems, which is confusing at first. As of November 2026:

High-speed trains:

• Afrosiyob (Spanish Talgo trains): economy (2+2 seats), business (2+1, wider) and VIP (a small saloon of leather seats). Economy is perfectly comfortable for two to four hours.
• Jaloliddin Manguberdi (the Tashkent to Khiva high-speed train launched in May 2026): economy and VIP.

Conventional day trains:

• Sharq (Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara): second class with open-plan seating, and first class in compartments.
• Nasaf (Tashkent, Samarkand, Karshi): second class seating only.

Sleeper trains:

• SV, also called lux or first class: two-berth compartments, the most private option.
• Kupe: four-berth compartments with two lower and two upper berths. The best balance of comfort and price.
• Platskart: an open-plan car with bunks, on some trains only. Cheap and sociable, but with little privacy.

In kupe and platskart, odd-numbered berths are usually the lower ones and even numbers the upper ones. Lower berths are easier for sitting during the day and for luggage storage underneath; upper berths are more private at night.

E-tickets, stations and boarding

You do not need to print an e-ticket for a domestic train. Show the PDF or the ticket in the app on your phone, together with your passport. A printout is a sensible backup in case your phone battery dies.

At the station:

• Stations work more like airports. You show your ticket and passport to enter, and bags go through an X-ray scanner.
• Arrive 30 to 40 minutes before departure, more at peak times.
• Your train and platform are announced on the boards and over the speakers, usually in Uzbek and Russian. Ask staff if you are unsure.
• At the carriage door, an attendant checks your ticket and passport again.

Check the station name on your ticket. Tashkent has two main stations about 7 km apart: the central station, Toshkent vokzali, next to Toshkent metro station, and the South station (Janubiy). Bukhara's station, Bukhara-1, is in the town of Kagan, 12 to 15 km from the old town. Samarkand and Khiva stations are inside the cities.

Keep your passport with you rather than in your suitcase; it may be checked again on board. Your train tickets are also useful evidence of where you spent a night on a sleeper, which matters for registration (see our guide to registration in Uzbekistan).

Refunds and changes

There is no option to change the date or time of a ticket online. To change plans, you return the ticket and buy a new one.

According to Uzbekistan Railways' refund page, as of November 2026:

• 24 hours or more before departure: full refund of the ticket and the reserved-seat part of the fare
• Less than 24 hours but at least 6 hours before departure: refund of the ticket part and 50 per cent of the reserved-seat part
• Less than 6 hours before departure: the refund is reduced further; check the current conditions before you cancel

Fees that are not returned:

• The booking commission: 25,000 som for domestic trains, including the Afrosiyob
• A refund administration fee: 15,000 som per seat

How to request a refund:

• Online: in your account, open your orders and use the refund button. Online refunds are only available for tickets paid by card, and the money returns to that card.
• At any station ticket office in Uzbekistan, with your passport.

Refunds for unused e-tickets can only be processed inside Uzbekistan, through the website or app or at a station. Card refunds can take some days to appear, depending on your bank.

Overnight trains in Uzbekistan

Sleeper trains connect Tashkent with the far corners of the country: Bukhara, Urgench and Khiva, Nukus in Karakalpakstan, and Termez in the south. Most leave Tashkent in the evening from the South station or the central station and arrive the next morning or around midday. They are older and slower than the high-speed trains, but clean, safe and usually punctual, and they save a night's hotel.

Typical 2026 fares from Tashkent, according to Seat61's published fare table (check the live price when you book):

• Tashkent to Bukhara: platskart about 178,000 som, kupe about 244,000 som, SV about 431,000 som
• Tashkent to Khiva: platskart about 245,000 som, kupe about 349,000 som, SV about 640,000 som

That is roughly US$15 to US$55 at the November 2026 rate of about 11,900 som to the dollar.

What to expect on board:

• Bedding is provided, and the attendant (provodnik or provodnitsa) checks tickets and looks after the car.
• Hot water for tea is available, but food on board is limited. Bring dinner, breakfast, water and fruit.
• Toilets are at the ends of the car. Bring tissues and hand sanitiser.
• Compartment doors lock from the inside. Keep valuables with you on the berth.
• Air conditioning can be strong in summer, and some cars are cold in winter, so bring a layer.

Sleeper trains sell out less quickly than the Afrosiyob, which makes them a good plan B. A kupe at sunrise in the Kyzylkum desert, with tea from the attendant, is one of the classic Uzbek travel experiences. Our Bukhara to Khiva guide compares the night trains with the new high-speed service.

Booking checklist

• Fix your route first, then book trains as soon as sales open, up to 60 days ahead.
• Register on eticket.railway.uz or the official app before the day sales open.
• Enter names and passport numbers exactly as in the passport, with foreign passport as the document type.
• Have two cards ready, and your banking app for approvals.
• Save the e-ticket PDF to your phone and keep a printed backup.
• Check which Tashkent station your train uses, and remember that Bukhara's station is in Kagan.
• Arrive 30 to 40 minutes early with your passport in your pocket.
• If a train is sold out, check again closer to the date and look at the Sharq, Nasaf and sleeper trains.

Let us handle the tickets

On our small-group and private tours, we book the train tickets on the route for you, and you are met at the stations. If you are planning a custom itinerary, tell us your dates and we will build the route around the best train times.