A new tourist train begins its first 14-day trip from Moscow to Beijing.The train will set off from Moscow's Kazaknsky railway terminal on Monday and it will make stopovers in Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyerask, Irkutsk, Ulan Ude, Ullan Baatar, and in Erlian.

"A rich program of excursions will be offered in each of these cities," a spokesman for Russian Railways Co (RZD) told Itar-Tass. A zest of the trip is a travel along a circular railway around picturesque Lake Baikal, and a night in an authentic Mongolian jurt, the spokesman said. Apart from it, dishes of national cuisines will be offered on board the train. "Interpreter services will be available for foreign tourists during the entire trip," the spokesman noted.

Along with sleeping cars, the train has two restaurants, a cafeteria, and a car with bath cubicles. According to the spokesman, the new tourist train linking Russian and China is "a major stage in the development of international railway tourism."