Tolmachevo Airport (OVB), 15 km northwest of the centre, is Siberia's main international hub and the busiest airport east of the Urals. Aeroflot and other Russian carriers connect it to Moscow in 3.5 hours; there are also direct flights to European cities, Central Asian capitals, and major Chinese cities. A taxi to the centre takes 30–40 minutes; the cheaper option is the airport express bus to the Rechnoy Vokzal metro station.
By train, Novosibirsk is the major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The journey from Moscow takes about 40 hours on the fastest express trains; from Irkutsk (near Lake Baikal) it is about 13 hours. The main railway station in the southern part of the centre is a Soviet-era building of some architectural ambition; the metro station beneath it connects to the city's two metro lines.