The Batumi train is down to two departures a day, and costs 36 lari

In summer there were four departures each way: 06:30, 08:05, 10:15 and 17:10 from Tbilisi, and 08:00, 14:10, 16:50 and 18:30 from Batumi. From October that drops to two each way. Weekend extras ran in early October and had gone by the 19th. There is no overnight train to Batumi on the current schedule. If you are planning a day on the coast and back, the autumn pair of departures does not support it comfortably in one day; the 08:05 out and 16:50 back gives you roughly four hours in Batumi.

Two channels sell the same seats. tkt.ge needs no account, has an English interface and takes Visa or Mastercard, adding a fee of roughly 2 lari per Batumi ticket. The railway's own site charges the base fare — about 32 to 34 lari second class and 70 to 74 lari first — but requires an account, and seat selection costs 1 lari. Both send a QR-code e-ticket by email. Cash tickets are sold at the third-floor counters at Tbilisi Central between 08:00 and 20:00. Children aged five to ten pay half.

The same network reaches other places a visitor might actually want. Tbilisi to Kutaisi Airport is 34 lari second class and about two hours thirty-five minutes on the double-decker, with slower single-deckers at 08:15 and 17:30 for 15 lari. Zugdidi — the gateway for Svaneti — is 17 lari and runs once daily, 08:15 to 13:36, returning at 18:00. Poti is also 17 lari, 17:30 to 22:11. Borjomi is 1 to 2 lari on local trains at 06:35 and 18:35. No train reaches Kazbegi, Kakheti, Mestia or Vardzia; those are road journeys.