Longest railway journey on a single train - International edition

[westcoaster]

Moderator note - split from:

Longest railway journey on a single train

What would be considered the longest distance single railway journey from point A to point B without changing train ? It would interesting to ride in such a way you can see most of the country without getting out of your seat.

www.railforums.co.uk

Guessing it would not count (not fully in the UK, but the OP didn't state that)
Eurostar
St Pancras international to Bourg St Maurice

 

[jfollows]

Guessing it would not count (not fully in the UK, but the OP didn't state that)
Eurostar
St Pancras international to Bourg St Maurice

Eurostar went to Marseille.

 

[zwk500]

That may be a topic for International Transport , but what is / was a longest journey on one train by country ( currently and historically )?

Would hazard a guess at Moscow - Vladivostok, or the Trans-Siberian express. 9,289km. Some trains are extended to Pyongyang, 10,267km from Moscow. I believe there are variations to the route that can add a bit of distance to them but not sure if they count as a regular journey.

 

[class ep-09]

Would hazard a guess at Moscow - Vladivostok, or the Trans-Siberian express. 9,289km. Some trains are extended to Pyongyang, 10,267km from Moscow. I believe there are variations to the route that can add a bit of distance to them but not sure if they count as a regular journey.

Indeed it has no competition .


I wonder if there could be a list of countries with longest train journeys within each .

 

[Gaelan]

Indeed it has no competition .


I wonder if there could be a list of countries with longest train journeys within each .

In America, it’s the Amtrak Texas Eagle + Sunset Limited, two services with through carriages from Chicago to LA via Texas, 2728 miles over 65h45m, assuming it runs on time.

 

[zwk500]

Indeed it has no competition .


I wonder if there could be a list of countries with longest train journeys within each .

Longest train services - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[181]

Would hazard a guess at Moscow - Vladivostok, or the Trans-Siberian express. 9,289km. Some trains are extended to Pyongyang, 10,267km from Moscow. I believe there are variations to the route that can add a bit of distance to them but not sure if they count as a regular journey.

Indeed it has no competition .


I wonder if there could be a list of countries with longest train journeys within each .

The winter 2010/2011 Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable shows an every-other-day train between Kharkhiv (Ukraine) and Vladivostok, which I think is a bit further than from Moscow; I'm not sure how it compares with Moscow-Pyongyang. Obviously it won't be running now, though, and a quick look at 2014 and 2021/2022 European Timetables suggests that Vladivostok hasn't had through trains from west of Moscow for some years.

If something similar ran in Soviet times it would have been within one country.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Indeed it has no competition .


I wonder if there could be a list of countries with longest train journeys within each .

Probably in Italy it's the Milan-Syracuse through sleeper - more than 1000 miles.

 

[AdamWW]

Probably in Italy it's the Milan-Syracuse through sleeper - more than 1000 miles.

With the added interest of some of it being by boat.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Probably in Italy it's the Milan-Syracuse through sleeper - more than 1000 miles.

With the added interest of some of it being by boat.

From Messina, the Palermo sections of the ICNs travel 50km further than to Siracusa.

 

[AlbertBeale]

From Messina, the Palermo sections of the ICNs travel 50km further than to Siracusa.

Aha - yes - so maybe the Milan-Palermo through sleeper is the longest in Italy then?

With the added interest of some of it being by boat.

Though on the train on a boat - so I guess it counts!

 

[Springs Branch]

I wonder if there could be a list of countries with longest train journeys within each .

In America, it’s the Amtrak Texas Eagle + Sunset Limited, two services with through carriages from Chicago to LA via Texas, 2728 miles over 65h45m, assuming it runs on time.

The Indian-Pacific in Australia advertises itself as a 65 hour, 4,325km (= 2,687 mile) trip between Sydney and Perth - which is a creditable counterpart to Amtrak's longest.

To be pedantic for track bashers, around 196km (~122 miles) of the journey does double-back between Adelaide and Crystal Brook in South Australia.

During the second half of 2022, severe flooding in NSW cut the line between Sydney and Broken Hill for a significant time. The flood damage resulted in all the regular freight traffic via Broken Hill, plus the Indian-Pacific, being diverted via Melbourne and Geelong (or at least via the outskirts of those cities). I'm not sure how many km this added to the I-P's standard mileage. In some cases I think the train was turned short at Goulburn, with bustitution between there and Sydney - which might have been a bit annoying for all the cashed-up baby-boomers who paid eyewatering prices for their "luxury land cruise experience" on the train (this being the I-P and The Ghan's target demographic these days).

 

[nlogax]

In America, it’s the Amtrak Texas Eagle + Sunset Limited, two services with through carriages from Chicago to LA via Texas, 2728 miles over 65h45m, assuming it runs on time.

I did the through service in the other direction one winter. Freezing conditions meant long delays getting into Chicago so it became a 70 hour trip.

 

[railfan99]

...around 196km (~122 miles) of the journey does double-back between Adelaide and Crystal Brook in South Australia.

During the second half of 2022, severe flooding in NSW cut the line between Sydney and Broken Hill for a significant time. The flood damage resulted in all the regular freight traffic via Broken Hill, plus the Indian-Pacific, being diverted via Melbourne and Geelong (or at least via the outskirts of those cities). I'm not sure how many km this added to the I-P's standard mileage. In some cases I think the train was turned short at Goulburn, with bustitution between there and Sydney - which might have been a bit annoying for all the cashed-up baby-boomers who paid eyewatering prices for their "luxury land cruise experience" on the train (this being the I-P and The Ghan's target demographic these days).

Sydney to Broken Hill by rail is 1125km; Broken Hill to Crystal Brook is 371km and my source claims Crystal Brook to Adelaide Passenger Terminal at what used to be called Keswick is 197.5km, a total of 1693.5km. Not trying to be pedantic re '197.5km': that's what my source states.

Sydney via Albury to Tottenham Junction (10km or so west of Southern Cross station, Melbourne) is approximately 950km with Tottenham Junction to Adelaide PT about 818km, so in total 1768km: not much longer.

Goulburn is 222km south of Sydney by rail, so Goulburn NSW to Adelaide PT is about 1546km.

 

[superalbs]

Probably in Italy it's the Milan-Syracuse through sleeper - more than 1000 miles.

Is that so? I've recorded it around 920mi...

 

[AlbertBeale]

Is that so? I've recorded it around 920mi...

The route I went, down to Genoa, and round the coast, etc, added up to 1000 miles (working from ERT mileages I think). I could be misremembering - it was a few years back - but I'm pretty sure it added up to 1000 miles... Apologies if my memory is in exaggeration mode.

 

[itfcfan]

I believe 037Х from Semey to Mangistau at a respectable 3,242km (2,014 miles) narrowly beats 051Х Almaty-2 to Uralsk (3,192km or 1,983 miles) as the longest passenger journey in Kazakhstan:
037X Semey - Mangistau
051Х Almaty-2 - Uralsk

The former is a traditional passenger service taking 66 hours crossing the country from East to West, while the latter is a Talgo taking 41.5 hours crossing the country from South to North(-West).

I'd highly recommend both journeys!

 

[Cheshire Scot]

'Back in the day' I travelled on a through train from Venice to Athens (two nights on the train, a journey of approx. 40 hrs. Whilst this cannot compete with the Russian examples, in an earlier era the train started in Paris, adding a further 20+ hours, and also had a portion for Istanbul.

 

[steamybrian]

In 1996 I travelled across Canada on the 3 times per week through train from Toronto to Vancouver a distance of over 2,400 miles taking about 3 days.

 

[AdamWW]

In 1996 I travelled across Canada on the 3 times per week through train from Toronto to Vancouver a distance of over 2,400 miles taking about 3 days.

Thanks to delays due to fright trains taking priority, I think the schedule has now been relaxed to 4 days (or at any rate 4 nights).

 

[popeter45]

If we consider loco changes and gauges changes as doable how far could you get on a hypothetical Paris to new Delhi via teran train?

And how crazy long would it take?

 

[etr221]

Looking at OpenRailwayMap, links across Iran to Pakistan are there, giving options:
via Turkey, with train ferries across Bosphorous and Lake Van
via Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) - various borders, and rail links across them, are closed, so not possible
round beyond the Caspian, through Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - would seem to be possible physically, if not politically.
My guestimate would be a week to ten days via Turkey, perhaps twice that going round Caspian.

For 'pipe dream' longest journey, my thought used to be from Vila Real de Santo Antonio in Southern Portugal via Russia, the Trans-Siberian and across China to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; but I see the Laos-China Railway is now complete, which lets you to travel to Vientiane in Laos, where a change to a Thai train seems to possible, for going on to Singapore. Guesstimate 2 to 3 weeks...

 

[citycat]

Looking at OpenRailwayMap, links across Iran to Pakistan are there, giving options:
via Turkey, with train ferries across Bosphorous and Lake Van
via Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) - various borders, and rail links across them, are closed, so not possible
round beyond the Caspian, through Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - would seem to be possible physically, if not politically.
My guestimate would be a week to ten days via Turkey, perhaps twice that going round Caspian.

For 'pipe dream' longest journey, my thought used to be from Vila Real de Santo Antonio in Southern Portugal via Russia, the Trans-Siberian and across China to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; but I see the Laos-China Railway is now complete, which lets you to travel to Vientiane in Laos, where a change to a Thai train seems to possible, for going on to Singapore. Guesstimate 2 to 3 weeks...

If you go to the youtube channel Planes Trains and Everything, I believe he has done a similar journey starting in Portugal.

 

[MarcVD]

If we consider loco changes and gauges changes as doable how far could you get on a hypothetical Paris to new Delhi via teran train?

And how crazy long would it take?

You could go further than India, up to Bangladesh in fact. But not without a train change, as there are no gauge change installations in Zahedan, where standard and broad gauges meet. And I'm curious whether the Quetta - Zahedan line is still operational.

You could also go to China this way, via Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Both gauge change points on this route are equipped to lift cars and change bogies.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Jon Worth tackled the question of "the longest train journey in the world" in 2021. The answer, with some caveats, was Lisbon to Singapore. His route relies on the now-defunct Allegro service between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg.

The longest train journey in the world - in 2021 - Jon Worth

IMPORTANT: this blog post is correct as of 15 December 2021, and all the text below is unchanged since then. At that time two borders – Russia to China, and China to Laos – could not be crossed due to COVID. The outbreak of war in Ukraine has also meant […]

jonworth.eu

 

[beardedbrit]

'Back in the day' I travelled on a through train from Venice to Athens (two nights on the train, a journey of approx. 40 hrs. Whilst this cannot compete with the Russian examples, in an earlier era the train started in Paris, adding a further 20+ hours, and also had a portion for Istanbul.

I did a similarly long trip in 1964, Munich-Athens (cheap student rate ticket). The two overnight portions were Munich to northwestern Yugoslavia, and Macedonia to Thessalonika or thereabouts

 

[Beebman]

'Back in the day' I travelled on a through train from Venice to Athens (two nights on the train, a journey of approx. 40 hrs. Whilst this cannot compete with the Russian examples, in an earlier era the train started in Paris, adding a further 20+ hours, and also had a portion for Istanbul.

In 1979 I was doing some evening spotting at Köln Hbf when I saw a train which included an OSE coach - I can't remember if it was a couchette or a sleeper but at the time I was keeping a record of every new UIC country code I saw and it was definitely the first time I'd ever seen any vehicle with the code of '73' for Greece. I can't remember for certain the final destination, the only other I thing I can recall is that there was also at least one JZ coach in the formation so it must have gone via Yugoslavia. Could this have been the Athens train which started from Paris? Would it have gone from Nord via Bruxelles and Aachen?

 

[rvdborgt]

In 1979 I was doing some evening spotting at Köln Hbf when I saw a train which included an OSE coach - I can't remember if it was a couchette or a sleeper but at the time I was keeping a record of every new UIC country code I saw and it was definitely the first time I'd ever seen any vehicle with the code of '73' for Greece. I can't remember for certain the final destination, the only other I thing I can recall is that there was also at least one JZ coach in the formation so it must have gone via Yugoslavia. Could this have been the Athens train which started from Paris? Would it have gone from Nord via Bruxelles and Aachen?

An acquaintance of mine once used a through carriage Brussels to Athens. Not sure where it started, but I'd assume Ostend.

 

[MarcVD]

I did Köln - Athens in 1980. I reserved a couchette. It was an OSE car. The train originated from Dortmund.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Could this have been the Athens train which started from Paris? Would it have gone from Nord via Bruxelles and Aachen?

The 1970s route from Paris was Dijon,Simplon, Milan, but various locations in Germany had through workings to the then Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey