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People Think They've Worked Out The Longest Train Journey On Earth

People Think They've Worked Out The Longest Train Journey On Earth

The trip starts in Portugal and ends in Singapore and would take about three weeks to complete

Simon Catling

Simon Catling

At 11,654 miles long, a rail blogger and the Reddit community think they may well have found the longest continuous train journey on earth.

The gigantic trip starts from Lagos in Portugal and stretches all the way to Singapore - with a few stops in between admittedly.

According to analysis done by rail blogger Mark Smith, who blogs under the name The Man in Seat 61, the 11,654-mile journey could be completed in around 21 days, or we reckon about 6000 trips of the snack trolley up and down the carriages.

It would be a grand old trip indeed, as you'd expect, with stops and connections along the way including Paris, Moscow, Beijing and Bangkok.

Alamy

The massive theoretical journey has been made possible by the addition of a new section of railway in Laos in southeast Asia, which was completed on December 2 and connects the city of Boten with the country's capital Vientiane.

It was built by the Chinese as part of the Laos-China railway link, with costs split between the two countries, and it took five years to construct.

Reddit user htGoSEVe then posted a map of the potential rail odyssey, although they did have to update their post to show that sections of the journey - such as from Lisbon to Hendaye in France, and the Paris-Moscow Express - are currently not in operation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It's estimated that the whole journey would cost a little over £1000 ($1322) in train tickets, which seems strangely reasonable until you realise that the journey doesn't pass through the UK.

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Reddit user Shevek99 commented that the journey could perhaps be stretched even further if you started further east.

"You can make it a bit longer," he wrote, "Instead of starting in Lagos, you can start in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, next to the border with Spain.

"From there, there is a train to Faro and from there to Lisbon. Is like 20km longer than starting from Lagos."

Smith has advised travellers on rail-only journeys across the world and he told The Independent: "Imagine going all the way from Lagos to Singapore, only to find you should have started at Villa Real de Santo Antonio!

Pexels

"Frankly, it would be better if people focused on starting from their local station here in the UK than from at a random point in Portugal.

"What's a could of hundred miles difference between friends, when you have a 11,000-mile journey to do?" he continued.

As you'd guess from a rail blogger, Smith is a veteran of most of this route: "Until the pandemic disrupted this route, it was remarkably easy and relatively affordable.

"I've used the Trans-Siberian myself to go London to Hong Kong (via the twice-weekly Moscow-Beijing express) and from London to Nagasaki (via ferry from Vladivostok). A lovely ride."

So, if you've got three weeks and a grand or so spare next summer, this could well and truly be the holiday for you.

Featured Image Credit: Pexels

Topics: World News, Trains, travel, Holiday