A journey across multiple countries around the world by train is entirely feasible.
In March 2010, numerous news outlets buzzed with the announcement of a high-speed rail line between Asia and Europe, supported by China, which could transport passengers between London and Beijing at speeds of up to 345 km/h, traversing 17 countries and covering a distance of 8,160 km in just 2 days.
A “super realistic” project like this may still take decades to complete. However, completing a long-distance journey solely by train is much more achievable. In fact, passengers can undertake a long journey without leaving the train except during transfers.
The longest railway line in the world before Laos opened its new railway.
The Journey from Europe…
Before the Lao high-speed train line became operational, the longest uninterrupted train journey, including transfers, started from the coast of Portugal, passing through China and ending in southern Vietnam, with a total length of approximately 17,000 km.
Starting from Portugal in Porto, the first two days of this (relatively) simple journey involve crossing countries that are all members of the European Union, with all (except Poland) allowing tickets to be purchased through Eurail, a European railway transport consortium. Eurail tickets can facilitate travel for most of the route, but reservation fees and additional travel costs still apply for most high-speed trains and sleeper tickets.
If considering the shortest travel time, the journey from the coastal center of Porto to the capital of Poland, Warsaw, can take 40 hours and 33 minutes (including time zone changes) with 4 train transfers.
From Porto, travelers will head south along the Atlantic coast on a high-speed train to Coimbra. After a one-hour stop in Coimbra, there will be a train journey from Portugal to northwestern Spain through Salamanca, Valladolid, and Vitoria-Gasteiz to Hendaye in France.
Upon reaching France, travelers will transfer to a TGV train for a 6-hour journey to Paris. The train ride on the Paris Metro takes 1 hour to reach the northern end of the city.
Here, a high-speed train will take travelers to Cologne in just 3 hours, with stops only in Brussels, Liège, and Aachen.
After a 3-hour wait in Cologne, travelers will continue by train heading east from Amsterdam to Warsaw. The travel time from Cologne through Germany and Poland to Warsaw via Dortmund, Hannover, Berlin, Rzepin, and Poznań is 10 hours.
TGV station in Liège. (Source: A. Russeth)
From Poland, travelers have two options: travel through Belarus, which requires a transit visa that typically needs to be applied for directly and can take several days to process; or choose to take a slightly longer but more reasonable route by heading north through the Baltic countries and then east to Russia, which adds an extra day and reduces costs while avoiding some complications.
Combining two time zone changes, the 311 km journey to Moscow takes 26 hours and 25 minutes.
…to Asia
In Moscow, travelers will have over 18 hours to wait for the next train that will cross most of Russia, passing through Perm, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Omsk. This train will turn south at Ulan-Ude into Mongolia before arriving in Beijing. The Moscow-Ulan Bator-Beijing journey is quite comfortable and relatively inexpensive, with ticket prices at just $804 for a ticket in a 4-bed cabin or $1,131 for a ticket in a 2-bed cabin. Travelers will have to stop at the Mongolia-China border for 4 hours as the rail gauge in China is narrower than that of Russia and Mongolia.
Ulan Bator – Beijing train. (Source: Sistak)
From Beijing, the final leg of the journey across Asia and Europe will commence. Continuing south by train through Zhengzhou, Guilin, and Nanning, travelers will need to change trains at the Vietnam border since Vietnam uses a 1-meter rail gauge. Hanoi is just over 4 hours away by train from the border.
Upon arriving in Hanoi, travelers will have an 11-hour rest before embarking on a long 33-hour journey, covering 1,726 km to Ho Chi Minh City – the final destination of the trip.
Such a “super realistic” project may still take decades to complete. (Photo: M. Rijavec)
In total, the journey of nearly 17,000 km takes about 327 hours, including time zone changes. That is over 13 and a half days of continuous travel.
However, the inauguration of the new high-speed railway in Laos has filled the last gap in the longest continuous railway journey in the world, setting a new record of 18,820 km.
The new route allows travel from Lagos in southern Portugal to Singapore via Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Ulaanbaatar, Beijing, Kunming, Vientiane, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. Experts estimate that it will take 21 days to complete the entire journey.
