History's longest rail passenger ride.

[GP35]

What’s the longest train ride in the world?

There are a lot of answers, of course—the Red Express on the

trans-Siberian railway that goes from what used to be Leningrad

and is now, mercifully, once more Petrograd (St. Petersburg)

near the Baltic to Port Arthur on the Pacific, is probably the best one.

The old Blue Train that used to run from Cairo, Egypt to Capetown, South Africa, was certainly in the running, as was the world-renowned Orient Express that ran from London to Dover, then to Calais via boat, and from there to Istanbul, Turkey. For seeming to be long without actually being all that long, there’s a stretch of track that runs in a perfectly straight line for almost 300 miles across Nullarbor (which means no trees, and it ain’t kiddin’) Plain in Australia, which will probably qualify. Another candidate has to be the original run of what is now Amtrak’s Train #1, the Sunset Limited, when in the 1920’s it ran from Chicago to San Francisco via St. Louis, Memphis, Jackson, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara on the Illinois Central, Texas & New Orleans, Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio, and Southern Pacific. The Sunset Limited’s current Amtrak run, from LA to Jacksonville, Florida, might be in the game, too.

Click link to get the answer.

http://www.texfiles.com/ERAmay02/trainride.htm

 

[1702]

What’s the longest train ride in the world?Another candidate has to be the original run of what is now Amtrak’s Train #1, the Sunset Limited, when in the 1920’s it ran from Chicago to San Francisco via St. Louis, Memphis, Jackson, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara on the Illinois Central, Texas & New Orleans, Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio, and Southern Pacific. The Sunset Limited’s current Amtrak run, from LA to Jacksonville, Florida, might be in the game, too.

Click link to get the answer.

http://www.texfiles.com/ERAmay02/trainride.htm

The Sunset Limited never ran on such a convoluted routing. It was first a San Francisco-New Orleans train, then Los Angeles-New Orleans, but always on the "Sunset Route" thru Arizona, New Mexico, & Texas.

Amtrak's version has been thru some endpoint changes, but Jacksonville wasn't one of them. It was first extended from New Orleans to Miami, then cut back to Sanford, FL, then extended back to Orlando. Now of course it's Los Angeles-New Orleans, with service east of NOL "suspended".

 

[Alex]

the Red Express on thetrans-Siberian railway that goes from what used to be Leningrad

and is now, mercifully, once more Petrograd (St. Petersburg)

near the Baltic to Port Arthur on the Pacific, is probably the best one.

http://www.texfiles.com/ERAmay02/trainride.htm

I'm fairly sure the Moscow-Vladivostok Transiberain has to be the longest train route in the world right now. The Trans-Manchurian (Moscow-Bejing) and the Trans-Mongolian (Moscow-Ulan Bator-Beijing) probably take third and second.

Some comments (and I hope I'm not sounding picky)

I've never heard it called the Red Express before (and I speak Russian and have taken large parts of this train). St. Petersburg is also now called St. Petersburg, not Petrograd (a temporary name during World War I up until Lenin's death, when the city was renamed Leningrad, ca. 1928 or so). As for, Port Arthur, I'm not sure if this was ever the terminus of the Trans-Sib. The original Trans-sib route in the early 1900's did run through China but I think it always terminated in Russia at Vladivostok. Port Arthur no longer exists (it is now called Dalian and is fully controlled by China). In any case, Vladivostok is further away from Moscow than Port Arthur.

Today, as far as I know, there is a train every other day in both directions from Moscow to Vladivostok called the Rossiya (trains no. 1 and 2) which is a 'firmenny' or name-brand train. On the other days, a 'passirzhijskij,' or a less comfortable train, runs on the same route (I believe, but am not sure, trains 3 and 4). You cannot go further west without changing in Moscow (or somewhere earlier on the line, like Yaroslavl' for instance). THe Trans-Sib mainline goes on for a hundred kilometers or so past Vladivostok to Nakhodkha (right on the North Korean border, and then in fact passes on towards Pyonyang) but you can't you can get to either, I believe, without changing somewhere (probably Khabarovsk and Vladivostok).

A longer route might be from Moscow to SovGavan' along the grossly under-capacity and spectacularly useless BAM mainline but I don't believe there is any regular one-seat (one bed?) service between the two.

 

[Alex]

My mistake - according the rather hard-to-use Russian Railways rzd.ru website, there is some kind of direct service from Donetsk in the Eastern Ukraine to Vladivostok. Can't tell how often it runs, just that it runs (my guess is weekly). That would be further than Moscow-Vladivostok.

 

[1702]

the Red Express on the

trans-Siberian railway that goes from what used to be Leningrad

and is now, mercifully, once more Petrograd (St. Petersburg)

near the Baltic to Port Arthur on the Pacific, is probably the best one.

http://www.texfiles.com/ERAmay02/trainride.htm

I'm fairly sure the Moscow-Vladivostok Transiberain has to be the longest train route in the world right now. The Trans-Manchurian (Moscow-Bejing) and the Trans-Mongolian (Moscow-Ulan Bator-Beijing) probably take third and second.

Some comments (and I hope I'm not sounding picky)

I've never heard it called the Red Express before

Perhaps the author of the quoted article picked up "Red Express" from the book entitled "Red Express: The Greatest Rail Journey from the Berlin Wall to the Great Wall of China" by Michael Cordell & Peter Solness.

I think it's out of print, but used/remaindered copies are available from abebooks.com for one or two dollars, less than the cost of shipping. Should be found at alibris & amazon also.

I wonder if the article was intended to be non-fiction.

 

[Guest]

the Red Express on the

trans-Siberian railway that goes from what used to be Leningrad

and is now, mercifully, once more Petrograd (St. Petersburg)

near the Baltic to Port Arthur on the Pacific, is probably the best one.

http://www.texfiles.com/ERAmay02/trainride.htm

I'm fairly sure the Moscow-Vladivostok Transiberain has to be the longest train route in the world right now. The Trans-Manchurian (Moscow-Bejing) and the Trans-Mongolian (Moscow-Ulan Bator-Beijing) probably take third and second.

Some comments (and I hope I'm not sounding picky)

I've never heard it called the Red Express before

Perhaps the author of the quoted article picked up "Red Express" from the book entitled "Red Express: The Greatest Rail Journey from the Berlin Wall to the Great Wall of China" by Michael Cordell & Peter Solness.

I think it's out of print, but used/remaindered copies are available from abebooks.com for one or two dollars, less than the cost of shipping. Should be found at alibris & amazon also.

I wonder if the article was intended to be non-fiction.

Quite possible. It's not an official name nowadays at least though - the train is painted in the Russian colors like a Russian flag (red, right and blue) and the Rossiya (i.e. Russia). Perhaps it was called the Red Express - Krasnij Express - back in the Communist days. I'm too young to know, really! If you take any portion of this train though, you would find it hard to call it an express. It's constantly in motion and doesn't move slowly, but I don't think it ever breaks about 45 or 50 mph (this just based on my impressions).

 

[Alex]

the train is painted in the Russian colors like a Russian flag (red, right and blue) and the Rossiya (i.e. Russia).

I meant to say that it is called the Rossiya. Forgot a word there, sorry.

 

[Alex]

I'm fairly sure the Moscow-Vladivostok Transiberian has to be the longest train route in the world right now. The Trans-Manchurian (Moscow-Bejing) and the Trans-Mongolian (Moscow-Ulan Bator-Beijing) probably take third and second.

Yet another mistake (what is wrong with me!). This one just a typo - the Trans-Manchurian is longer than the Trans-Mongolian, not the other way around. It goes a bit further east in order to avoid crossing through Mongolia to reach China.

 

[1702]

I'm fairly sure the Moscow-Vladivostok Transiberian has to be the longest train route in the world right now. The Trans-Manchurian (Moscow-Bejing) and the Trans-Mongolian (Moscow-Ulan Bator-Beijing) probably take third and second.

Yet another mistake (what is wrong with me!). This one just a typo - the Trans-Manchurian is longer than the Trans-Mongolian, not the other way around. It goes a bit further east in order to avoid crossing through Mongolia to reach China.

Alex, you could type a long time & never make as many mistakes as there are in this article. I clicked on that link again & found a couple more whoppers.

First, he says "The old Blue Train that used to run from Cairo, Egypt, to Capetown, South Africa." The problem there is there's never been a rail link between Egypt & South Africa--proposed but never built. Plus the Blue Train has always run between Johannesburg & Capetown.

Then he mentions the Orient Express from London to Istanbul. There were never through cars there, as passengers went by train from London to Dover, detrained & boarded a ferry for Calais, then boarded a second train that had through cars for Istanbul.

 

[Alex]

First, he says "The old Blue Train that used to run from Cairo, Egypt, to Capetown, South Africa." The problem there is there's never been a rail link between Egypt & South Africa--proposed but never built. Plus the Blue Train has always run between Johannesburg & Capetown.

Good point. But doesn't the famous Blue train run between Pretoria and Capetown? I suppose this may be a little off-topic for an Amtrak forum.

 

[Alex]

In case anyone still cares about this, I've dug up a little information on longest train rides in Russia by scouring the Vladivostok train schedules (the terminus for most Trans-Sib trains, although the Trans-Sib, as stated earlier, does continue to Nakhodka and then into North Korea).

The train from Liski in South-western Russian covers 9354km in roughly nine days to reach Vladivostok.

The train from Kharkov in the Eastern Ukraine covers 9714km in seven days to reach Vladivostok.

The numerous trains from Moscow cover 9259km in a bit less than seven days to reach Vladivostok.

The Moscow-Pyongyang train takes the Trans-Manchurian route through China, thus saving on some time and distance (6.5 days, 8626km).

There doesn't seem to be any regularly scheduled passenger service along the BAM mainline (not surprising, seeing no one lives along most of it except railway employees) and, in any case, the BAM takes a shorter, more direct route to the Pacific than the Trans-Sib, mostly since it doesn't reach around China to get to Vladivostok.

My guess is that Liski-Vladivostok is probably the longest regularly scheduled passenger train by time in route and that Kharkov to Vladivostok is probably the longest regularly scheduled passenger train by distance. The train from Liski must, in any case, certainly be the longest domestic (i.e. non-international) train by distance and time for sure!

 

[Guest_Gyuri_FT_*]

The longest train ride in the world is MOW-Phenjan via Ussurijsk. It is a bi-weekly service of a single streamliner 32-sleeper ZC car.

The car is attached to Moscow-Vladivostok train and de-coupled at Ussurijsk, than attached to Ussurijsk - Hasan - Tumangan small cross-border traffic train and than to Tumangan - Phenjan N. Korean domestic train.

 

[Guest_Gyuri_FT_*]

Besides the ZC car which is still running, the longest train ride ever was Moscow - HaNoi via Beijing. The Soviet car was running on dual track beyond PingXiang in VietNam. today this service is not possible because the "broad" track between the Chinese/Vietnamese border and HaNoi is in not good shape, all traffic is going on metre-gauge and passengers have to switch the train at the border. The Russian cars are going as far as Beijing.

Thus, today from all railroads ZC is holdning the first place.

An interesting practice in Europe/Asia is that cars of different railroads are often mixed in a single train. The entire system is set up the way that if the railroads would give one day "green light" an Iranian car can run in France, a French car in N. Korea and N. korean car in Italy. The car "inventory" is done at the border either automatically by scanning the cars like bar code(!) or in less advanced places manually (a railroad worker will walk along the train and report o his supervisor via walkie-talkie). Not every railroad is the same. Some cars are "equal", some "more equal". Regular coaches have rarely attendants, but sleeping car attendants do make huge difference. Actually, Amtrak sleepers are closer to better part of my list, but I don't like the small bedrooms and the fact, the boiler has brewed coffee instead of water. The constant supply of boiling hot water would be a very big bonus. Also - as many times expressed - Amtrak bed prices are completely outlandish if the passenger is not doing tricks (Icelandair, travel on rewards, upgrade on board, etc etc).

 

[Alex]

Besides the ZC car which is still running, the longest train ride ever was Moscow - HaNoi via Beijing. The Soviet car was running on dual track beyond PingXiang in VietNam. today this service is not possible because the "broad" track between the Chinese/Vietnamese border and HaNoi is in not good shape, all traffic is going on metre-gauge and passengers have to switch the train at the border. The Russian cars are going as far as Beijing.
Thus, today from all railroads ZC is holdning the first place.

I suppose you mean Pyonyang by "Phenjan"? Phenjan is the name in Hungarian, I think. This is already pushing the meaning of what a train is, but you are probably right. The schedule lists the Ussyrijsk-Pyonyang service as a separate train with those two cities as its terminii (train no. 954, passazhirskij), leaving Ussyrijsk at 9:05 Moscow time. However, the system will let you book a place on train 002 from Moscow to Pyonyang via Ussyrisk. This circuitous route is 10267km and 216 hours, which makes it longer than Liski-Vladivostok and Moscow-Pyonyang via the Trans-Manchurian.

By the way, I think this Trans-Siberian to Pyonyang service doesn't seem to be bi-weekly. Service to Pyonyang from Moscow may be bi-weekly, but I think (but confirm yourself to be sure) that one of those services takes the shorter route via Harbin on the Trans-Manchurian.

I am not sure I understand why the Vietnam service is impossible - does Vietnam use a Russian-width gauge? I'm not sure this would stop the service, since Russian trains run to China, they just change their bogeys at the border...

What's the longest Amtrak route anyway?

 

[Guest_Gyuri_FT_*]

I suppose you mean Pyonyang by "Phenjan"

"Phenjan" is in Russian, I was just dumb lazy here. Not sure how it is properly in Hungarian, I did see both writings. Like "Kim Chen Ir", for the son of "Kim Ir Sen" instance. I did ride the train 19/20 in the past (1983, 1986) and as I spoke with the Korean passengers of the through cars we used "Kim Ir Sen". The train 19/20 is the Transmanchurian service and it is once a week (now). It looks like the frequency will be increased in the future - esp. due the Olympics.

By the way, I think this Trans-Siberian to Pyonyang service doesn't seem to be bi-weekly.

There are two services: one is the 19/20 Moscow - Beijing with one 18-sleeper and one 36-sleeper to Pyongyang. These two cars are detached from the train 20 in Shenyang and are attached to the Beijing - Pyongyang train which runs twice a week. These cars are RZD (Russian Rail) cars. This runs via ManZhouLi (Manchuria).

The second service is the ZC (Korean) Moscow - Pyongyang service. It is somewhat more convenient because one does not need the Chinese visa (but since Chinese visa is easier to get than Korean, this is not of big importance anyway). It is also longer and the pain in the rair is, the car is staying half day in Ussurijsk. This service is once in two weeks. In last few months it was slightly changed due track work in Korea.

I am not sure I understand why the Vietnam service is impossible - does Vietnam use a Russian-width gauge? I'm not sure this would stop the service, since Russian trains run to China, they just change their bogeys at the border...

Vietnam uses metre gauge (which is in working order) and Chinese/European/American 1435 mm + metre dual gauge between HaNoi and Pingxiang. Unfortunately the "regular" gauge (the "outer" rail) there is in bad state of repair, so the trains are running on the metre ("inner") gauge. The Russian/Chinese/American "streemliner" profile cars would fit throgh the tunnels and bridges, it's just the gauge. There is no re-gauging equipment in PingXiang or DongDang, so unfortunately there is no through train until the 1435 mm gauge will be repaired.

What's the longest Amtrak route anyway?

Not sure. Sunset was, but now?

 

[George Harris]

From Amtrak timetable folders:

Texas Eagle: Chicago to Los Angeles 2728 miles

California Zypher: Chicago to Emeryville CA 2438 miles

Empir Builder - Portland Section: Chicago to Portland 2257 miles

Southwest Chief - Chicago to Los Angeles: 2256 miles

Sunset Limited - New Orleans to Los Angeles: 1995 miles

The longest eastern routes are all under 2000 miles:

Silver Star, New York to Miami via Raleigh & Tampa: 1522 miles

SS is less, 1477 miles if the Auburndale to Tampa distance is counted only once

Silver Meteor New York to Miami via Florence: 1389 miles

Crescent New York to New Orleans: 1377 miles

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Then there is this. Speaking in terms of time aboard, today's VIA Rail "Canadian" spends three nights gettiing from Toronto to Vancouver.

But when I went to Canada 30-plus years ago, there were two competing railroads with passenger trains, the Canadian National with its "Super Continental" and the Canadian Pacific with its "Canadian".

At that time it took FOUR glorious nights on the Super Continental to get from Toronto/Montreal to Vancouver. I loved every minute of it.

To this day that is my longest continuous train ride. If my trip two years ago had taken four nights, I would not have been happier.

Don't have the mileage with me.

.

 

[Alex]

There are two services: one is the 19/20 Moscow - Beijing with one 18-sleeper and one 36-sleeper to Pyongyang. These two cars are detached from the train 20 in Shenyang and are attached to the Beijing - Pyongyang train which runs twice a week. These cars are RZD (Russian Rail) cars. This runs via ManZhouLi (Manchuria).
The second service is the ZC (Korean) Moscow - Pyongyang service. It is somewhat more convenient because one does not need the Chinese visa (but since Chinese visa is easier to get than Korean, this is not of big importance anyway). It is also longer and the pain in the rair is, the car is staying half day in Ussurijsk. This service is once in two weeks. In last few months it was slightly changed due track work in Korea.

Not sure. Sunset was, but now?

Well, I'm sure Ussurijsk is a lovely city with much to keep you occupied for weeks, let alone short six hours! You say you've ridden this service. I'm curious does the through-car from Moscow have North Korean staff on it for the entire route or do crews change at the border(s)? Also, how on Earth did you get a North Korean visa?

 

[Guest_Gyuri_FT_*]

Well, I'm sure Ussurijsk is a lovely city with much to keep you occupied for weeks, let alone short six hours! You say you've ridden this service. I'm curious does the through-car from Moscow have North Korean staff on it for the entire route or do crews change at the border(s)? Also, how on Earth did you get a North Korean visa?

- The crew is ZC all the way. The crews are "bound" to the sleeper, a ZC sleeper will have ZC crew even if it goes to Sofia (in theory, it could).

- I did not say I did ride the tran 1/2, I did ride the train 19/20 with Russian cars. This train has two Russian cars going to Korea. Everyone who is riding the 19/20 will face a good deal of of Korean passengers.

In the fact, it's better to board the "Korean" portion of 19/20 train than "Chinese" because the "Chinese" is full of traders, but the Korean is full of NK diplomats and generally, NK folks who is allowed to travel. Less noise, more room to sleep.

- I wasn't in NK yet. Yesrs ago I just "missed" it because it was less appealing than China and I did not need visa. Now I need visa to NK but it is not extemely tough to get - not on US passport.

- Riding a ZC car is not extremely difficult to arrange and you do not need a NK visa, just a ticket. Normally the tickets in the cars of foreign railways are sold only for international destinations, but the presence of visa is not checked. I would buy a CITY-SAT through ticket in Slovakia for 100 Euro, it will cover the entire Bratislava - Chop - Kiev - Moscow - Irkutsk - Ussurijsk - Vladivostok (and back). This is the couch ticket only; you will need a sleeper upgrade (about 70 Euro) and also the "additional" Ussurijsk - Tumangan ticket with upgrade. The ladies at MZA office will sell it without problem.

Now, once in the sleeper you ask the Korean attendant immediately to "invalidate" the Ussurijsk - Tumangan portion and de-train in Ussurijsk. Thus you did ride N. Koreak sleeper between Moscow and Ussurijsk and even got the money for Ussurijsk - Tumangan portion back.

 

[Guest]

ooops, I mean, CITY-STAR ticket for 100 Euro.

 

[Guest_Gyuri_FT_*]

The above round-trip ticket is for two people, thus it's 150 Euro. For one person it would be 100 Euro.

This is probably the cheapest train ride in the world

 

[vector_one75]

But wait for the future! There are moves afoot in Canada and Alaska to link up woth rail from British Columbia. There was an article in Time Magazine (don't remember the issue) with the future proposals to cross the Bering Strait and link up with the Siberian rail system. Break of gauge is not a problem: the Eiropeans switch trucks under the cars, or for the Catalan Talgo, the axles autoimatically do the switch at low speed as the track gauge changes. So, if there was to be a passenger train (oreven just a through car service) from, say Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, va the USA, Canada, the proposed new link, Alaska (USA again), over the Bering Strait, another possible link, to the Trans Siberian Railway, and then down to Spain, now that would be a trip and a half in one go! This would cover not only Amtrak, but international, no, intercontinental companies' railroads, pretty much almost a circumnavigation of the earth to both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, with terminals at each end in Spanish-speaking countries! While this might appear to be a pipe-dream, there have been planning efforts to connect the rail systems of North America with those of the Eurasian landmass bis the Yukon, Alaska, the Bering Strait, and eastern Siberia, though it would only happen beyond my lifetime - a pity, I'd love to travel by train for 2-3 weeks straight! But my grandchildren just might have that opportunity

Theoretically, via southeast Asia it might also be possible to link a rail service from the bulk of the Eurasian landmass to Australia via bridges or tunnels, assuming seismic activity can be overcome. And from Mexico it should be possible to go through Central America into South America, if the economy can stand the infrastructure costs to link up the scattered and isolated rail systems of South America. A similat situation might come about to link up Africa and its scattered isolated rail systems to Europe and Asia via the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, but from my recollection there was never a full route built from "Cape to Cairo" as a previous post in this thread has stated.

There was a long-haul through sleeper some time ago between Moscow and Madrid and Moscow and Paris, via Berlin (over the wall) when I rode the "Ost-West Express" 1969.

Sincerely,

Vytautas B. Radzivanas

 

[Alex]

But wait for the future! There are moves afoot in Canada and Alaska to link up woth rail from British Columbia. There was an article in Time Magazine (don't remember the issue) with the future proposals to cross the Bering Strait and link up with the Siberian rail system. Break of gauge is not a problem: the Eiropeans switch trucks under the cars, or for the Catalan Talgo, the axles autoimatically do the switch at low speed as the track gauge changes. So, if there was to be a passenger train (oreven just a through car service) from, say Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, va the USA, Canada, the proposed new link, Alaska (USA again), over the Bering Strait, another possible link, to the Trans Siberian Railway, and then down to Spain, now that would be a trip and a half in one go! This would cover not only Amtrak, but international, no, intercontinental companies' railroads, pretty much almost a circumnavigation of the earth to both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, with terminals at each end in Spanish-speaking countries! While this might appear to be a pipe-dream, there have been planning efforts to connect the rail systems of North America with those of the Eurasian landmass bis the Yukon, Alaska, the Bering Strait, and eastern Siberia, though it would only happen beyond my lifetime - a pity, I'd love to travel by train for 2-3 weeks straight! But my grandchildren just might have that opportunity

Well, I take it this is mostly a joke, but for the sake of I don't know what, I'll point out that there is no rail link to Kamchatka (the Russian peninsula near Alaska). There are also no plans to build a railway (there isn't even a road) through the really mountainous, volcanic terrain and doing so would practically be impossible. The closest a railway gets is either Magadan or Sovgavan', not sure which is closer.

There was a long-haul through sleeper some time ago between Moscow and Madrid and Moscow and Paris, via Berlin (over the wall) when I rode the "Ost-West Express" 1969.

Madrid-Paris= Sud Express

Paris-St. Petersburg= Nord Express

Not sure there was a through-car since I imagine they left from different train stations in Paris. Maybe you are thinking of something else, since they get rid of this with the outbreak of World War I or during the Russian Revolution. There currently is a Paris-Moscow throughcar service, if I'm not mistaken (at least there was a few years ago).

 

[vector_one75]

But wait for the future! There are moves afoot in Canada and Alaska to link up woth rail from British Columbia. There was an article in Time Magazine (don't remember the issue) with the future proposals to cross the Bering Strait and link up with the Siberian rail system. Break of gauge is not a problem: the Eiropeans switch trucks under the cars, or for the Catalan Talgo, the axles autoimatically do the switch at

Well, I take it this is mostly a joke, but for the sake of I don't know what, I'll point out that there is no rail link to Kamchatka (the Russian peninsula near Alaska). There are also no plans to build a railway (there isn't

There was a long-haul through sleeper some time ago between Moscow and Madrid and Moscow and Paris, via Berlin (over the wall) when I rode the "Ost-West Express" 1969.

Not sure there was a through-car since I imagine they left from different train stations in Paris. Maybe you are thinking of something else, since they get rid of this with the outbreak of World War I or during the Russian Revolution. There currently is a Paris-Moscow throughcar service, if I'm not mistaken (at least there was a few years ago).

Yes, the suggestions for a rail line to link up from the Bering Strait to whatever closest existing Siberian rail line would be are speculative, but I have read in a newspaper (NewYork Times?) a few years ago that there is a "wish list" for it in some Russian circles, and more so to being a rail line to the Bering Strait and cross it over bridge or tunnel from the Alaskan side "wish list" on into Siberia, so it is not unheard of. In my original posting, I did qualify the need for the economic side of things to happen in realizing such wishes.

The other article in Time (or Newsweek) Magazine that I saw later I saw about 2 years ago in an Australian edition actually showed photos of Alaskan and Canadian (Yukon?) officials signing a declaratioin of intent to get the ball rolling for feasibility studies to connect with the (BCR at Dease Lake?) Canadian rail system to Fairbanks Alaska (to link up with the ARR to Anchorage), and paranthetically reviving the idea of a rail crossing of Bering Strait. Like I also said it would probably not hasppen til my grandchildren's generation were adults! What has often hapenned in the future, however, often requires the vision of those who never see the day the "joke" is realizd.

As for the Moscow-Paris and Moscow-Madrid through sleepers, in 1969 (I was not yet born in World War I or even World War II to be in the timeframe that Alex is describing about the difficulties of through services between different gare's of Paris to link Moscow to Madrid services) I travelled by train in 1969 extensively in Europe, including the Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany (both DR and DB), the Mediterranean and Balkan region, and other western European countries. On the return trip from Moscow to Paris (where my Godmother lived and made my travels a "base of operations"), I rode a through sleeper on the "Ost-West Express" all the way through to Paris, and I recall that the train set out sleeping cars to Berlin and another point enroute before Paris, and that there was a through sleeper from Moscow to Madrid that was then attached onto another train to somehow wind up in Madid. The Moscow-Madrid sleeper did not go via Paris, but at some intermediate point before that but not before Berlin. The train's trucks ("bogies" in European parlance) were changed at the Belarus/Polish border at Brest-Litovsk from broad to standard gauge.

(By the way, when the USA transcontinental through sleepers were established in the 1940's-50's, there were many more different stations in Chicago, and a number of through sleepers were still able to be linked by yard switching ferry moves even at distant stub terminals such as between LaSalle Street Statioin, Dearborn Station, and Grand Central Station. Where there is a will, there'a a way!)

Getting back to the "Ost-West Express", the train had 3 stations in Berlin: OstBanHoff for local East Berlin residents, FriedrichStrasse for foreign visitors in East Berlin, and ZoologischenGarten in West Berlin (please excuse any incorrect German language station names). An interesting point of train travel through Berlin at the time required passport and customs inspections at 4 border crossings, requiring waking up in the middle of the night: from Poland to GDR (German Democratic Republic - East Germany), from East Berlin still in GDR to West Berlin, from West Berlin to GDR, and GDR to the German Federal Republic -West Germany. I'm not sure what the Madrid sleeper was, but my sleeper to Paris was an SZD Soviet car similar but not identical with typical 1st class Wagons-Lits of the era, althougn not called "1st Class". Other sleeping cars set out to terminate at Berlin OstBanHoff were generally of the typical SZD "Soft" class and "Hard Class" which were essentially similar to western European 1st and 2nd class "couchettes".

Another longer single trip I took that year was from Paris to Instanbul via Trieste (the forward journey from which I eventually returned by the "Ost-West Express") on the "Direct-Orient Express, which by that time had degenerated into a very down-market milk run of several linked trains with only one through Wagons-Lits sleeper two days a week from about a decade ago which at that time had still been a "luxury" train, before it was transformed back into a lxury train as the "Venice-Simplon-Orient Express a few years later but lost the through portion east of Venice.

In terms of North America, my longest continuous train trip was on the Santa Fe "San Francisco Chief" Chicago to San Francisco in 1970. Most of my Amtrak trips were shorter in the 1970's and 80's, like Boston to Chicago via Cincinnati on the George Washington (and the James Whitcomb Riley in the other direction) when the train operated through from/to Boston and Chicago for a short time! Most of my train travels were on pre-Amtrak times when I was still single. When I wound up living in Australia in 1982, I have travelled the 4 days of the Indian-Pacific a number of times between Perth and Sydney.

Sincerely,

Vytautas B. Radzivanas

Perth, Western Australia

 

[George Harris]

But wait for the future! There are moves afoot in Canada and Alaska to link up woth rail from British Columbia. There was an article in Time Magazine (don't remember the issue) with the future proposals to cross the Bering Strait and link up with the Siberian rail system. Break of gauge is not a problem: the Eiropeans switch trucks under the cars, or for the Catalan Talgo, the axles autoimatically do the switch at low speed as the track gauge changes. So, if there was to be a passenger train (oreven just a through car service) from, say Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, va the USA, Canada, the proposed new link, Alaska (USA again), over the Bering Strait, another possible link, to the Trans Siberian Railway, and then down to Spain, now that would be a trip and a half in one go!
Theoretically, via southeast Asia it might also be possible to link a rail service from the bulk of the Eurasian landmass to Australia via bridges or tunnels, assuming seismic activity can be overcome. And from Mexico it should be possible to go through Central America into South America, if the economy can stand the infrastructure costs to link up the scattered and isolated rail systems of South America. A similat situation might come about to link up Africa and its scattered isolated rail systems to Europe and Asia via the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, but from my recollection there was never a full route built from "Cape to Cairo" as a previous post in this thread has stated.

The change of gauge of the wheels on the axles only work for equipment that is built for it to happen. If you tried to slide the wheels in or out on the axles on wheelsets not made for it to happen you would only end up breaking something. The changes at the border between China and Mongolia or Russia is by means of swapping the trucks. Again on coaches and freight cars built so this can reasonably easily be done, and done at facilities built for that purpose.

The Bering Strait tunnel has been talked about for at least 20 plus years. The tunnel itself is the simple part. The terrain on each side is amongst the most inhospitible in the world. Heavily mountainous and actually colder than the Arctic ocean shoreline. Any rough running of the cost numbers says that this will only be built for political reasons. Econcomically it would not make sense at all. There was also at one time some discussion on a Bering Strait highway / railway bridge. That would be even less rational, in fact FAR less rational than a tunnel.

The connnection of the Alaska Railroad through to the Canadian system has also been talked about for many years. In fact the original construction of the Alaska Highways during WW2 followed discussion on whether to construct a road or a railroad. The final conclusions was that the traffic volume did not justify a railroad. It still may not. If such a line is built, it will connect to the Alaska Railroad at the north end. The terrain makes that necessary.

As to a railroad between Australia and Asia: All I can say is look at a map and scale off the gaps between islands. They are much larger that it appears that you are thinking. Even the various islands of Indonesia have no bridges between them, though some are close enough that they are within the range of reasonable engineering solutions, but probably not within the range of reasonable economics.

George