With automobile ownership being the norm in most developed and developing countries, most of us forget to incorporate trains into our typical travel plans. Flying is, of course, a highly popular alternative among the more financially secure.
But what if you could see and hear the sights and sounds of dozens of countries in a series of trains over the course of 21 days and 18,755 kilometres?
The path for the (hypothetically) longest railway ride in the world, extending from Lagos in southern Portugal to Singapore, has been figured out by some geniuses on the r/MapPorn subreddit.
This route is only possible because of the Boten–Vientiane railway, which connects Kunming, China, with Vientiane, Laos’ capital.
A Reddit user shared a map outlining a path that would take passengers through 13 nations, including Spain, Poland, Belarus, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia, to name a few.
Travelers would have had to end their rail excursion in Vietnam prior to the line’s opening, as it covered 16,898 kilometres.
On December 2, 2021, the Boten-Vientiane railway opened. According to Mark Smith of seat61.com, a rail specialist who contributed with trip estimates, the journey would take 21 days to complete, including many overnight stops to account for processing papers such as visas and finding seats on connecting trains.
To get to the next train, which is located in a different station, some connecting trains require departing stations and travelling via multiple cities. The cost of train tickets alone would be approximately US$1,350 in total.
For us weaker-currency Southeast Asians, that may still sound like a lot of money *haiya* – but if you’re from Singapore, this definitely doesn’t sound like much.
When compared to flying from Portugal to Singapore, making this trip has a reduced carbon footprint. For example, if you flew from Lisbon, Portugal to Changi Airport in Singapore, you would emit 1.67 tonnes of CO2.
Taking this train travel would result in only 0.08 tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. It’s entirely up to you to determine whether this train travel is worthwhile for the greater welfare of the globe.
Due to border restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic, Reddit user u/htGoSEVe suggests that the journey may not be technically viable right now.
This includes a train line between Lisbon, Portugal, and Hendaye, France, which was shut down due to COVID-19, and “doesn’t appear to be coming back anytime soon.”
However, u/htGoSEVe offers three different rail lines as well as alternatives. There are a lot more edits here.
