Back in late 2021, work finished on a mountainous stretch of rail line from Laos to China that caught the attention of train enthusiasts all over, writes Frank Jacobs at the Big Think. It wasn't merely because the 257-mile length of tracks is an engineering feat in its own right. It's because—technically—that line became the last section of "the longest possible train journey in the world." In theory, somebody could board a train in Lagos, Portugal, and wind up in Singapore:
- "That's a distance by rail of 11,654 miles (18,755 km), crossing 13 countries, eight time zones, and (if you plan your connections well and don't miss any) taking about 14 days," writes Jacobs. "Taking that train all the way from Portugal to Singapore would carry you halfway across the world."
At this point in the feature, you might expect Jacobs to explain what the journey is like, but the problem is he hasn't taken it. Nor has anyone else in the world. The tracks may exist, but the complications are staggering, and the story digs into them. Consider that one particularly long section, from Paris to Moscow, is off limits because of sanctions on Russia over its war with Ukraine. Even if all the routes were open, a traveler would have to change trains roughly 20 times through the different countries, posing the "philosophical" question of whether that even constitutes a single trip, writes Jacobs. But for those who get beyond that question, the story offers a look at possible routes over the epic journey. (Read the full story.)
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