Rough notes about the longest train journey in the world – in 2025

When I had time on my hands sometime during a COVID lockdown and started digging into the longest train journey in the world, I did not know what a saga this one would become. Within a few months of publishing this long post about the topic, war in Ukraine meant the whole thing was impossible anyway. It remained a kind of armchair exercise in mapping. And with war still raging in Ukraine and no end in sight this is not going to be something anyone politically in their right mind is going to attempt any time soon.

But we can all still dream, right?

And when none other than exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya raised the prospect of re-opening the train link between Vilnius in Lithuania and Minsk in Belarus, I wondered: where are we with this whole topic? Note that the official reaction, Lithuania side, has been steadfastly opposed to the resumption of trains idea (which – given there are daily coaches from Vilnius to Minsk – I do not entirely follow), so don’t hold your breath for movement.

And in all of this longest train journey business there have been a few more developments since 2025 as well.

Trains from Thailand to Laos were extended from Thanaleng at the border to Vientiane Khamsavath station, at least making crossing that border easier.

Turkmenistan and Iran are investigating opening a passenger rail connection between Mashhad and Merv, and twice a week there is once again a train from Van in Turkey to Tehran (although it seems there is no train carriage on the ferry across Lake Van). And there is a new tourist train that crosses the China – Kazakhstan border, possibly useful as there is no regular passenger service there yet.

And Irkutsk – Ulan Batar, and Ulan Batar – Hohhot (China) trains are running again, after a hiatus during COVID.

So, overall, where does that leave us?

This next bit is only going to make sense if you have read my 2021 blog post! At some point I will re-work all of that into a complete guide, but not yet!

My current thinking about this topic is that there are four or five different “longest train journey” routes that need more examination.

STRICT
This one uses only regular trains (so no metros, trams or skytrains), and each train has to connect to the next one in the same station. Peculiarly I now think we have been thinking about this one wrongly until now – and it should actually be Lagos – Ho Chi Minh City (geodesic distance: 11449.67 km) as you have to walk between Vientiane railway station and Vientiane Khamsavath, meaning you cannot get to Singapore in this strict version. But you can get to Ho Chi Minh City with this strict interpretation. This version is currently impossible as there is no way to get into Belarus or Russia on a passenger train.

STRICT, WALKING ALLOWED
If you have to walk in Vientiane, then what else can you accomplish if you walk? You can walk from Alcântara-Mar to Alcântara-Terra (800m) is Lisboa (explored in the original post), making the starting point Cascais . And you can also walk into Russia – it is 4km from Narva station to Ivangorod-Narvsky station , and from there you can head eastwards. And in each of the three places you have to walk there are active railway lines, just no passenger trains (see Alcântara, Narva, Thanaleng), so you can get all the way to Singapore Woodlands (geodesic distance: 11904.47 km). And importantly this route is possible now, if you can (and want to) get a visa for Russia.

HEAVY RAIL, WALKING ALLOWED
What is heavy rail, and what is a metro exactly? And is it allowed? Specifically is the East-West MRT Line in Singapore allowed? Because if it is, you can then walk from Woodlands rail station to Marsiling MRT (1.5km), and then take the train to end of the East-West MRT. This variant is Cascais – Changi Airport MRT (geodesic distance: 11929.24 km). This variant will also skip the walk to Marsiling once the Johor Bahru–Singapore RTS Link opens in 2026. This route is possible now.

ANY RAIL VEHICLE, WALKING ALLOWED
This one allows trams, metros and even guided vehicles that are not steel on steel – both the Sentosa Express Monorail and Changi Airport Skytrain fall into the latter category, and Changi has a slightly greater geodesic distance. And for this one the start point is the tram station Praia das Maçãs at the western end of the Elétrico de Sintra tram line (this needs a 650m walk from the Sintra tram station to the train station), so this complete route is Praia das Maçãs – Station D Changi Skytrain (geodesic distance: 11929.34 km – a full 100m further than the Heavy Rail version). This route is possible now.

AVOIDING RUSSIA
Is there any way to do any of these routes avoiding Russia (and Belarus)? The answer – at the moment – is no, there is not. Because there are currently no passenger trains between Iran and Turkmenistan, and from Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan. And as far as I know passenger trains are no longer conveyed on the Lake Van ferry. So theoretically, this route might one day be possible but presently is impossible.

That’s all for now. To be examined further (and timetabled!) sometime later in 2025

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