The world’s longest train ride takes over 279 hours and traverses 13 countries – but even though it exists, it is impossible to finish. Starting in Lagos, Portugal, and ending in Singapore, it is technically the longest rail journey in the world, but it requires some serious planning, patience, and one track to re-open.
In one epic trip, it would take you from the scorching Mediterranean to the freezing temperatures of Russia, whiz through South East Asia, before dropping you off in the manicured streets of Singapore. Even though the trains interlink for the longest uninterrupted rail journey in the world, the journey would actually require 20 trains and separate tickets bought through 15 or so different operators. Starting at Lagos in Lisbon, you’d take a three-hour 40-minute journey to start off the epic route, easing you in slowly.
From there you would head into Spain, going through Madrid, Barcelona using the Renfe train service, and leaving for Paris, France.
Here timing comes into play, because there is a once weekly Paris-Moscow Express every Thursday at 6:58pm, otherwise, you’d have to make your way by going through Berlin, or to Warsaw.
Now is where the trip stops, because the epic Trans-Mongolian journey from Moscow to Beijing, which ticks a serious journey off any avid traveller’s list, has been suspended since 2019. However, the tracks still exist.
Say the trains were still running, it would be a whistelstop tour through Asia, from Beijing to Kunming, then crossing from China into Laos to Vientiane. Then comes a series of daily sleeper trains, taking you to Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, fresh for 7:30am.
Another daily sleeper train takes you to Padang Besar on the Malaysian border, departing at 4:10pm local time, arriving at 8:05am the following morning.
From here it starts getting easier, with a series of shorter trips to Kuala Lumpur Sentral in six hours, then Gemas in just two hours 30 minutes, and Gemas to Johor Bahru Sentral in four and a half hours.
The home stretch is a short five minute trip to finish, bringing you to Woodlands on Singapore island.
