Long Distance Rail Travel

[vertisol]

I love trains but I recall a trip I took from Metz in FRA to Prague. Things were going well until we arrived in Frankfurt at 2 in the morning. Turns out you can go to Prague from Frankfurt through north Germany or southern Germany. Turns out I got on the wrong train so had a hellish ride in a dirty train carriage (beer cans cigarette butts everywhere). Stopped at the border to change engines which is where the Czech conductor and Customs got on. I must have had to show my passport 4 or 5 times through the night then as day breaks the conductor was checking tickets. He became quite agitated which wasn't helped by the language barrier but from what I could ascertain he wanted money, still not sure if it was legit or not.

He was screaming "You! 140 crowns!". I had no idea how much that was but after 5 minutes of this we settled on US$2 (wouldn't take Australian money)! He then spent the next 10 minutes completing the paper work.. sigh.

 

[ckck]

I have done quite a few longer trips in Europe such as Budapest-Arad (Romania). Arad-Stuttgart (Germany) IIRC I changed trains in Vienna for that trip.


Brisbane-Longreach, some very nice scenery.

Chicago-San Francisco on Amtrak California Zephyr. Well worth it as I only spent a few weeks in the States and this train trip showed me some of the countryside that I didn't have a chance to explore.

 

[geordieladinoz]

Eurostar trip and Eurail pass showing SWMBO the delights of Europe back in December 2011. The weather was kind to us, much to SWMBO's disgust as she wanted snow. Not sure what she thought would happen if there was lots of snow as the trip wouldn't have gone as planned.

21 days of amazing from London-Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Copenhagen-Gothenburg-Prague(flight)-Munich-Zurich-Paris-Rennes-Paris.

ICE train onto the ferry on the Berlin to Copenhagen leg was cool and the Oresund tunnel/bridge was another ticked off the bucket list. Mont St Michel (the reason for Rennes) was amazing viewing but a rip off so mixed memories.

The high speed legs of the trips were amazing and what I'm used to from the UK, albeit a little slower, and one day I might see and experience it in Australia *cough*!

 

[samh004]

Brisbane-Longreach, some very nice scenery.

I've been thinking about doing that... I normally fly, but I have some cheap deals offered with my pensioner card.

 

[AvroAnson]

- Trans Australian in 1973 - Perth - Adelaide - Melbourne - Sydney and vv
- Trans Australian, Indian Pacific and Prospector many times between Perth and Kalgoorlie, back in the day
- Overnight Singapore to KL
- Overnight Salzburg - Venice, with a three hour layover in some godforsaken little dump on the Austria / German border
- Overnight Rome to Interlaken (with a change somewhere in Switzerland)
- Lots of little Swiss alpine trains
- TGV Geneva to Paris, Paris - Montpellier, Marsaille - Nice
- Thalys Paris - Brussells
- ICE - various locations around Germany, plus lower standard German trains
- Night train Helsinki to St Petersburg
- Amtrak NYC - Washington, SFO - Sacramento & VV
- Rocky Mountaineer Banff - Vancouver

Of them all I most enjoyed the little alpine trains in Switzerland. Some of the European trips were a bit ordinary but the biggest let down was the Rocky Mountaineer. It really didn't live up to the hype.

 

[VPS]

I'm a rail fanatic as well.

ADL-PER on the Indian Pacific

Stresa on Lake Maggiore to Basel had some beautiful scenery

In Scotland the trip from Fort William to Mallaig was one of the prettiest

Can't go past the Eurostar from London to Paris for convenience.

TGV Paris to Avignon but prefer it a little slower so you can see the scenery

 

[UP4014]

Public transport is great, it's just the public bit I can't deal with.

M

 

[mono88]

Have not taken many long train trips but I do recall when I was a bit younger taking the "Gold Coast Motorail" from Sydney to Murwillimbah. Took about 19 hours from memory and I could not understand why we had to get off a bit short of the Gold Coast but we got there in the end. Splashed out on a OOL SYD flight back which was a little quicker.

Also a similar experience a few years ago on the overnight Hanoi to Sapa train; we had to get off at Lao Cai, about 40 km short. Again we got there and back eventually, all part of the fun of travel

 

[Happy Dude]

This thread made me realise/reminisce just how much train travel I've done. Thanks!

Over a one month period in 2010, the new bride and I took trains between Beijing and St Petersburg - technically following the Trans-Mongolian route. It was an awesome trip and relatively cheap, particularly as we took short o/n hops on "local" trains in order to visit some smaller cities/towns, as opposed to the "touristy" trains which don't stop at many places. Crossing from Mongolia into Russia (land border crossings are always fun, as someone pointed out) was particularly memorable as we shared a compartment with Mongolian clothes "smugglers" who put on 6 pairs of jeans, numerous shirts, skirts and jumpers and big winter coats and then tried to convince us to carry a few extra handbags stuffed with trinkets for them.

On the same trip we rode from Chengdu to Lhasa which really is one of the railway worlds greatest engineering feats.

My favourite train ride was between Karachi and Quetta in 2001. The path through the Bolan Pass was nothing short of incredible. Not overly comfortable but fascinating engineering. The ride to Lahore was less inspiring but still great travelling. If you can speak about cricket, and most Pakistanis will think it's odd that you can't if you're an Australian, all manner of doors will open. The same applies to India and Sri Lanka.

I'm way more a anorak than I thought. Flying Scotsman, Reunification Express, Eurostar to Paris and to Brussels, Bangkok to Hat Yai, Chang Mai, Vientiane, Shinkansen to Nagano, Kandy to Nuwara Eliya, Maglev, TGV, Xian to Beijing. I guess I enjoy the challenge of getting myself from A to B. Who doesn't love the Metro, the Subway, or the Tube?

Man in seat 61 is one of my favourite websites.

 

[UP4014]

Man in seat 61 is one of my favourite websites.

Hmm, our seat 61.....but they are all 61 on BAM1748.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15264656@N02/5183641259/

 

[casanovawa]

160 sounds about right for the trains beyond Munich, night trains and such and perhaps on some sections on the ICE towards Munich. However, the Koln to Frankfurt track was, apparently the only 300km/h section in Germany in 2005. So you should have hit 300 at some stage in 2008. 250 should have been at least done between Frankfurt and Munich as well.

Hmmm, maybe there wasn't a reading on the train on that leg that i could see or maybe it didn't stick in my memory, i seem to recall the 160kmh anyway... I also this year took the ICE from Munich to Frankfurt as well but don't remember seeing a speed reading on that one either but maybe that got up to a decent clip as well...

 

[JohnK]

The fastest train I have been on is the XPT and I have not been on many long train trips.

I did Strathfield-Bathurst a few times back in the early 80's.

A number of years ago I did Ptolemaida-Platy in Northern Greece by train which started off as a one carriage train and slowly built up to 3-4 carriages along the way. The trip was ~3-4 hours with some wonderful scenery in the mountains.

Also did Toronto-Niagara Falls return with dad ~4 years with again some lovely scenery.

 

[UP4014]

The fastest train I have been on is the XPT and I have not been on many long train trips.

I did Strathfield-Bathurst a few times back in the early 80's.

This pic taken out the cab of a freight locomotive during testing last week running at XPT speeds over the Blue Mountains.
4410 leads 3301 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
It was a great ride and showed the speeds attainable if the pencil pushers allowed.

We ran it fast and hard and got it up to 129km/h.

Here we are a Springwood in the mountains, CM3301 being the new loco out of Boise Idaho.

Springwood | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[medhead]

Hmmm, maybe there wasn't a reading on the train on that leg that i could see or maybe it didn't stick in my memory, i seem to recall the 160kmh anyway... I also this year took the ICE from Munich to Frankfurt as well but don't remember seeing a speed reading on that one either but maybe that got up to a decent clip as well...

160 would be right for some of the journey. The display is easy to miss.

 

[SeatBackForward]

- Overnight Singapore to KL

Had completely forgotten that I've done this too. I remember your passport gets stamped as you walk onto the platform in Singapore to be Entering Malaysia. I also remember seeing hte lights of the Petronas towers blinking off in the distance for what seemed like ages before arriving at that magnificent piece of Moorish/British Architecture -KL Sentral.

I then continued on by train upto Butterworth before taking the ferry over to Penang, the road bridge had just been completed. Then onwards with another overnight train from Butterworth to Bangkok.

You can do that entire stretch now from SIN to BKK onbaord the five-start Orient Express.

 

[SeatBackForward]

This pic taken out the cab of a freight locomotive during testing last week running at XPT speeds over the Blue Mountains.
4410 leads 3301 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
It was a great ride and showed the speeds attainable if the pencil pushers allowed.

We ran it fast and hard and got it up to 129km/h.

Here we are a Springwood in the mountains, CM3301 being the new loco out of Boise Idaho.

Springwood | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Doesn't the XPT hit almost 180km/h on the stretch between Wagga and Albury?

 

[SeatBackForward]

Here's an interesting question. What constitutes a long-distance train journey? the distance traveled (eg high-speed rail) or the time taken (eg the slow train into Phnom Penh)?

 

[Shelf]

The Ghan from Alice to Adelaide and the Indian Pacific from Perth to advise. Both trips were in the mid 1990s.

It's a great way to travel.

 

[UP4014]

Doesn't the XPT hit almost 180km/h on the stretch between Wagga and Albury?

Alas no, the train has been slowed down to avoid hitting locals.

 

[SFSC]

Hmmm, maybe there wasn't a reading on the train on that leg that i could see or maybe it didn't stick in my memory, i seem to recall the 160kmh anyway... I also this year took the ICE from Munich to Frankfurt as well but don't remember seeing a speed reading on that one either but maybe that got up to a decent clip as well...

Sometimes on the ICE, if there isn't a speed readout at the end of the seating area, you can look for the one in the vestibule.

VID00023.AVI - YouTube Apologies for the commentary