A Russian rail operator is floating the idea of a direct train between Berlin and Irkutsk, which, at something like five days and 6,800 kilometres, would be the longest single rail journey to originate in western Europe; the current route terminates at Novosibirsk, and is only four days and 5,000 kilometres. Gadling sees the advantages: […]
Budget Travel Online has an article on how to save on rail travel in Europe by taking advantage of last-minute discounts. Some of the discounts are quite profound; some of them I already knew about, like the German “Schönes-Wochenende” ticket that allows up to five people on a single pass good for non-express trains, which […]
“Traveling by train in Russia is usually a very rewarding experience,” writes Gadling’s Neil Woodburn, who knows whereof he speaks, “unless you happen to be traveling third class.” And he links to a harrowing tale of a 17-hour platzkart journey from Izhevsk to Moscow, an unpleasant, crowded, smelly ordeal during which the author was suffering […]
There are a number of privately owned passenger cars in North America; they’re generally pulled behind regular trains operated by Amtrak and VIA Rail (who charge the private car owners by the mile). Sure, you may not be able to afford one yourself, but, as Chicagoist and Gadling point out, you can charter one: for […]
Here’s a short, three-minute video on the pleasures of rail travel that comes from Freshtopia, a team of environmental videobloggers. Environmentalists have long touted rail travel as an environmentally preferable alternative, especially in comparison with the huge amount of CO2 generated by air travel. As if you needed another reason.
Dinc Arslan provides a guide to train travel in Russia which focuses on the three classes of sleeper service on long-distance trains.
USA Today had an article last month about overnight tours of the Paris Metro system, including visits to four “phantom stations” closed since the Second World War and using vintage rolling stock, by ADEMAS, the Association d’Exploitation du Matériel Sprague (Sprague-Thomson metro cars date from the early 20th century). The society is reportedly secretive, but […]
The Man in Seat Sixty-One is a personal project by Mark Smith; it’s a site about international passenger rail travel, full of tips on what trains there are, how to book, what it costs and so forth. Much of it takes London as its starting point, and European coverage is very good: you can find […]
In my previous post on the Tibetan railway, the links didn’t have many photos of the line; Linkdonkey has collected some photos, however, presumably from various sources. Via Digg. Previously: Riding the Tibetan Railway.
China’s Golmud to Lhasa rail line has gotten the kind of media attention you’d expect, seeing as it’s the first railroad built into Tibet. Much ink was spilled about the technical achievements involved in building at altitude, especially in re the risk of melting permafrost. But as for riding on it, in July, the Daily […]
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