Flightmussy/trainrouter-atlas huggingface dataset:
Eurostar — London to Paris (high-speed)
Train: e320 · Class 374
Operator: Eurostar
Distance: 492 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 2 h 16 min
Opened: 1994
Passengers per year: 7500000
Countries: United Kingdom|France
Drops 75 m below the sea through the 50.5 km Channel Tunnel — the world’s longest undersea rail tunnel.
TGV inOui — Paris to Marseille (high-speed)
Train: TGV Duplex
Operator: SNCF Voyageurs
Distance: 750 km
Top speed: 320 km/h
Duration: 3 h 05 min
Opened: 1981
Passengers per year: 3500000
Countries: France
France’s original 1981 LGV forms the first leg; today the TGV holds 320 km/h nearly all the way to the Mediterranean.
AVE — Madrid to Barcelona (high-speed)
Train: S-103 Velaro E
Operator: Renfe · Ouigo · iryo
Distance: 621 km
Top speed: 310 km/h
Duration: 2 h 30 min
Opened: 2008
Passengers per year: 9000000
Countries: Spain
Scheduled at 310 km/h — Europe’s fastest timetable — this line flipped one of the world’s busiest air routes to rail.
AVE — Madrid to Seville (high-speed)
Train: S-100 (Alstom)
Operator: Renfe
Distance: 471 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 2 h 20 min
Opened: 1992
Passengers per year: 3000000
Countries: Spain
Spain’s first AVE, built for Expo ’92 in standard gauge — the line that reset Spanish railways.
ICE Sprinter — Berlin to Munich (high-speed)
Train: ICE 3
Operator: Deutsche Bahn
Distance: 623 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 3 h 55 min
Opened: 2017
Passengers per year: 5000000
Countries: Germany
The €10bn VDE 8 project: 26 tunnels and 37 viaducts through the Thuringian Forest halved the Berlin–Munich journey.
ICE — Cologne to Frankfurt (high-speed)
Train: ICE 3neo
Operator: Deutsche Bahn
Distance: 180 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 1 h 04 min
Opened: 2002
Countries: Germany
A roller-coaster alignment beside the A3 autobahn with 40 ‰ grades — only the most powerful ICE sets are cleared for it.
Frecciarossa — Milan to Rome (high-speed)
Train: Frecciarossa 1000
Operator: Trenitalia · Italo
Distance: 562 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 2 h 59 min
Opened: 2009
Passengers per year: 8000000
Countries: Italy
Italy’s flagship corridor: since 2009 the airlines’ share has collapsed, and the ETR 1000 is engineered for 360 km/h.
Eurostar (Thalys) — Paris to Amsterdam (high-speed)
Train: TGV PBKA
Operator: Eurostar
Distance: 545 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 3 h 20 min
Opened: 1996
Passengers per year: 3000000
Countries: France|Belgium|Netherlands
The crimson Thalys — folded into Eurostar in 2023 — chains French, Belgian and Dutch high-speed lines into one dash.
LNER Azuma — London to Edinburgh (classic)
Train: Class 800 Azuma
Operator: LNER
Distance: 632 km
Top speed: 201 km/h
Duration: 4 h 20 min
Opened: 1862
Countries: United Kingdom
The Flying Scotsman’s route since 1862 — and where Mallard set the never-beaten steam record of 203 km/h in 1938.
Alfa Pendular — Lisbon to Porto (classic)
Train: CP 4000 Pendolino
Operator: Comboios de Portugal
Distance: 336 km
Top speed: 220 km/h
Duration: 2 h 50 min
Opened: 1999
Countries: Portugal
A tilting Pendolino leaning through the curves of the 19th-century Linha do Norte between Portugal’s two great cities.
EIP Pendolino — Warsaw to Kraków (classic)
Train: ED250 Pendolino
Operator: PKP Intercity
Distance: 293 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: 2 h 21 min
Opened: 2014
Countries: Poland
Rides Poland’s 1970s Central Main Line (CMK), engineered decades ahead of its time and now being upgraded to 250 km/h.
Railjet — Vienna to Budapest (classic)
Train: Railjet
Operator: ÖBB · MÁV
Distance: 243 km
Top speed: 230 km/h
Duration: 2 h 20 min
Opened: 2008
Countries: Austria|Hungary
Follows the old Orient Express alignment down the Danube plain — centre to centre faster than any flight.
SJ X2000 — Stockholm to Gothenburg (classic)
Train: X2 tilting EMU
Operator: SJ
Distance: 455 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: 3 h 05 min
Opened: 1990
Countries: Sweden
Sweden’s tilting flagship since 1990, sprinting the Western Main Line between the country’s two biggest cities.
Nightjet — Paris to Vienna (night)
Train: Nightjet sleeper
Operator: ÖBB · SNCF
Distance: 1200 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: ≈ 14 h
Opened: 2021
Countries: France|Germany|Austria
Revived in 2021 after a 14-year gap: dinner near the Eiffel Tower, breakfast on the Danube.
EuroNight — Stockholm to Hamburg (night)
Train: EuroNight sleeper
Operator: SJ
Distance: 1150 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: ≈ 13 h
Opened: 2022
Countries: Sweden|Denmark|Germany
Scandinavia’s night-train revival — across the Öresund while you sleep, into Germany by breakfast.
Santa Claus Express — Helsinki to Rovaniemi (night)
Train: Double-deck sleeper
Operator: VR
Distance: 900 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: ≈ 12 h
Opened: 1909
Countries: Finland
Rolls out of Helsinki by night and crosses into Lapland by morning — sleepers and car carriers bound for the Arctic Circle.
Venice Simplon-Orient-Express — Paris to Venice (night)
Train: 1920s CIWL carriages
Operator: Belmond
Distance: 1270 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: ≈ 21 h
Opened: 1982
Countries: France|Switzerland|Austria|Italy
Belmond’s restored Art Deco sleepers of the 1920s–30s — black tie encouraged as the Alps slide past the champagne bar.
Glacier Express — Zermatt to St. Moritz (scenic)
Train: Panorama cars · metre gauge
Operator: RhB · MGB
Distance: 291 km
Top speed: 90 km/h
Duration: ≈ 8 h
Opened: 1930
Passengers per year: 250000
Countries: Switzerland
“The world’s slowest express”: 291 bridges, 91 tunnels and the 2,033 m Oberalp Pass at an average of 36 km/h.
Bernina Express — Chur to Tirano (scenic)
Train: Allegra panorama
Operator: RhB
Distance: 144 km
Top speed: 70 km/h
Duration: ≈ 4 h
Opened: 1910
Passengers per year: 400000
Countries: Switzerland|Italy
A UNESCO World Heritage railway: 7 % grades with no rack, the Brusio spiral, and the highest rail crossing of the Alps at 2,253 m.
Bergensbanen — Oslo to Bergen (scenic)
Train: Vy long-distance
Operator: Vy
Distance: 496 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 6 h 30 min
Opened: 1909
Passengers per year: 1000000
Countries: Norway
Northern Europe’s highest main line — over the bare Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 m, through 182 tunnels.
West Highland Line — Glasgow to Mallaig (scenic)
Train: Class 156 · Jacobite steam
Operator: ScotRail
Distance: 264 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: 5 h 20 min
Opened: 1901
Countries: United Kingdom
Regularly voted the world’s most scenic railway — around Rannoch Moor and over the 21-arch Glenfinnan Viaduct of film fame.
Tokaido Shinkansen — Tokyo to Osaka (high-speed)
Train: N700S
Operator: JR Central
Distance: 515 km
Top speed: 285 km/h
Duration: 2 h 21 min
Opened: 1964
Passengers per year: 150000000
Countries: Japan
The original bullet train, opened for the 1964 Olympics — the world’s busiest high-speed line, with departures every few minutes past Mount Fuji.
Jinghu High-Speed — Beijing to Shanghai (high-speed)
Train: CR400 Fuxing
Operator: China Railway
Distance: 1318 km
Top speed: 350 km/h
Duration: 4 h 18 min
Opened: 2011
Passengers per year: 200000000
Countries: China
The world’s fastest scheduled trains — 350 km/h Fuxing sets covering 1,318 km in under four and a half hours.
Trans-Siberian Railway — Moscow to Vladivostok (night)
Train: Rossiya № 1/2
Operator: RZD
Distance: 9289 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: ≈ 7 days
Opened: 1916
Countries: Russia
The longest railway on Earth: 9,289 km, eight time zones and seven nights between Moscow and the Pacific.
Qinghai–Tibet Railway — Xining to Lhasa (scenic)
Train: Oxygen-enriched coaches
Operator: China Railway
Distance: 1956 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: ≈ 21 h
Opened: 2006
Countries: China
The roof-of-the-world railway — 5,072 m over the Tanggula Pass on permafrost, with oxygen piped to every seat.
KTX — Seoul to Busan (high-speed)
Train: KTX-Sancheon
Operator: Korail
Distance: 417 km
Top speed: 305 km/h
Duration: 2 h 15 min
Opened: 2004
Countries: South Korea
Korea’s TGV-derived flagship halved the Seoul–Busan run — today the corridor is one of the most intensively served on Earth.
Mumbai Rajdhani — New Delhi to Mumbai (night)
Train: Tejas Rajdhani rake
Operator: Indian Railways
Distance: 1384 km
Top speed: 140 km/h
Duration: ≈ 16 h
Opened: 1972
Countries: India
India’s first Rajdhani — the overnight flagship linking the capital with the financial capital, now in bright Tejas livery.
Acela — Boston to Washington, D.C. (high-speed)
Train: Avelia Liberty
Operator: Amtrak
Distance: 735 km
Top speed: 240 km/h
Duration: ≈ 6 h 45 min
Opened: 2000
Passengers per year: 3500000
Countries: United States
America’s fastest train threads the dense Northeast Corridor — 240 km/h bursts between five major downtowns.
California Zephyr — Chicago to San Francisco (scenic)
Train: Amtrak Superliner
Operator: Amtrak
Distance: 3924 km
Top speed: 127 km/h
Duration: ≈ 52 h
Opened: 1949
Passengers per year: 400000
Countries: United States
Two nights, seven states: through the Rockies’ canyons and over Donner Pass — widely called America’s most beautiful train ride.
Rocky Mountaineer — Vancouver to Banff (scenic)
Train: GoldLeaf dome cars
Operator: Rocky Mountaineer
Distance: 957 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: 2 days, daylight only
Opened: 1990
Countries: Canada
All-daylight luxury through the Canadian Rockies — glass-domed coaches, an overnight hotel stop and the Kicking Horse Pass.
Cusco–Machu Picchu — Cusco to Machu Picchu (scenic)
Train: Vistadome panorama
Operator: PeruRail
Distance: 92 km
Top speed: 50 km/h
Duration: ≈ 3 h 30 min
Opened: 1928
Countries: Peru
Down the Sacred Valley of the Incas beside the Urubamba rapids — the rails are the only road to Machu Picchu.
The Blue Train — Pretoria to Cape Town (night)
Train: Luxury sleeper stock
Operator: Transnet
Distance: 1600 km
Top speed: 90 km/h
Duration: ≈ 31 h
Opened: 1946
Countries: South Africa
A five-star hotel on rails — butlers, marble bathrooms and the Karoo semi-desert rolling past for 1,600 km.
Al Boraq — Tangier to Casablanca (high-speed)
Train: Alstom Euroduplex
Operator: ONCF
Distance: 323 km
Top speed: 320 km/h
Duration: 2 h 10 min
Opened: 2018
Passengers per year: 3000000
Countries: Morocco
Africa’s first high-speed railway — 320 km/h along the Atlantic between Tangier and Casablanca, named after a mythical steed.
The Ghan — Adelaide to Darwin (night)
Train: Expedition sleeper
Operator: Journey Beyond
Distance: 2979 km
Top speed: 115 km/h
Duration: ≈ 54 h
Opened: 2004
Countries: Australia
Named for the Afghan cameleers — 2,979 km straight through the Red Centre, completed to Darwin only in 2004.
Indian Pacific — Sydney to Perth (night)
Train: Expedition sleeper
Operator: Journey Beyond
Distance: 4352 km
Top speed: 115 km/h
Duration: ≈ 65 h
Opened: 1970
Countries: Australia
Ocean to ocean across Australia — including the world’s longest railway straight: 478 dead-level kilometres on the Nullarbor.
TranzAlpine — Christchurch to Greymouth (scenic)
Train: AK panorama cars
Operator: KiwiRail
Distance: 223 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: ≈ 5 h
Opened: 1987
Passengers per year: 200000
Countries: New Zealand
Coast to coast across the Southern Alps — the Waimakariri gorges, Arthur’s Pass and the 8.5 km Otira Tunnel in one morning.
TGV inOui — Paris to Bordeaux (high-speed)
Train: TGV Duplex
Operator: SNCF Voyageurs
Distance: 581 km
Top speed: 320 km/h
Duration: 2 h 04 min
Opened: 2017
Countries: France
The LGV Sud Europe Atlantique put Bordeaux’s vineyards two hours from Paris — and emptied the air shuttle.
TGV Est — Paris to Strasbourg (high-speed)
Train: TGV Euroduplex
Operator: SNCF Voyageurs
Distance: 439 km
Top speed: 320 km/h
Duration: 1 h 46 min
Opened: 2007
Countries: France
Where a modified TGV hit 574.8 km/h in 2007 — still the world rail speed record for steel wheels.
AVE — Madrid to Valencia (high-speed)
Train: S-112 “Pato”
Operator: Renfe · Ouigo · iryo
Distance: 391 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 1 h 40 min
Opened: 2010
Countries: Spain
Madrid to the Mediterranean paella coast in 100 minutes aboard the duck-nosed “Pato”.
AVE — Madrid to Málaga (high-speed)
Train: S-102 Talgo 350
Operator: Renfe · iryo
Distance: 513 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 2 h 20 min
Opened: 2007
Countries: Spain
Splits from the Seville line at Córdoba and dives through the Sierra to the Costa del Sol.
Frecciarossa — Rome to Naples (high-speed)
Train: Frecciarossa 1000
Operator: Trenitalia · Italo
Distance: 225 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 1 h 10 min
Opened: 2005
Countries: Italy
Italy’s first true alta velocità line — Vesuvius on the horizon barely an hour after leaving Rome.
ICE — Hamburg to Berlin (classic)
Train: ICE 4
Operator: Deutsche Bahn
Distance: 286 km
Top speed: 230 km/h
Duration: 1 h 45 min
Opened: 1846
Countries: Germany
Germany’s busiest city pair rides an alignment opened in 1846 — dead straight across the northern plain.
Caledonian Sleeper — London to Fort William (night)
Train: Mk 5 sleeper
Operator: Caledonian Sleeper
Distance: 966 km
Top speed: 140 km/h
Duration: ≈ 13 h
Opened: 1873
Countries: United Kingdom
The “Deerstalker Express”: fall asleep at Euston, wake up crossing Rannoch Moor with red deer at the window.
Flåmsbana — Myrdal to Flåm (scenic)
Train: El 18-hauled panorama
Operator: Vy · Flåm AS
Distance: 20 km
Top speed: 40 km/h
Duration: ≈ 1 h
Opened: 1940
Passengers per year: 1000000
Countries: Norway
One of the steepest adhesion railways on Earth — 864 m down to the fjord in 20 km, waterfalls at the window.
Rhine Valley Line — Mainz to Koblenz (scenic)
Train: MittelrheinBahn
Operator: DB · trans regio
Distance: 92 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: ≈ 1 h 30 min
Opened: 1859
Countries: Germany
Castle after castle past the Lorelei rock — the left bank of the Rhine is one long UNESCO postcard.
Semmeringbahn — Vienna to Graz (scenic)
Train: Railjet
Operator: ÖBB
Distance: 224 km
Top speed: 230 km/h
Duration: 2 h 35 min
Opened: 1854
Countries: Austria
The world’s first true mountain railway (1854) and a UNESCO site — 16 viaducts built before the age of dynamite.
Belgrade–Bar Railway — Belgrade to Bar (scenic)
Train: ŽS / ŽPCG loco-hauled
Operator: Srbija Voz · ŽPCG
Distance: 476 km
Top speed: 80 km/h
Duration: ≈ 11 h
Opened: 1976
Countries: Serbia|Montenegro
254 tunnels, 435 bridges and the vertigo-inducing Mala Rijeka viaduct — Yugoslavia’s engineering swan song.
Nightjet — Vienna to Zurich (night)
Train: Nightjet sleeper
Operator: ÖBB
Distance: 780 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: ≈ 9 h
Opened: 2016
Countries: Austria|Switzerland
The founding route of the Nightjet brand — over the Arlberg while you sleep, Alps at both ends.
Gotthard Express — Zurich to Milan (classic)
Train: Giruno / Astoro
Operator: SBB · Trenitalia
Distance: 280 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: 3 h 17 min
Opened: 2016
Countries: Switzerland|Italy
Threads the 57.1 km Gotthard Base Tunnel — the longest and deepest railway tunnel on the planet.
Arctic Circle Train — Stockholm to Narvik (night)
Train: Vy sleeper
Operator: Vy Tåg
Distance: 1470 km
Top speed: 135 km/h
Duration: ≈ 18 h
Opened: 1902
Countries: Sweden|Norway
Crosses the Arctic Circle bound for the aurora — the Iron Ore Line’s fjord finale into Narvik is pure drama.
Sapsan — Moscow to St. Petersburg (high-speed)
Train: Siemens Velaro RUS
Operator: RZD
Distance: 650 km
Top speed: 250 km/h
Duration: 3 h 30 min
Opened: 2009
Passengers per year: 5000000
Countries: Russia
The “Peregrine Falcon” races the dead-straight 1851 Nikolaev alignment between Russia’s two capitals.
EIP Pendolino — Warsaw to Gdańsk (classic)
Train: ED250 Pendolino
Operator: PKP Intercity
Distance: 328 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: 2 h 39 min
Opened: 2014
Countries: Poland
Capital to the Baltic amber coast — Gdańsk’s Hanseatic old town — in under three hours.
Railjet — Prague to Vienna (classic)
Train: Railjet
Operator: ČD · ÖBB
Distance: 396 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: ≈ 4 h
Opened: 1839
Countries: Czechia|Austria
Follows the Habsburg Empire’s first steam railway of 1839 — Prague, Brno and Vienna strung like pearls.
EN Ister — Budapest to Bucharest (night)
Train: MÁV / CFR sleeper
Operator: MÁV · CFR
Distance: 874 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: ≈ 16 h
Opened: 1883
Countries: Hungary|Romania
Retraces the original 1883 Orient Express alignment through Transylvania’s castles and the Carpathian passes.
Hellenic InterCity — Athens to Thessaloniki (classic)
Train: ETR 470 “White Arrow”
Operator: Hellenic Train
Distance: 502 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: ≈ 4 h
Opened: 1916
Countries: Greece
Past Thermopylae and beneath Mount Olympus — Greece’s spine line, now run by tilting Italian arrows.
InterCity — Dublin to Cork (classic)
Train: Mark 4 push-pull
Operator: Iarnród Éireann
Distance: 266 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 2 h 15 min
Opened: 1849
Countries: Ireland
Ireland’s premier line since the Famine years — green midlands all the way to the Rebel City.
Dovrebanen — Oslo to Trondheim (scenic)
Train: SJ Nord long-distance
Operator: SJ Norge
Distance: 553 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: ≈ 6 h 40 min
Opened: 1921
Countries: Norway
Over the Dovrefjell plateau where wild musk oxen roam — mountain birch, snow fences and midnight sun.
Avanti West Coast — London to Glasgow (classic)
Train: Class 390 Pendolino
Operator: Avanti West Coast
Distance: 645 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: 4 h 30 min
Opened: 1974
Countries: United Kingdom
Tilting Pendolinos sway through the Lune Gorge and over Shap summit on Britain’s busiest mixed-traffic artery.
GoldenPass Express — Montreux to Lucerne (scenic)
Train: GPX variable-gauge panorama
Operator: MOB · zb
Distance: 191 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: ≈ 5 h
Opened: 1901
Countries: Switzerland
Lake Geneva’s riviera to Lucerne over the Brünig Pass — its gauge-changing coaches are a world first.
Jungfraubahn — Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch (scenic)
Train: Rack railway
Operator: Jungfraubahnen
Distance: 20 km
Top speed: 30 km/h
Duration: ≈ 1 h 30 min
Opened: 1912
Passengers per year: 1000000
Countries: Switzerland
Tunnels INSIDE the Eiger to Europe’s highest station at 3,454 m — the “Top of Europe” since 1912.
Hokuriku Shinkansen — Tokyo to Kanazawa (high-speed)
Train: E7 / W7 Series
Operator: JR East · JR West
Distance: 450 km
Top speed: 260 km/h
Duration: 2 h 28 min
Opened: 2015
Countries: Japan
Over the Japanese Alps to the samurai gardens of Kanazawa — copper-and-blue E7s built for deep snow country.
Hayabusa — Tokyo to Hakodate (high-speed)
Train: E5 / H5 Series
Operator: JR East · JR Hokkaido
Distance: 862 km
Top speed: 320 km/h
Duration: 3 h 57 min
Opened: 2016
Countries: Japan
Japan’s fastest trains dive beneath the sea through the 53.9 km Seikan Tunnel to reach Hokkaido.
Sanyo Shinkansen — Osaka to Fukuoka (high-speed)
Train: N700S · 500 Series
Operator: JR West
Distance: 553 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 2 h 21 min
Opened: 1975
Countries: Japan
The Inland Sea corridor past Himeji Castle and Hiroshima — home of the legendary needle-nosed 500 Series.
Kyushu Shinkansen — Fukuoka to Kagoshima (high-speed)
Train: N700-8000 “Sakura”
Operator: JR Kyushu
Distance: 257 km
Top speed: 260 km/h
Duration: 1 h 16 min
Opened: 2011
Countries: Japan
Down the volcanic spine of Kyushu to Sakurajima’s smoking cone — mostly inside tunnels, all speed.
Jingguang High-Speed — Beijing to Guangzhou (high-speed)
Train: CR400 Fuxing
Operator: China Railway
Distance: 2298 km
Top speed: 350 km/h
Duration: ≈ 8 h
Opened: 2012
Countries: China
The longest high-speed line on Earth — 2,298 km from the Yellow River plain to the Pearl River Delta.
Jingha High-Speed — Beijing to Harbin (high-speed)
Train: CR400BF-G “Fuxing”
Operator: China Railway
Distance: 1198 km
Top speed: 350 km/h
Duration: ≈ 5 h
Opened: 2021
Countries: China
Cold-proof Fuxing sets built for −40 °C sprint to the ice-festival city of Harbin in Manchuria.
Shanghai Maglev — Shanghai to Pudong Airport (high-speed)
Train: Transrapid maglev
Operator: SMT
Distance: 30 km
Top speed: 431 km/h
Duration: ≈ 8 min
Opened: 2004
Countries: China
The fastest commercial train on the planet — 431 km/h with no wheels, floating on magnets.
Lanxin High-Speed — Lanzhou to Ürümqi (high-speed)
Train: CR200J / CRH5
Operator: China Railway
Distance: 1776 km
Top speed: 250 km/h
Duration: ≈ 11 h
Opened: 2014
Countries: China
The world’s longest desert high-speed line — wind-walled against Gobi gales on the old Silk Road.
THSR — Taipei to Kaohsiung (high-speed)
Train: 700T Series
Operator: Taiwan High Speed Rail
Distance: 345 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 1 h 34 min
Opened: 2007
Passengers per year: 67000000
Countries: Taiwan
Shinkansen technology’s first export — the length of Taiwan’s west coast in ninety minutes.
Darjeeling Toy Train — New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling (scenic)
Train: B-Class steam · diesel
Operator: Indian Railways
Distance: 88 km
Top speed: 25 km/h
Duration: ≈ 7 h
Opened: 1881
Countries: India
A two-foot-gauge UNESCO marvel looping up to 2,200 m — steam engines older than the tea gardens they pass.
Kalka–Shimla Railway — Kalka to Shimla (scenic)
Train: Rail motor · Himalayan Queen
Operator: Indian Railways
Distance: 96 km
Top speed: 25 km/h
Duration: ≈ 5 h 30 min
Opened: 1903
Countries: India
102 tunnels and 864 bridges to the Raj’s summer capital — a UNESCO line where the guard still waves flags.
Konkan Railway — Mumbai to Goa (scenic)
Train: Vande Bharat · Tejas
Operator: Indian Railways
Distance: 741 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: ≈ 9 h
Opened: 1998
Countries: India
Monsoon country: 2,000 bridges and 91 tunnels down the palm-fringed cliffs of India’s west coast.
Sri Lanka Main Line — Colombo to Badulla (scenic)
Train: Class S12 · observation car
Operator: Sri Lanka Railways
Distance: 292 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: ≈ 10 h
Opened: 1924
Countries: Sri Lanka
Through tea country over the Nine Arches Bridge — many call Kandy to Ella the world’s most beautiful ride.
Chiang Mai Express — Bangkok to Chiang Mai (night)
Train: CNR sleeper
Operator: State Railway of Thailand
Distance: 751 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: ≈ 13 h
Opened: 1922
Countries: Thailand
Thailand’s classic sleeper — dinner past Ayutthaya’s temples, dawn in the teak hills of Lanna.
Eastern & Oriental Express — Singapore to Bangkok (night)
Train: Belmond luxury sleeper
Operator: Belmond
Distance: 2000 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: 3 days
Opened: 1993
Countries: Singapore|Malaysia|Thailand
Cream-and-green carriages gliding past rubber plantations — colonial-era glamour from the Lion City to Siam.
Reunification Express — Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (night)
Train: SE sleeper
Operator: Vietnam Railways
Distance: 1726 km
Top speed: 90 km/h
Duration: ≈ 33 h
Opened: 1936
Countries: Vietnam
Two nights along the South China Sea — the Hải Vân Pass clings to cliffs the road never dared.
Whoosh — Jakarta to Bandung (high-speed)
Train: KCIC400AF (CR400 derivative)
Operator: KCIC
Distance: 142 km
Top speed: 350 km/h
Duration: ≈ 45 min
Opened: 2023
Passengers per year: 5000000
Countries: Indonesia
Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway — volcano views at 350 km/h across the Parahyangan highlands.
Laos–China Railway — Kunming to Vientiane (classic)
Train: Lane Xang EMU
Operator: LCR
Distance: 1035 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: ≈ 10 h
Opened: 2021
Countries: China|Laos
Punched through jungle karst in 167 tunnels, it gave landlocked Laos its first real railway.
Afrosiyob — Tashkent to Samarkand (high-speed)
Train: Talgo 250
Operator: Uzbekistan Railways
Distance: 344 km
Top speed: 250 km/h
Duration: 2 h 08 min
Opened: 2011
Countries: Uzbekistan
Central Asia’s only high-speed rail — Spanish Talgos racing to the turquoise domes of the Silk Road.
YHT — Istanbul to Ankara (high-speed)
Train: Siemens Velaro TR
Operator: TCDD Taşımacılık
Distance: 533 km
Top speed: 250 km/h
Duration: ≈ 4 h 30 min
Opened: 2014
Countries: Türkiye
From the Bosphorus across the Anatolian steppe — Türkiye’s white Velaros bridge two continents’ doorstep.
Haramain High-Speed — Mecca to Medina (high-speed)
Train: Talgo 350 SRO
Operator: SAR
Distance: 450 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 2 h 20 min
Opened: 2018
Countries: Saudi Arabia
Links Islam’s two holiest cities at 300 km/h through the desert — built to move millions of Hajj pilgrims.
Trans-Mongolian — Ulan-Ude to Beijing (night)
Train: K3/K4 international sleeper
Operator: RZD · UBTZ · CR
Distance: 2080 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: ≈ 2 days
Opened: 1956
Countries: Russia|Mongolia|China
Branches off the Trans-Siberian across the Gobi — gers, camels, and a bogie change at the Chinese border.