Flightmussy/trainrouter-atlas huggingface dataset:
Rittner Bahn — Soprabolzano to Collalbo (scenic)
Train: Esslingen tramcar
Operator: SAD
Distance: 7 km
Top speed: 30 km/h
Duration: 18 min
Opened: 1907
Countries: Italy
A metre-gauge survivor of a 1907 rack railway, its vintage tramcars glide across the sunny Renon plateau beneath the Dolomites above Bolzano.
Circumvesuviana — Naples to Sorrento (scenic)
Train: ETR 211 Metrostar
Operator: EAV
Distance: 42 km
Top speed: 80 km/h
Duration: 1 h 10 min
Opened: 1948
Countries: Italy
The narrow-gauge line to Sorrento, opened in 1948, carries travellers past the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum under the shadow of Vesuvius.
Pelion Railway — Ano Lechonia to Milies (scenic)
Train: Heritage diesel train
Operator: Hellenic Train
Distance: 15 km
Top speed: 20 km/h
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Opened: 1903
Countries: Greece
Evaristo de Chirico’s 600 mm mountain railway on Mt Pelion curls over his iron-and-stone bridge near Milies through olive and apple groves.
Proastiakos — Piraeus to Kiato (classic)
Train: Siemens Desiro (460)
Operator: Hellenic Train
Distance: 121 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Opened: 2010
Countries: Greece
Athens’s fast electric suburban line hugs the Saronic Gulf and crosses the Corinth Canal on its run from the port of Piraeus out to Kiato.
Zagreb–Rijeka line — Zagreb to Rijeka (classic)
Train: Končar 6112 EMU
Operator: HŽ Putnički prijevoz
Distance: 229 km
Top speed: 140 km/h
Duration: 3 h 30 min
Opened: 1873
Countries: Croatia
Climbs through the forested Gorski Kotar highlands, threading tunnels and curves before the steep final plunge to the Adriatic at Rijeka.
Zagreb–Osijek line — Zagreb to Osijek (classic)
Train: Končar 7023 DMU
Operator: HŽ Putnički prijevoz
Distance: 250 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 4 h 55 min
Opened: 1895
Countries: Croatia
Runs east across the flat Pannonian farmland of Slavonia to Osijek, Croatia’s fourth-largest city, on the Drava near the Hungarian border.
Ljubljana–Koper line — Ljubljana to Koper (classic)
Train: Siemens Desiro (312)
Operator: Slovenske železnice
Distance: 152 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 2 h 20 min
Opened: 1967
Countries: Slovenia
Drops nearly 500 m off the Karst plateau to the sea, twisting through tunnels and curves on the descent to Slovenia’s only seaport, Koper.
Podgorica–Nikšić line — Podgorica to Nikšić (classic)
Train: CAF Civity EMU
Operator: Željeznički prevoz Crne Gore
Distance: 56 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: 50 min
Opened: 1948
Countries: Montenegro
Reopened to passengers after electrification in 2012, the line threads 12 tunnels and 9 bridges below the cliffs of Ostrog Monastery.
Sarajevo–Mostar line — Sarajevo to Mostar (scenic)
Train: Talgo trainset
Operator: Železnice FBiH
Distance: 129 km
Top speed: 70 km/h
Duration: 2 h
Opened: 1966
Countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Threads the plunging Neretva canyon between the Prenj and Čvrsnica massifs — the line onward to the Adriatic bores through 106 tunnels.
Skopje–Bitola line — Skopje to Bitola (classic)
Train: CRRC DMU
Operator: MŽ Transport
Distance: 229 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: 3 h 45 min
Opened: 1936
Countries: North Macedonia
Climbs from the Vardar at Veles over the Babuna mountains on the looping Bogomila grade before dropping onto the Pelagonia plain to Bitola.
Skopje–Gevgelija line — Skopje to Gevgelija (classic)
Train: CRRC EMU
Operator: MŽ Transport
Distance: 173 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 3 h 15 min
Opened: 1873
Countries: North Macedonia
Follows the Vardar south and threads the dramatic Demir Kapija — the “Iron Gate” gorge — on Corridor X’s run toward Greece.
Pristina–Peja line — Pristina to Peja (classic)
Train: NOHAB Di 3 + coaches
Operator: Trainkos
Distance: 80 km
Top speed: 80 km/h
Duration: 2 h
Opened: 1936
Countries: Kosovo
Kosovo’s sole surviving passenger service — two little diesel trains a day amble west via Klina to Peja beneath the Accursed Mountains.
Frecciarossa — Rome to Venice (high-speed)
Train: ETR 1000
Operator: Trenitalia
Distance: 528 km
Top speed: 300 km/h
Duration: 3 h 45 min
Opened: 2009
Countries: Italy
Frecciarossa 1000 sets sweep from Rome across the Apennines and the Po plain via Florence and Bologna to reach Venice in under four hours.
Transiberiana d’Italia — Sulmona to Castel di Sangro (scenic)
Train: Heritage ALn 668
Operator: Fondazione FS
Distance: 77 km
Top speed: 70 km/h
Duration: 2 h 45 min
Opened: 1897
Countries: Italy
Italy’s “Trans-Siberian” — a heritage train over snowbound Apennine plateaus to Rivisondoli-Pescocostanzo at 1,268 m, among Italy’s highest stations.
Ferrovia delle Meraviglie — Cuneo to Ventimiglia (scenic)
Train: Alstom Minuetto
Operator: Trenitalia · SNCF
Distance: 96 km
Top speed: 80 km/h
Duration: 2 h 40 min
Opened: 1928
Countries: Italy|France
The “Railway of Wonders” spirals up the Alps through helical tunnels and viaducts into France; wrecked in WWII, it reopened only in 1979.
Vinschgau Railway — Merano to Malles (scenic)
Train: Coradia Stream EMU
Operator: STA · suedtirolmobil
Distance: 60 km
Top speed: 100 km/h
Duration: 1 h 10 min
Opened: 1906
Countries: Italy
Closed to passengers in 1990, this South Tyrol branch reopened in 2005 as a rural-rail success story and went fully electric in 2026.
Frecciargento — Rome to Lecce (high-speed)
Train: ETR 485
Operator: Trenitalia
Distance: 630 km
Top speed: 250 km/h
Duration: 5 h 30 min
Opened: 2009
Countries: Italy
A tilting ETR 485 threads Rome to the heel of Italy’s boot via Foggia, Bari and Brindisi, reaching baroque Lecce in the Salento.
InterCity Slovenija — Ljubljana to Maribor (classic)
Train: SŽ 310 Pendolino
Operator: Slovenske železnice
Distance: 156 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 1 h 52 min
Opened: 1849
Countries: Slovenia
SŽ’s tilting Pendolino links Slovenia’s two largest cities along the 1840s Austrian Southern Railway, weaving down the Sava and Savinja valleys.
Narita Express — Tokyo to Narita Airport (classic)
Train: E259 series
Operator: JR East
Distance: 79 km
Top speed: 130 km/h
Duration: 53 min
Opened: 1991
Countries: Japan
Twin sets from Yokohama and Shinjuku couple at Tokyo Station, then run as one red-and-black E259 through the Sobu tunnels out to Narita Airport.
Thunderbird — Osaka to Tsuruga (classic)
Train: 683 series
Operator: JR West
Distance: 138 km
Top speed: 130 km/h
Duration: 1 h 20 min
Opened: 1995
Countries: Japan
Since the 2024 bullet-train extension it sprints from Osaka up the wild western shore of Lake Biwa to Tsuruga, Hokuriku’s new shinkansen gateway.
Haruka — Kyoto to Kansai Airport (classic)
Train: 281 · 271 series
Operator: JR West
Distance: 99 km
Top speed: 130 km/h
Duration: 1 h 20 min
Opened: 1994
Countries: Japan
Kansai Airport’s purple-and-white express, threading 99 km from Kyoto’s temples out across the bay to the man-made island runway.
Kaiji — Shinjuku to Kofu (classic)
Train: E353 series
Operator: JR East
Distance: 134 km
Top speed: 130 km/h
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Opened: 1988
Countries: Japan
Chuo Line express using the E353’s active tilt to swing through the mountain-walled Katsura valleys up to the vineyard capital of Kofu.
Hokuto — Sapporo to Hakodate (classic)
Train: KiHa 261-1000
Operator: JR Hokkaido
Distance: 319 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 3 h 40 min
Opened: 1994
Countries: Japan
Diesel tilting express curving 319 km around Uchiura Bay beneath the volcanoes Usu and Komagatake, linking Sapporo with old Hakodate.
Ozora — Sapporo to Kushiro (classic)
Train: KiHa 283 · 261
Operator: JR Hokkaido
Distance: 349 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 4 h 5 min
Opened: 1997
Countries: Japan
Crosses Hokkaido’s wild interior — the Hidaka range and the Sekisho tunnels — to the crane marshes of Kushiro on the far Pacific coast.
Enoden — Kamakura to Fujisawa (scenic)
Train: 300 / 500 series
Operator: Enoshima Electric Railway
Distance: 10 km
Top speed: 45 km/h
Duration: 34 min
Opened: 1902
Countries: Japan
Century-old seaside interurban that skims Shonan’s surf beaches and threads between house walls; its Kamakurakokomae crossing is an anime shrine.
Oigawa SL Kawane-ji — Shin-Kanaya to Kawane-Onsen (scenic)
Train: C11 · C10 steam
Operator: Oigawa Railway
Distance: 31 km
Top speed: 45 km/h
Duration: 1 h
Opened: 1976
Countries: Japan
Vintage C11 steam locomotives haul old coaches up the Oi River valley — the same railway that runs Japan’s Thomas the Tank Engine trains.
Isumi Railway — Ohara to Kazusa-Nakano (scenic)
Train: KiHa 52 · 28
Operator: Isumi Railway
Distance: 27 km
Top speed: 65 km/h
Duration: 50 min
Opened: 1988
Countries: Japan
Restored 1960s diesel railcars trundle past rice paddies and spring nanohana blossoms through the rural heart of the Boso Peninsula.
Shimakaze — Osaka to Kashikojima (scenic)
Train: Kintetsu 50000 series
Operator: Kintetsu Railway
Distance: 137 km
Top speed: 130 km/h
Duration: 2 h 20 min
Opened: 2013
Countries: Japan
Kintetsu’s luxury Shimakaze — double-decker observation cars, leather saloons and a café — glides to the pearl bays and shrines of Ise-Shima.
Laview — Tokyo to Chichibu (classic)
Train: Seibu 001 series
Operator: Seibu Railway
Distance: 77 km
Top speed: 105 km/h
Duration: 1 h 20 min
Opened: 2019
Countries: Japan
Seibu’s radical Laview, with a huge curved windscreen and yellow living-room windows, climbs from Ikebukuro into the Chichibu mountains.
Fujisan View Express — Otsuki to Kawaguchiko (scenic)
Train: 8500 series
Operator: Fuji Kyuko
Distance: 27 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: 50 min
Opened: 2016
Countries: Japan
Steep little Fujikyu line to Lake Kawaguchi, its wide panorama windows framing Mt Fuji rising straight ahead.
Saphir Odoriko — Tokyo to Shimoda (scenic)
Train: E261 series
Operator: JR East
Distance: 168 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 2 h 40 min
Opened: 2020
Countries: Japan
All-Green-Car sapphire E261 with a glass-roofed lounge, curving along the Izu Peninsula’s cliffs and coves from Tokyo to Shimoda.
Yakumo — Okayama to Izumo (classic)
Train: 273 series
Operator: JR West
Distance: 221 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 3 h
Opened: 1972
Countries: Japan
JR West’s new 2024 tilting 273 series threads the Hakubi line’s passes to Izumo, home of Japan’s oldest grand shrine.
Ibusuki no Tamatebako — Kagoshima to Ibusuki (scenic)
Train: KiHa 47
Operator: JR Kyushu
Distance: 46 km
Top speed: 85 km/h
Duration: 55 min
Opened: 2011
Countries: Japan
Split black-and-white treasure box train that puffs a cloud of mist from its doors, hugging Kinko Bay to the hot-sand baths of Ibusuki.
Aso Boy! — Kumamoto to Miyaji (scenic)
Train: KiHa 183-1000
Operator: JR Kyushu
Distance: 53 km
Top speed: 95 km/h
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Opened: 2011
Countries: Japan
Family sightseeing express with a panorama cab and play areas, zig-zagging the Tateno switchback into the vast Mt Aso caldera.
Watarase Keikoku Railway — Kiryu to Manba (scenic)
Train: WKT-500 · torokko
Operator: Watarase Keikoku Railway
Distance: 44 km
Top speed: 65 km/h
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Opened: 1989
Countries: Japan
Open-sided torokko trolleys wind up the Watarase gorge on the old Ashio copper-mine line, ablaze with wisteria and autumn maple.
ITX-Saemaeul — Seoul to Busan (classic)
Train: Class 210000
Operator: Korail
Distance: 442 km
Top speed: 150 km/h
Duration: 4 h 50 min
Opened: 2014
Countries: South Korea
Tilting-comfort intercity that succeeded the storied Saemaul-ho, still running the full 442 km Gyeongbu spine from Seoul to Busan.
ITX-Cheongchun — Seoul to Chuncheon (classic)
Train: Class 371
Operator: Korail
Distance: 88 km
Top speed: 180 km/h
Duration: 1 h 12 min
Opened: 2012
Countries: South Korea
Double-deck 180 km/h EMU on the Youth Line, racing up the Bukhan River to the lake city of Chuncheon, home of dak-galbi.
Mugunghwa-ho — Seoul to Busan (classic)
Train: Class 8200 + coaches
Operator: Korail
Distance: 442 km
Top speed: 150 km/h
Duration: 5 h 20 min
Opened: 1984
Countries: South Korea
Korea’s beloved everyman Rose of Sharon train — cheap reserved seats and rattling coaches taking the slow road from Seoul to Busan.
KTX-Eum — Seoul to Andong (high-speed)
Train: EMU-260
Operator: Korail
Distance: 268 km
Top speed: 260 km/h
Duration: 2 h 3 min
Opened: 2021
Countries: South Korea
Home-grown EMU-260 bullet train on the rebuilt 250 km/h Jungang line, cutting Seoul to the Confucian old town of Andong to about two hours.
DMZ Peace Train — Seoul to Dorasan (scenic)
Train: DMZ-train railcar
Operator: Korail
Distance: 56 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 1 h
Opened: 2014
Countries: South Korea
Tourist train relaunched in 2026, running to Dorasan — the last station on the line before North Korea, at the fenced edge of the DMZ.
Tze-Chiang Limited Express — Taipei to Taitung (classic)
Train: EMU3000
Operator: Taiwan Railway
Distance: 321 km
Top speed: 140 km/h
Duration: 3 h 30 min
Opened: 2021
Countries: Taiwan
Taiwan’s flagship Teng-Yun EMU3000, with a business-class car, curving down the wild Pacific east coast from Taipei to Taitung.
Taroko Express — Taipei to Hualien (classic)
Train: TEMU1000
Operator: Taiwan Railway
Distance: 170 km
Top speed: 130 km/h
Duration: 2 h
Opened: 2007
Countries: Taiwan
Japanese-built TEMU1000 tilting train carving through the Yilan cliffs and tunnels from Taipei to the marble gorge country of Hualien.
Neiwan Line — Hsinchu to Neiwan (scenic)
Train: DR1000 railcar
Operator: Taiwan Railway
Distance: 28 km
Top speed: 90 km/h
Duration: 1 h
Opened: 1951
Countries: Taiwan
Hakka-country branch line climbing from Hsinchu into the hills to the old timber and coal town of Neiwan, revived as a heritage day-trip.
Jiji Line — Ershui to Jiji (scenic)
Train: DR1000 railcar
Operator: Taiwan Railway
Distance: 15 km
Top speed: 90 km/h
Duration: 30 min
Opened: 1922
Countries: Taiwan
Taiwan’s cherished 1922 branch line through betel-palm country and a camphor-tree green tunnel, reopened in 2026 after a landslide closure.
Shen’ao Line — Ruifang to Badouzi (scenic)
Train: DR1000 railcar
Operator: Taiwan Railway
Distance: 5 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: 15 min
Opened: 2014
Countries: Taiwan
Short coastal branch to Badouzi, the Taiwan station nearest the sea, where rainbow-painted railcars run beside the wave-cut Shen’ao arch.
Raja Tehran–Tabriz — Tehran to Tabriz (night)
Train: Raja sleeper coaches
Operator: Raja · Iranian Railways (RAI)
Distance: 736 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 12 h
Opened: 1958
Countries: Iran
Iranian leg of the Tehran–Istanbul Trans-Asia Express, whose onward run once floated the whole train across Turkey’s Lake Van on a rail ferry.
Raja Tehran–Isfahan — Tehran to Isfahan (classic)
Train: Raja intercity coaches
Operator: Raja · Iranian Railways (RAI)
Distance: 450 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 6 h 30 min
Opened: 1966
Countries: Iran
Links the capital to the old Safavid capital and its UNESCO-listed Naqsh-e Jahan Square, shadowing Iran’s still-unfinished first high-speed line.
Raja Tehran–Bandar Abbas — Tehran to Bandar Abbas (night)
Train: Raja long-distance sleeper
Operator: Raja · Iranian Railways (RAI)
Distance: 1286 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 20 h
Opened: 1995
Countries: Iran
One of Iran’s longest single-train rides: ~1,290 km across the central desert past Yazd to the Strait of Hormuz, completed when the Bafq link opened in 1995.
Yüksek Hızlı Tren (YHT) — Ankara to Konya (high-speed)
Train: HT80000 · HT65000
Operator: TCDD Taşımacılık
Distance: 306 km
Top speed: 250 km/h
Duration: 1 h 45 min
Opened: 2011
Countries: Türkiye
Turkey’s second high-speed line (2011) cut Ankara–Konya from over 10 hours to under two, racing across the Anatolian steppe past salt-pan Lake Tuz.
Yüksek Hızlı Tren (YHT) — Ankara to Sivas (high-speed)
Train: HT80000 (Velaro TR)
Operator: TCDD Taşımacılık
Distance: 406 km
Top speed: 250 km/h
Duration: 2 h 51 min
Opened: 2023
Countries: Türkiye
Turkey’s longest domestic high-speed line — 406 km over 11 tunnels and 6 viaducts — replaced a 12-hour conventional slog to Sivas with under three hours.
İzmir Mavi Treni — Ankara to Izmir (night)
Train: E68000 loco · sleeper & Pullman cars
Operator: TCDD Taşımacılık
Distance: 883 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 13 h
Opened: 1983
Countries: Türkiye
One of Turkey’s last classic ’Blue Train’ sleepers — 883 km overnight across western Anatolia via Eskişehir while the parallel high-speed line stays years off.
Doğu Ekspresi — Ankara to Kars (scenic)
Train: TCDD sleeper & couchette cars
Operator: TCDD Taşımacılık
Distance: 1365 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: 25 h
Opened: 1936
Countries: Türkiye
Turkey’s cult 1,365 km trans-Anatolian sleeper to the snowy Caucasus frontier at Kars; social-media fame makes seats sell out weeks ahead.
Israel Railways · Beersheba line — Tel Aviv to Beersheba (classic)
Train: Bombardier bi-level push-pull
Operator: Israel Railways
Distance: 93 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 1 h 5 min
Opened: 1997
Countries: Israel
A fast double-tracked run to the Negev’s capital, tracing the Ottoman military railway thrown down in 1915 to supply the WWI Sinai front.
Israel Railways · Coastal line — Nahariya to Tel Aviv (classic)
Train: Bombardier bi-level push-pull
Operator: Israel Railways
Distance: 107 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 1 h 41 min
Opened: 1953
Countries: Israel
Israel’s busiest rail corridor hugs the Mediterranean shore from the Galilee coast through Haifa Bay to Tel Aviv, with trains every 15–30 minutes.
SAR East Train — Riyadh to Dammam (classic)
Train: CAF diesel push-pull
Operator: Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR)
Distance: 449 km
Top speed: 180 km/h
Duration: 3 h 40 min
Opened: 1951
Countries: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s first railway — the 1951 Dammam–Riyadh line built under King Abdulaziz — still crosses the Eastern desert and the vast Al-Ahsa oasis.
SAR North Train — Riyadh to Qurayyat (classic)
Train: CAF push-pull (day & sleeper)
Operator: Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR)
Distance: 1242 km
Top speed: 200 km/h
Duration: 11 h
Opened: 2017
Countries: Saudi Arabia
At 1,242 km Saudi Arabia’s longest passenger line strikes north from Riyadh across the Great Nafud desert to Qurayyat near the Jordanian border.
Talgo Intercity — Cairo to Alexandria (classic)
Train: Talgo 230
Operator: Egyptian National Railways (ENR)
Distance: 208 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 2 h 30 min
Opened: 1856
Countries: Egypt
Cairo–Alexandria is the oldest railway in Africa and the Middle East (1854–56); since December 2022 it has been worked by Spain’s Talgo 230 trainsets.
Hejaz Railway (heritage) — Amman to Mafraq (scenic)
Train: Vintage narrow-gauge coaches; occasional steam
Operator: Jordan Hejaz Railway
Distance: 70 km
Top speed: 40 km/h
Duration: 2 h 30 min
Opened: 1903
Countries: Jordan
Lawrence of Arabia’s Ottoman pilgrimage railway; heritage trains still run north from Amman via Zarqa, and a Hejaz steam loco fired up again in 2025 after 40 years.
Al Atlas — Casablanca to Fez (classic)
Train: ONCF intercity
Operator: ONCF
Distance: 320 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 3 h 20 min
Opened: 1923
Countries: Morocco
The everyday intercity linking Morocco’s imperial cities — Rabat, Meknès and Fès — up to eight times a day, parallel to but separate from the Al Boraq high-speed line.
Al Atlas — Tangier to Fez (classic)
Train: ONCF intercity
Operator: ONCF
Distance: 300 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 4 h 13 min
Opened: 1927
Countries: Morocco
A surviving direct classic train after Al Boraq took the coastal corridor in 2018 — still running Tanger Ville to Fès with no change, via the Rif foothills.
Al Atlas Oriental — Fez to Oujda (classic)
Train: ONCF intercity
Operator: ONCF
Distance: 320 km
Top speed: 160 km/h
Duration: 5 h 30 min
Opened: 1934
Countries: Morocco
The slow ’Oriental’ run threads the Taza Gap between the Rif and Middle Atlas to reach Oujda on the sealed Algerian frontier.
SNCFT Grandes Lignes — Tunis to Sfax (classic)
Train: Air-conditioned express
Operator: SNCFT
Distance: 270 km
Top speed: 120 km/h
Duration: ≈ 4 h 30 min
Opened: 1912
Countries: Tunisia
Tunisia’s metre-gauge trunk line runs frequent air-conditioned expresses down the Sahel coast past the great Roman amphitheatre of El Jem to Sfax.
Accra–Tema Shuttle — Accra to Tema (classic)
Train: Diesel railcar / coaches
Operator: Ghana Railway Company
Distance: 32 km
Top speed: 80 km/h
Duration: 1 h
Opened: 2022
Countries: Ghana
Revived in July 2022, the shuttle turns a peak-hour road crawl of up to two hours into a roughly one-hour rail run between Ghana’s capital and its main port at Tema.
Sitarail Voyageurs — Ouagadougou to Bobo-Dioulasso (classic)
Train: Sitarail coaches · GL30 diesel
Operator: Sitarail (AGL)
Distance: 340 km
Top speed: 70 km/h
Duration: 8 h
Opened: 1954
Countries: Burkina Faso
The lone survivor of the once-famous Abidjan–Ouagadougou train — a weekly Burkina-only service revived in November 2023 between the two biggest cities.
Transgabonais — Libreville to Franceville (classic)
Train: SETRAG express with couchettes
Operator: SETRAG
Distance: 648 km
Top speed: 80 km/h
Duration: 14 h
Opened: 1986
Passengers per year: 248000
Countries: Gabon
Gabon’s only passenger railway climbs from the Atlantic at Owendo through equatorial rainforest past Lopé National Park to Franceville, running largely overnight.
Matadi–Kinshasa — Matadi to Kinshasa (classic)
Train: KiHa 183 railcars (ex-JR Hokkaido)
Operator: SCTP
Distance: 366 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: 8 h
Opened: 1898
Countries: DR Congo
Reopened in September 2025 after a five-year landslide closure, now worked at weekends by KiHa 183 railcars shipped from Japan, relinking Kinshasa to its Atlantic port.
Shosholoza Meyl — Johannesburg to East London (night)
Train: PRASA sleeper & sitter coaches
Operator: PRASA
Distance: 1000 km
Top speed: 90 km/h
Duration: 20 h
Opened: 1997
Countries: South Africa
The last affordable long-distance sleeper in South Africa — an overnight economy train across the Free State Highveld and Stormberg to the Indian Ocean at East London.
Nampula–Cuamba — Nampula to Cuamba (classic)
Train: CDN economy & business coaches
Operator: Nacala Logistics · CFM
Distance: 348 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: 12 h
Opened: 1950
Countries: Mozambique
One of Africa’s great budget rail adventures — a full day across the baobab-studded bush of Niassa, carriages packed with traders and sacks of produce.
Sena Line — Beira to Moatize (classic)
Train: CFM diesel-hauled coaches
Operator: CFM
Distance: 575 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: 20 h
Opened: 1949
Countries: Mozambique
A subsidised lifeline up the Zambezi valley, crossing the 3.7 km Dona Ana bridge — once the longest railway bridge in Africa — from the port of Beira to the Tete coalfields.
Kampala–Mukono commuter — Kampala to Mukono (classic)
Train: URC diesel-hauled coaches
Operator: Uganda Railways
Distance: 27 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: 1 h 10 min
Opened: 2024
Countries: Uganda
Revived in December 2024 on the century-old metre-gauge ’Lunatic Line,’ it beats Kampala’s notorious gridlock into the city for a few thousand shillings.
Fianarantsoa–Côte Est (FCE) — Fianarantsoa to Manakara (scenic)
Train: Mixed passenger/freight coaches
Operator: FCE
Distance: 163 km
Top speed: 30 km/h
Duration: 10 h
Opened: 1936
Countries: Madagascar
Madagascar’s rainforest lifeline — 67 bridges and 48 tunnels down a 1,100 m escarpment past waterfalls; villages survive by loading bananas and coffee onto the train.
Trans Lémurie Express — Antananarivo to Antsirabe (scenic)
Train: Madarail "Rosewood Class" coaches
Operator: Madarail
Distance: 153 km
Top speed: 40 km/h
Duration: 5 h
Opened: 1923
Countries: Madagascar
Reopened in December 2023 after ~30 years shut by cyclone damage, its rosewood-trimmed cars climb through the highlands to the spa town of Antsirabe.
Eritrean Railway — Asmara to Massawa (scenic)
Train: 1930s Ansaldo Mallet steam
Operator: Eritrean Railway
Distance: 118 km
Top speed: 30 km/h
Duration: 8 h
Opened: 1911
Countries: Eritrea
Pre-war Italian Mallet steam locos still claw up 3.5% grades and switchbacks 2,300 m between the Red Sea and Asmara — one of the great colonial mountain railways.
Port Sudan–Atbara — Port Sudan to Atbara (classic)
Train: SRC diesel & coaches
Operator: Sudan Railways
Distance: 474 km
Top speed: 60 km/h
Duration: 12 h
Opened: 1906
Countries: Sudan
The first railway to reopen after Sudan’s civil war (December 2024) — a fortnightly desert lifeline from the Red Sea across Nubian scrub to the Nile junction at Atbara.