You can now go all the way from Portugal to Singapore by train
Rail enthusiasts believe it is the longest continuous rail journey on earth
BigThink
You can now travel from Lagos in Portugal all the way to Singapore, say rail experts - with a few stops along the way.
Analysis by rail blogger Mark Smith, aka The Man in Seat 61, along with contributions from Reddit users, calculated that the 11,654-mile journey could be done in 21 days.
Stops and connections along the way include Paris, Moscow, Beijing and Bangkok, making it quite the Europe-Asia grand tour.
The missing link had been a new section of railway in Laos, which was completed on 2 December and connects the city of Boten with the capital Vientiane.
Laos’s “game changing” new Laos-China railway link was built by the Chinese, with costs split between the two countries - the 414km (260-mile) stretch of track took five years to construct.
Development is already underway to extend the line on to Bangkok and then eventually through Malaysia to Singapore, but that journey can be already made by switching train lines at those points.
Reddit user htGoSEVe posted a map of the potential rail voyage, later updating his post to reflect the fact that sections of the journey - from Lisbon to Hendaye in France, and the Paris-Moscow Express, for example - have been paused during the pandemic.
Rail blogger Mark Smith told the Daily Mail: “Previously, you could only go as far south as Saigon and then go by bus through Cambodia to go to Bangkok.
“But now there’s the cross-Laos railway. It’s a very impressive achievement.”
Mr Smith, who advises travellers on rail-only journeys across the world, estimates that the journey would take at least 21 days to make.
Rail enthusiasts estimate that it would cost a little over £1,000 in tickets.
Train fan Shevek99 also posted on Reddit to say that the journey could be made even longer and more ambitious by starting further east.
“You can make it a bit longer. Instead of starting in Lagos, you can start in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, next to the border with Spain. From there there is a train to Faro and from there to Lisbon. Is like 20km longer than starting from Lagos,” they suggested.
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