Trains are very popular today. It seems like this method of transportation was always fashionable and attractive. Maybe, it is because it is very convenient and comfortable, but today also very fast way to get to your favorite or desired destination. Maybe you know that Walt Disney was fascinated by trains and somehow they inspired him a lot. For example, the idea for Mickey Mouse came to him while riding a train. Once he said: “In one way or another, I have always loved trains.”

When we talk about the length of a train, it is measured in number of wagons or in meters for general freight. Train lengths and loads on electrified railways depend on the traction power.

Source photo: travelonline.com

The Ghan is the legendary Australian train that links Darwin in the north to Adelaide, 1,850 miles away in the south, became the world’s longest train in the summer of 2016. It was consisted of 44 carriages and two locomotives, spending nine weeks running at 1,096 meters in length, which is more than 200m longer than normally.

The average speed of this train is 53mph, but the top speed is 72mph. The length of it is 3,600ft, or 0.7 miles. The other train in Australia, named Indian Pacific, is the second biggest, with length 2,540ft.

Source photo: abc.net.au

Next longest train is in India. That one has length of 1,970ft, while the Lulea train in Stockholm is 1,740 ft. long.

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen line, opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka. This is the most heavily travelled high-speed rail route in the world by far.

Source photo: japantimes.co.jp

Three types of trains are on the line, ordered from fastest to slowest, which names are the Nozomi, Hikari, and Kodama. The Hikari trains run from Tokyo to Osaka in four hours in 1964. Later, it was shortened to 3 hours 10 minutes in 1965. Introducing the high-speed Nozomi service in 1992, the travel time was shortened to 2 hours 30 minutes. Again, in 2007 the time was reduced to 2 hours 25 minutes. Increase the speed to 285 km/h (177 mph) in 2015, the fastest Nozomi service takes 2 hours 22 minutes from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka.

The fastest train in the world is Shanghai Maglev.

Shanghai Maglev top speed is 430km/h and its average speed is 251kmph. The train started commercial operations in April 2004 and it runs on the 30.5km Shanghai Maglev Line. It is the first commercially operated high-speed magnetic levitation line, which goes from Longyang Road Station of Metro Line 2 and to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The owner and operator of Shanghai Maglev is Transportation Development Co. (SMTDC). The train was constructed together by Siemens and ThyssenKrupp.

Source photo: zdnet.com

The second fastest train is Harmony CRH 380A, which top speed is 380kmph. The train set a record by speeding at 486.1kmph during its trial operation on the Shanghai-Hangzhou in December 2010. Harmony operates from Beijing to Shanghai. The constructer of the train was CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock, with help of various Chinese universities.

AGV Italo is a train with a maximum operational speed of 360kmph, but it broke a record speed of 574.8kmph in April 2007. It is considered to be the most modern train in Europe and was built by Alstom. It runs on the Napoli – Roma – Firenze – Bologna – Milano corridor.

What is important here is that the train complies with the European TSI interoperability standard, and that means that safety, reliability and availability, health, environmental protection and technical compatibility are offered at the highest level.

This was a story about the longest and the fastest trains in the world. Have you ever ride on any of these? What are your experiences? Tell us more.

Written by Marko T.