The trip will start 7th Sept in Kemijärvi 🇫🇮 and end 11th Sept in Lagos 🇵🇹
Geodesic distance: 4008.33km
Route distance: 6165.8km
18 trains
Total trip time: 100 hours 9 minutes
The trip will start 7th Sept in Kemijärvi 🇫🇮 and end 11th Sept in Lagos 🇵🇹
Geodesic distance: 4008.33km
Route distance: 6165.8km
18 trains
Total trip time: 100 hours 9 minutes
The whole thing is mapped here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/eu-longest-train-journey_1427743#4/54.502935/9.109205
And of course I am taking trains *to* Kemijärvi, and *back* from Lagos, and going to 20 more #CrossBorderRail lines on the way. All of those are mapped here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-autumn-2026-inc-longest-train-jour_1443266#4/55.776573/20.170898
This also is taking me to two of my least favourite countries in this project - Sweden and Spain. This trip is going to need some strong nerves 😀
I am announcing all this today as this morning
Haparanda 🇸🇪 - Tornio 🇫🇮
finally re-opened, connecting Finland to the EU passenger rail network again
The last passenger trains ran here in 1988, before either Sweden or Finland joined the EU
Yle about the launch: https://yle.fi/a/74-20240125
There are loads of ways you can participate or help out - including meeting me en route, organising events, joining me for a leg of the trip, or making a small financial contribution - all the details on the project website!
P.S. As the mansplaining "wouldn't Narvik be further, geodesic" (no, it wouldn't, trust me I checked) and "wouldn't southern Finland to Portugal be more route km?" (yes it would, but there are reasons why that is a complete pain to calculate and I am not doing that) sorts of replies are coming already, then have a read of this:
https://jonworth.eu/the-longest-train-journey-in-the-eu/#the-third-option-but-southern-finland-to-portugal-would-have-more-route-km
@jon
The version where it's the Longest Train Journey but the goal is "only" to not ride on the same tracks twice, that would be the extreme version of maxing route km.
And that would be looong. And a true horror to try to calculate. Especially since one'd have to find actual train services for it all, not just look at a track map.
(more appropriate for e.g. the tram network in a city
@Gurre And it potentially changes too often as well. It is simply too much of a pain to try to do it!
The tip link doesn't work... I just get the following message:
You're all done here
You've either completed your payment or this checkout session has timed out.
@HunterAnton I think a Ghost update broke it. I have now corrected it! https://jonworth.eu/#/portal/support
@jon I’m super interested in leg Stockholm -Berlin. Will follow closely.
@acejacek no Berlin. Only Hamburg. Sorry!
@jon close enough!
@jon 'Deutsche Bahn' will definitely ruin your plans by delaying trains.
@thorsten4future unlikely. I’m crossing Germany in a ÖBB night train with a solid buffer in Strasbourg after it!
@jon as a Spanish citizen, I'm curious why you singled out these two countries. Be blunt, I have no emotional attachment to my citizenship 😄
@urixturing because timetables are so thin, everything is compulsory reservation and nothing connects properly to Portugal.
@jon It is even worse in Sweden, at least Spain has some trains to Portugal… @urixturing
@Jonas_Bostrom @urixturing ha. At least Sweden has a few to Finland 😀
@jon A train line crosses France without stopping in Paris. Incredible
@jaj Ha. It *is* possible. A sin I know, but still possible 😀
Wow. Impressive.
Would surprised if you will pass through Sweden without any delays. The reliability on trains in Sweden is sadly often imploding.
@stadsplanering.bsky.social I have a LOT of padding on that bit. Imposed mostly due to terrible timetables from Norrtåg it must be said.
@jon @stadsplanering.bsky.social Night train 91 and even X2000 Stockholm - Malmö are among trains that typically don’t get big delays though. On this itinerary and currently, there’s a lot higher risk of delays or even cancellations for the Talgo’d ECE connections through Denmark.
(Traveling daytime around Sundsvall or night train Stockholm - Hamburg would be a whole different story.)
@jon did you add showers to your plan?
@bonkers Swedish night trains have showers. But from Strasbourg it might be a bit stinky indeed.
@jon some big railway stations have showers, but that needs longer breaks between the trains.
@bonkers yes. I’ve used showers in Köln. But in Strasbourg there are none. I checked. (I’m oddly in Strasbourg right now)
@jon nice vineyards over there :)
@jon On a related note, did you watch the video of that guy doing almost the same trip with Flixbus? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeribMuHfCc
@benedikt_lauenburg no. Because I hate buses 😀
@jon That video won't cure you of your hate.
Although 50% of the bad experience with bus rides could be remedied by better driving styles.
@benedikt_lauenburg that and bad boarding and luggage procedures.
I maintain there’s only one good bus company in Europe: LuxExpress in the Baltics. And forget the rest.
@jon avg travel speed: 61.6 km/h (40.0 km/h Geodesic)
Would be interesting to analyse, how to speed up the trip: where are we losing time? And what could be a realistic optimum?