Yes, it’s theoretically possible to travel from Europe to Singapore by train, but you may not want to

SINGAPORE: In this day and age of uncomfortable flights, delays, lost luggage, and the other inconveniences of modern air travel, not to mention its cost to the environment, we can understand why someone would dream of a long and scenic train journey instead.

Believe it or not, it’s actually possible to travel from Lagos, a town in southern Portugal, to Singapore. The journey is 18,755 kilometers, crosses eight time zones and 13 countries, and takes around 14 days in all.

It spans 13 countries in total, including Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, meaning travelers would experience multiple landscapes and cultures.

However, it is not a continuous train ride, mainly due to national borders. Of course, travellers would need to hop off and then hop on several train lines, as well as even walk or take a cab or three from one train station to another, to complete the journey, especially since there is a 15-km gap in the rail line in Laos. According to BigThink.com, travellers would have to change trains a total of 20 times.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the longest train ride in the world remains in the theoretical realm, in large part due to several concerns. First came the COVID-19 pandemic and all the shutdowns it entailed, and then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which made traveling by train between Russia and other parts of Europe impossible.

This effectively shuts out the 7,622 km trip that takes travellers from Europe (Moscow) to Asia (Beijing). While train services are still running, although in a limited capacity, getting into Moscow to secure a seat is the challenge. However, assuming a traveller could do so, once in Beijing, they could board a train to Vientiane (Laos), then go on to Bangkok, then Kuala Lumpur, and then finally to Singapore.

How much would such an epic tour cost? Experts have estimated that the whole journey will set a traveler back between €1000 and €1500 (S$1460 to S$2200). Meanwhile, a flight from Portugal to Singapore can be found for as low as S$1000.

To sum it all up, with global tensions heightened as they are, maybe now really is not the best time for such a lengthy train journey, romantic as it sounds, but still, we can dream, can’t we? /TISG

Read also: Top 10 must-see travel destinations every Singaporean must-have on their bucket list