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What’s the longest train journey in the UK?

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4 min read | May 30, 2023

Want to settle a debate with friends? Or want to tick an epic train journey off your bucket list? Either way, you’ve reached this article because you want to know more about the longest train journey in the UK.

What is the longest UK train journey?

The longest UK train journey is Aberdeen to Penzance. Covering 785 miles, this train journey takes about 13 hours and 20 minutes to complete (give or take a few minutes).

It has 36 stops and spends about two hours in total waiting for passengers to embark and disembark at each railway station along the way. That is, if rumours are to be believed.

First introduced in 1921, this epic train journey across large parts of the UK is a tourist attraction as well as a great way to get to some of the major cities of England and Scotland. After leaving Aberdeen at 8:20 am, the longest UK train journey stops at:

• Edinburgh Waverley
• Berwick-upon-Tweed
• Wakefield Westgate
• Chesterfield
• Burton-on-Trent
• Birmingham New Street
• Cheltenham Spa
• Bristol Parkway
• Bristol Temple Meads
• Tiverton Parkway
• Exeter St Davids
• Newton Abbot
• Bodmin Parkway

Things to know before getting the UK’s longest train journey

As you might have guessed by now, the journey begins in Aberdeen, Scotland. If you’re thinking about taking on the longest train journey in the UK, you may want to spend a couple of days around Scotland’s east coast to take in the spectacular sights and local history.

Top things to do in Aberdeen include The Gordon Highlanders Museum and sampling the world-famous Aberdeen Angus beef at local restaurants.

Or, if you’d like to make good use of your legs before sitting on a train for the best part of 13.5 hours, take in some of the beautiful local landscape. You can climb some of Aberdeenshire’s mountains like Ben Macdui (1,309m) and Lochnagar (1,155m).

Once you get to Penzance, you’ll most likely want to stretch your legs and then sleep! If you’re travelling in the summertime, you’ll get to see the Cornish sunset from the train and have just enough time to enjoy a dusk-time stroll along the harbour which is conveniently just a four-minute walk from the station.

If you have some time the next day, it’s worth making the 3.8 mile walk along the coastal path to Marazion Beach, where you can visit the iconic and picturesque St Michael’s Mount . The walk there should take about an hour and fifteen minutes, or a 10-minute drive by taxi. There is also a local bus that can take you there.

Whether you’re staying for a few hours or a few days, make sure you sample some local seafood while you’re there. This alone is worth the train journey!

Other spectacular cross-country UK train routes to try

Not quite feeling up to the longest train journey across the UK? Why not try some of these slightly shorter rail journeys instead?

London to Penzance

Fancy the idea of a brief break in England’s South West but don’t want to take on the whole shebang? You can cut out over half the train ride on a shorter, but no less thrilling, trip.

Starting in Paddington Station, the train ride from London to Penzance is about 250 miles and takes around five hours to complete. Unlike the Aberdeen to Penzance train, several trains can get you from London to Penzance.

This beautiful train journey travels through Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. That means you can sit back, relax, and just take in the breathtaking English countryside.

Trains from London Paddington to Penzance usually stop at:

• Lostwithiel

You’ll notice that many of these match the latter part of the Aberdeen to Penzance journey. Thanks to this, you’ll still get some of the same views as Britain's longest railway journey. All at a fraction of the cost and time.

London to Edinburgh

If Scottish scenery is a big draw card for you, then try the five-and-a-half-hour journey from London to Edinburgh.

This route travels past the gloriously picturesque Lake District before heading into the Scottish Lowlands towards Edinburgh. With beautiful scenery built into the trip, this distance is a perfect start to a weekend getaway.

For things to do when you arrive in Edinburgh, check out our three-day Edinburgh itinerary .

London to Holyhead

Although a fraction of the distance from Aberdeen to Penzance, the London to Holyhead route also crosses two of the UK’s nations. Starting at London’s Euston Station, you can travel directly to the western side of the Welsh island of Anglesey.

This means travelling from England’s largest city to North Wales’s seaside tranquillity in just four hours. With most of the Welsh part of the trip following the country’s northernmost coastline, you can relax as you take in the beautiful scenery.

Plan your next train journey now

Tempted to try a picturesque cross-country train journey? Start plotting your escape now with our handy journey planner . You can also make the trip easier by searching for train times, finding the best fares, and saving your tickets all in one place with the Avanti West Coast app .

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There are so many amazing places to enjoy the summer sun across England and we think every amazing holiday journey starts with an Avanti West Coast train.

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The UK's longest train ride that takes an epic 14 hours but has 'bucket list' views

T he longest train ride in the UK takes people across hundreds of miles of British land and takes more than half a day to complete.

The CrossCountry service is Britain's answer to other landmark services like the Amtrak in the US and the Trans Siberian Express, which crosses Eurasia from Russian capital Moscow.

The network is one of the country's most extensive and operates the longest journey of its kind, covering several hundred miles that take more than a dozen hours to traverse.

Britons interested in trying the longest train journey in the UK can complete the trip in nearly 14 hours.

But, while they can expect guaranteed views of some of the country's best vistas, they will have to complete that ride without one feature that has made other, similar trips much easier.

CrossCountry's Aberdeen to Penzance route is the longest in the country, covering 722 miles and 41 stops from Scotland to England.

On that route, the train passes through some of the UK's prettiest countryside and cities, starting on the east coast near Newcastle and heading into York, then the Midlands and Bristol in the southwest.

The five-carriage train comes to a stop at Penzance, the picturesque seaside town on the Cornish tip, which it reaches after passing through Devon's south coast.

The service offers stunning views of the North Sea and famous sights like Edinburgh Castle and the Fifth of Forth, and travels across Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous Royal Albert Bridge on the way into Cornwall.

Journeys cover the following stops:

• Inverkeithing
• Berwick-Upon-Tweed
• Wakefield Westgate
• Burton-On-Trent
• Birmingham New Street
• Cheltenham Spa
• Bristol Parkway
• Bristol Temple Meads
• Tiverton Parkway
• Exeter St Davids
• Newton Abbot
• Bodmin Parkway

The journey takes approximately 13 hours and 16 minutes, and people don't need to change to get a taste of the whole route, but they can only take the train at select times.

CrossCountry only runs a couple of zero-change Aberdeen to Penzance trains each week and no more than one per day.

The zero-change train will also only depart at 8.20am on days when it runs, with other services tracing the same route at later or earlier times requiring changes, although they take roughly the same amount of time.

The earlier timing means that, unlike train journeys of similar length, the CrossCountry trip does not offer a sleeper service.

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Aberdeen to Penzance: the spectacular sights of Britain’s longest train journey

The 13-hour train adventure offers epic snapshots of both cities and countryside

O nce a week, a train pulls out of Aberdeen station at 08.20 and heads south. There’s no great fanfare, no particular sense of occasion, and the train itself is only five coaches long. However, everything else about this service is Brobdingnagian.

Over the next 13 hours and 19 minutes it travels 774 miles, the greatest distance covered by any train in Britain. Stopping at 35 stations along the way, it spends around two hours of the journey stationary as it picks up and drops off passengers. After proceeding down the east coast as far as Newcastle, it heads south to York, then trundles south-west across the Midlands and on to Bristol, finally making its way to Penzance on the western tip of Cornwall via the south coast of Devon. The full journey is always made in that direction – for maintenance reasons, no service goes all the way north. And having been suspended for nearly two years because of the pandemic, the service is up and running again – albeit only on Saturdays for the time being.

Having made my way to Aberdeen on less Herculean trains, I strolled along the city’s sandy beach on a bright, crisp day to the rows of cottages that make up Footdee (pronounced “Fittie” locally), once a discrete fishing village. In Duthie Park’s free-to-enter David Welch Winter Gardens , the tropical house transported me to balmier climes. When evening came I ate at the lively Ninety-Nine Bar , whose current resident chefs – “how BAO now” – offer a good smattering of plant-based options, such as bao buns with smoky teriyaki tofu. Also, one of my cocktails was on fire – a sure sign that one is winning at life. Afterwards I headed around the corner to the refurbished Siberia Hotel (doubles from £52 a night room only) to wallow in my en suite whirlpool bath. It’s no wonder that, just before the pandemic struck, the Granite City leapt from 16th to eighth in the annual Bank of Scotland survey of Scotland’s best places to live.

But as I left, I found myself wondering: what exactly do you do on a train journey that lasts as long as Star Wars Episodes I-VI ? Though the wifi was surprisingly good, I chose to devote the hours not to screen-gazing but scene-grazing. Before long, with a rising sun blazing across a mirror-flat North Sea, I had drifted off into a state approaching zen.

I found myself charting the train’s progress in several ways. I noted numerous well-loved landmarks, beginning with a trio of venerable fortresses: Edinburgh Castle, whose elegant silhouette trumps many a capital’s skyline; Bamburgh Castle , sprawled confidently across a Northumbrian outcrop; and Durham , towering over the Wear and dominated by its impressive cathedral. There were lesser milestones to look out for as well, such as the mysterious ruined sandstone house halfway down the cliffs just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed – glimpsed for a few seconds, then gone.

I also marked our passage by the rivers and estuaries we crossed. This route crosses a host of spectacular bridges, most of them bequeathed to us by the Victorians. In the first five hours we had been conveyed over the Tay, the Firth of Forth, the Tweed and the Tyne; towards the end, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s magnificent Royal Albert Bridge bore us high over the Tamar into Cornwall.

I became a contented observer of people’s lives: the joggers on a Birmingham towpath, the farmworker plodding across an enormous field, the group of boys fishing something out of a river that was certainly not a fish.

I scanned the countryside for wildlife. A fox slunk warily back to its den. A pair of gulls engaged in an aerial dogfight with a flock of rooks. A geometric pattern of molehills revealed itself, created with the precision of a crop circle. Five roe deer, all striking precisely the same pose, watched the rattling, clattering carriages slide by.

You can only get this snapshot of Britain from the vantage point of a train. For much of the summer you can make this journey entirely in daylight, although on my trip, the wintertide gloaming dwindled into night between Cheltenham and Bristol. After that, I pressed my face against the window to catch the beacon lights of remote farmhouses and the more gregarious illuminations of Exeter and Plymouth.

Stepping out at Penzance I was immediately struck by how much milder it was than in Aberdeen. After a night in a former fisherman’s cottage in Newlyn, I went for a misty morning walk in a T-shirt, through the bumpy countryside just outside the town and down into the fishing village of Mousehole. That evening at The Vault , a swish pop-up restaurant in Penzance, I undid all my exercise with rich dishes of padron peppers, wild mushroom arancini and basil tagliatelle accompanied by glasses of Abruzzian trebbiano and Puglian primitivo (the pop-up owners hold a national Restaurant Wine List of the Year award).

That night, having strolled along the coast back to my lodgings , I felt like I’d had two very different holidays in one. Or three really – as Agatha Christie once said: “To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches and rivers, in fact, to see life.”

Train tickets were provided by CrossCountry (singles from Aberdeen to Penzance from £114 ). Accommodation at Kara Cottage , Newlyn, was provided by Luxury Cornish Escapes , from £100 a night (sleeps two, three-night minimum , . Hotel Siberia has doubles from £ 52 . The Vault pop-up has moved into the re opened Old Coastguard in Mousehole . Further info from visitscotland.com

FOUR MORE SCENIC BRITISH RAIL JOURNEYS

Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street

This yomp across England takes in vast tracts of scenic and varied countryside. The journey begins beside the River Wensum and crosses rural plains to Thetford, before plunging across the Fens – nearly 1,500 square miles of marshy ground beneath wide-open skies. In early spring, keep your eyes peeled for flocks of wildfowl, such as wigeon, teal and shoveler as they start migrating north. Further on, the journey incorporates large swathes of the Peak District national park, passing through the gorgeous Vale of Edale as it heads west from Sheffield to Stockport.

This is a route that loves a cathedral too. Bookended by one in Norwich and Liverpool’s pair, it stops at five further cathedral cities – Ely, Peterborough, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester . Also look out for the famous crooked spire of St Mary and All Saints at Chesterfield – there’s a cracking view of it just south of the station.

The cities at both ends of the route are on the up. England’s first Unesco City of Literature, Norwich enjoys a buzzy literary scene, with spoken word events and author talks at various venues including the National Writing Centre . Or you can just sit in little independent cafes like The Bicycle Shop and watch someone at the next table penning a genre-defying masterpiece. Liverpool, meanwhile, is teeming with offbeat events, from next month’s Liverpool Against Racism music day (24 April) to Sunday-morning brunches with live gospel music in Alma de Cuba , a former church. 254 miles , from five hours 3 8 minutes , hourly until mid- afternoon Mon-Sat (advance single from £32.50 , eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk )

Cardiff Central to Portsmouth & Southsea

A leisurely jaunt south-east from the vibrant Welsh capital to one of the south coast’s major cities. Before you leave Cardiff, try something different like an urban foraging course in Bute Park . Or keep the Winter Olympics flame burning by hitting the slopes at the Cardiff ski and snowboard centre , then cheering on the Cardiff Devils , one of the top ice hockey teams in Britain.

At Newport, look to the left for the eye-catching art deco clock tower that has become a symbol for the town, and to the right as the train crosses the River Usk to see the castle towers right next to the railway bridge. After the four-mile Severn Tunnel – another extraordinary feat of Victorian engineering – highlights include a saunter through the Georgian spa town of Bath ; a long, scenic stretch beside the River Avon, passing under the graceful Dundas Aqueduct; a foray through Bradford on Avon, founded by the Romans and encircled by Green Belt; and a trundle along the Wylye Valley beneath the southern edge of Salisbury Plain.

Journey’s end comes at Portsmouth , which is better known for the Spinnaker Tower and historic dockyard than its winter sports, but that hasn’t stopped the renowned Banff Mountain film festival from pitching camp at the Kings Theatre for a night on 27 April on its world tour. 135 miles , around three hours 16 minutes , hourly throughout the day (advance single from £27.90 , gwr.com )

Manchester Piccadilly to Milford Haven

This is a train whose route is as mysterious and sublime as the scenery through which it travels. Though it’s easy to see the logic of running a direct service from Manchester as far as Swansea, this one simply keeps going, pushing west along the south Wales coast for nearly two more hours, even taking in a few request stops before finally running out of steam at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.

After Cheshire’s comfortable greensward, there’s a visit to Shrewsbury followed by a canter through some of Shropshire’s most beguiling countryside with the heights of the Long Mynd to one side and Wenlock Edge to the other. After Ludlow – a town with nearly 500 listed buildings dating back to the middle ages – the line follows the River Lugg and its tributaries through Leominster to Hereford before crossing the border into Wales just south-east of the Black Mountains. Next stop is Abergavenny before the train swings west to make its way along the south coast.

It would be an exaggeration to say that Milford Haven is packed with attractions, beyond its maritime-themed museum . However, by exploring other Pembrokeshire branch lines you can visit the pleasingly old-fashioned seaside town of Tenby , the well-preserved castles at Pembroke and Manorbier , or Fishguard, whose lively annual folk festival ( 27-29 May) is mostly free. 285 miles, from six hours five minutes , every two hours until late afternoon ( advance single from £ 33.50 , tfwrail.wales )

Glasgow Central to Newcastle via Carlisle

Direct trains between Glasgow and Newcastle are swift and reasonably frequent, taking passengers via Edinburgh and the Northumbrian coastline and stopping at five or six stations on the way. However, there is a much less-well-advertised southern route between the two cities. Every day except Sundays, the 16.11 pulls out from Glasgow Central and heads for Carlisle before cutting across country to reach Tyneside. Although this is a slightly shorter route, the train takes over an hour longer to reach the same destination. Calling at 21 stations en route, it’s an offering to warm the heart of slow travel fans everywhere. Add to that the spectacular scenery through which it travels and it becomes a true collector’s item for any railway lover.

The train slides along Nithsdale into Dumfries before crossing the border at Gretna. After leaving Carlisle it runs just south of Hadrian’s Wall all the way across the country, offering passengers tremendous views of untamed Cumbrian and Northumbrian countryside (though not of the wall itself).

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UK's longest train journey starting in Scotland offers 'bucket list' views of coastline

For anybody who is a fan of trains, and is keen to see more of Scotland and beyond, there is a unique train journey that takes in much of the UK from top to bottom.

• 10:29, 4 JAN 2024

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The longest train journey in the UK, which takes passengers across most of the nation, starts in Scotland.

Taking approximately 14 hours from beginning to end, the marathon train ride leaves from Aberdeen and ends in Penzance in Cornwall. Altogether, the journey covers around 785 miles.

As reported by the The Mirror , after starting from Aberdeen station, the train has a total of 36 different stops across the UK. It is reported to spend approximately two hours at stations collecting passengers in total.

The scenic route, which has been in operation for 103 years, travels through many historic and picturesque sights such as Edinburgh Waverley, Newcastle, Sheffield, Bristol Parkway, and Plymouth.

Managed by CrossCountry, the direct train takes on average 13 hours and 16 minutes. According to The Mirror, a single ticket for £265 is priced at £265.

Speaking to Aberdeen Live , rail fan Lewis Yeardley, 24, who took the trip in April, said it was a bucket list item for train lovers. He commented: "It’s a journey that I’ve known about for a long time if I’m honest and it’s one I always wanted to do.

"I absolutely love railway journeys and have done many around the world and I had to complete the UK's longest journey by train. My highlights of the journey included crossing some amazing bridges such as Tay Bridge, Forth Rail Bridge and the Royal Albert Bridge.

"We also went along some beautiful coast lines such as the Fife coast, east coast and Dawlish seawall. The journey was made enjoyable by the amazing staff onboard who were chatty, friendly and just great."

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The train lover also shared some advice for anybody looking to book a trip on the journey. He recommended coming prepared with plenty of snacks, films, television, and music, and said the left side of the train is where the nicest views can be observed.

While the unique journey may be a long one by UK standards, it is far from the longest in the world. That title belongs to the Trans-Siberian Railway, which runs for 5,772 miles and takes more than six days from beginning to end.

Inside Scottish beachside former fisherman's bothy for sale with gorgeous sun rooms

Elsewhere, the record for the longest high-speed train belongs to the Beijing-Guangzhou Bullet Train. This railway, which was introduced in 2012, runs for 1,200 miles and reaches speeds of up to 186 miles per hour.

Meanwhile, another lengthy ride is the 80-plus-hour Vivek Express, which is the longest train journey in India — clocking in at around 2,650 miles. There are 57 stops in total, beginning in the far north at Dibrugarh and ending in Kanyakumari, at India’s southern tip.

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The UK's longest railway journey between Aberdeen and Penzance that promises stunning views

It takes over 13 hours, travels 774 miles and stops at 35 stations in Scotland and England, but promises bucket list scenery and is the UK's longest rail journey.

• 06:00, 24 MAR 2022
• Updated 20:05, 6 JAN 2024

If you have ever wanted to take a tour of Scottish countryside and soak in some of the most remarkable views of the British countryside, one train service that departs Aberdeen can help you tick off some bucket list landmarks.

Some of Britain's most remarkable sights can be viewed from the comfort of a train seat, but the iconic Aberdeen to Penzance route is more than an endurance test.

It takes over 13 hours, stops at 35 stations, and sees passengers cover 774 miles on one train, and CrossCountry holds the feat of operating the longest journey in the UK.

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Starting in the Granite City, passengers board early in the morning and for this journey, you need quite the packed lunch to get through to the Cornish coast late at night.

Departing Aberdeen however brings an immediate view of jaw-dropping scenery as you overlook the cliffs towards the glistening North Sea before curving through Stonehaven and Montrose and storming towards Arbroath and Dundee.

Take in the River Tay as you crawl across the bridge and unwind in Fife with some more beach scenery, with towns including Leuchars and Kirkcaldy on the schedule before weaving through Inverkeithing.

The Forth Rail Bridge then brings quite simply the most remarkable rail crossing in the UK, with the iconic structure flanked by the impressive Queensferry Crossing and views towards Edinburgh where you stop at Haymarket and Waverley.

With two-and-a-half hours down and plenty more to go, it might already feel like it's been a marathon, but you're barely out of Scotland before you reach your fourth hour with the next stops including more North Sea views and Berwick-upon-Tweed where you cross the famous Royal Border Bridge.

Into England the Voyager train rolls on, where you race through Northumberland to Newcastle Central, with the landmark St James' Park on display as well as the standout bridges over the River Tyne.

Don't forget to look west en-route to Durham to catch a glimpse of the Angel of the North, and keep looking out the left-hand side for a look at Durham Cathedral.

Into Darlington, or Monte Darlo as known by locals and down the racetrack to York where the impressive Victorian-built arches provide yet another stop on the journey.

The good news for those on board is you are nearing the halfway mark, but that doesn't bring an end to the impressive scenery.

Leeds is next as West Yorkshire comes into view, before crossing into South Yorkshire and rolling through Wakefield and Sheffield with the Steel City's hilly surroundings on display from your seat.

By the time you depart Sheffield for Chesterfield and the West Midlands, you could have watched Titanic twice or powered through some lengthy albums on your playlist.

When reaching Chesterfield however, you might be amused by the Crooked Spire, with the nearby church holding the unique feature of - you guessed it - a crooked spire. It doesn't quite rival the Leaning Tower of Pisa but it's still a bizarre landmark.

Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent are next, with the latter home to Molson Coors famous for filling endless cans of Carling and Madri beer, before reaching Birmingham New Street as you near the eight-hour mark.

Cheltenham Spa and Bristol Parkway roll into view before Bristol Temple Meads with another impressive example of Victorian engineering and their impressive roof.

10 hours down and you could be well on your way to blitzing the Harry Potter collection, ticking off at least half of the collection of popular wizardry films.

But up next is the south-west as you roll through Weston-Super-Mare, Taunton and Tiverton Parkway before gliding into Exeter St Davids, and it's on the way out of Exeter that the adored coastal views make their long-awaited return.

Dawlish is somewhere you may well have heard about on the news when stormy weather brings dramatic shots of waves battering the railway, but when the sea is feeling calm and still you are again treated to rugged cliffs and glistening water, eventually reaching Newton Abbott.

Totnes and eventually Plymouth are next, and the last of the collection of stunning bridges come into view on departure from Plymouth - The Royal Albert Bridge.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's engineering genius slashed journey times to the far reaches of Cornwall, and that's where the CrossCountry service will next be ticking off the list as you enter the final hours of the voyage.

Liskeard, Par, St Austell, and Truro stand in the way of your late evening arrival in Penzance, with Truro Viaduct providing a view of the city's impressive cathedral.

Rolling through Redruth and Hayle, the finishing line is in sight, and as the clock passes 9pm having left Aberdeen just after 8am, you eventually hit the brakes one final time and step off the train onto the platform at Penzance.

The marathon is run, and you have travelled the length of the UK - you'd want a trophy and fanfare at the end for completing the epic route.

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But another coastal backdrop and a view of the harbour isn't a bad way to end at all, and it's quite simply a journey that is well worth making but doing plenty of planning for.

Trains direct from Aberdeen to Penzance were axed in the Covid pandemic but eventually restored to just a once-a-week service on Saturdays should you fancy it.

The bitter cold North Sea breeze of Aberdeen feels a world away when you reach the milder Cornish temperatures, but should you fancy it you might want some comfortable clothing and snacks aplenty, several albums and headphones, a couple of films and books to hand, and maybe a travel pillow.

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What’s a worthy alternative to the Trans-Siberian railway?

Jul 3, 2023 • 3 min read

Turkey’s Dogu Express (or Eastern Express) crosses most of Anatolia, providing epic scenery over the 26-hour journey © Ozan Kose / AFP via Getty Images

Lonely Planet’s team of writers and editors answers your travel problems and provides tips and hacks to help you plan a hassle-free trip. Whenever we get a train-related query, we call on our in-house rail guru, Tom Hall.

Question: I had planned to take a Trans-Siberian train journey late in 2023, but I don’t anticipate that can happen now. Could you recommend some other epic European routes?

Tom Hall: Though Europe does have some very long trains, nothing compares to the cross-continental odyssey of traveling east from Moscow for a week or more. As you note, that’s not an option right now. However, there are plenty of other amazing routes to consider to keep you rolling for a long time.

Several thin fingers of railways connect up distant corners of the European continent. The longest by distance is the Snälltåget train from Malmö , Sweden to Innsbruck , Austria , which exists primarily to ferry Swedish skiers to the Alps then back again a week later. It covers the 1075-mile (1720km) route each week in about 22 hours, with stops at several key Austrian towns offering connections to ski resorts.

Given Sweden’s size and location, you’ll find two more long-distance heavyweights departing, in different directions, from Stockholm . The mighty daily service between Stockholm and Narvik in Norway – 137 miles inside the Arctic Circle – covers 916 miles (1467km) in 18 hours. At least one one and sometimes two sleeper services connect Stockholm with Berlin , taking between 15 and 17-and-a-half hours to cross southern Sweden, Denmark and northern Germany . 

The longest train in the UK is the outwardly unassuming Cross Country service connecting Aberdeen in Scotland to Penzance in Cornwall . The 13-hour trip covers a huge swathe of Britain , traversing almost 800 miles (1280km). It also needn’t be the end of the journey. From Penzance, the Scillonian ferry plies the waters over to the idyllic Isles of Scilly .

The spirit of the Trans-Siberian – and perhaps the experience you’re looking for – is a rolling adventure where you might share a very unusual journey (and train picnic!) with your fellow passengers as the landscape becomes ever-more unfamiliar. For that, consider heading to Turkey .

Starting in Istanbul – perhaps reached by a rail odyssey of your own from elsewhere in Europe ( Sofia, anyone ?) – Anatolia awaits. Istanbul’s Marmaray train speeds under the Bosphorus and on to Söğütlüçeşme station on the city’s Asian side, from where a high-speed train heads east to Ankara . Once in the Turkish capital, the Dogu Express (Doğu Ekspresi) takes 26 hours to wend its way 818 miles (1310km) to Kars in the north-east of the country, via superb Anatolian mountain and river scenery. There’s a version of this train aimed at tourists that makes several stops over a 30-hour journey – but the regular train is the classic experience.

Incidentally, the longest train I could find in Europe by duration is the irregularly scheduled and privately run train from Villach in Austria to Edirne in Turkey. Clocking in at 34 hours – perhaps more allowing for border controls – it is a car-carrying service aimed at Turkish expats traveling with their vehicles. This is one of the last remnants of what was once a much more extensive auto-train network in Europe, a fact you’d have plenty of time to appreciate as you and your car trundle across the continent’s southeastern corner.

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What is Europe’s longest train journey?

Sleeper and cross-country trains are in decline in favour of shorter, regional routes. So what is left of Europe's longest railway journeys?

By City Monitor Staff

Europe’s longest train journey? Where to begin? Maybe what’s longer? Britain’s longest train journey , or Germany’s ? So many questions.

On the one hand, Germany is quite a bit larger – its area is 70% more than Great Britain’s. On the other hand, Great Britain is a long, skinny island and Germany is much rounder – the distance from John O’Groats to Lands End is over 1,400km, but you never have to walk over 1,000km to cross Germany in any direction.

And it turns out these factors balance almost each other out. Britain’s longest train, the CrossCountry from Aberdeen in Scotland to Penzance in Cornwall, runs 785 miles or 1,263km. Germany’s longest train was the IC 2216 from Offenburg in the Black Forest to Greifswald on the Baltic coast, which was 1,300km. Though that route looks like it has now ceased operation, so the UK wins.

The Aberdeen to Penzance route isn’t really for people who want to go all the way across the country just to do Europe’s longest train journey. Instead, it’s a way to link together several railway lines and connect some medium-to-large cities that otherwise don’t have many direct services. “Cross-country” trains like these have existed for a century, but because they crossed multiple different company’s lines – and later, multiple British Rail regions – they tended to get ignored.

That’s why, when it privatised the railways, the government created a specific CrossCountry franchise so there was a company dedicated to these underused routes. If you want to get from Edinburgh to Leeds or Derby to Bristol , you’ll probably want a CrossCountry train.

The usual route is Edinburgh to Plymouth , but once a day they run an extra long one. Just one way though – there’s no Penzance to Aberdeen train. 

The longest train in Germany was weird – at 1,400 km, it’s substantially longer than the country itself. On the map, the reason is obvious – it took a huge C-shaped route. (It also doubled back on itself at one point in order to reach Stuttgart).

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This route took it down the Rhine, the biggest river in west Germany, and through the most densely populated patch of the country around Cologne and Dusseldorf known as the Ruhr. Germany’s second and third longest trains also have quite similar routes – they start and end in remote corners of the country, but all three have the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area in the middle.

[Read more: Europe’s night trains are under threat – and campaigners are moving to defend them ]

You weren’t meant to take the IC 2216 all the way from north-east to south-west anyway – there are much more direct options available. Instead, it was for people who wanted to travel to these major cities. They could run two separate trains – say, Offenburg-Dusseldorf and Griefswald-Cologne – but making it a single route meant passengers benefited from a bit more flexibility.

France’s longest train exists for a very good reason. Most of France’s high-speed lines radiate out from Paris, and it’s very hard to get around the country without going to the capital. Usually, to get from Marseille on the Mediterranean to Nantes near the Atlantic, you’d need to take a TGV to Paris Gare de Lyon station, then get the Métro across the city to Gare Montparnasse.

Once a day though, this TGV avoids this faff by stopping in the suburb of Juvisy and turning around without going into the centre. This lets passengers travel direct between the coasts and reduces the traffic through Paris’s terminals during rush hour. The exact length of this route isn’t clear, but Wikipedia says it’s about 1,190km.

Spain’s longest train is very different. This is the Trenhotel sleeper service from Barcelona to Vigo, and it’s pretty fancy. This is a train for tourists and business travellers, with some quite luxurious sleeping cabins. But it is a regularly scheduled train run by the state operator Renfe, not a luxury charter, and it does appear in the timetables .

Being dry, hot and quite mountainous in its middle, most of Spain’s cities are on its coast (Madrid is the one major exception) and as a result, the train passes through relatively few urban areas. (Zaragoza, Spain’s fifth largest city, is on the route, but after that the next biggest city is Burgos, its 35th largest,)

This is partly why overnight trains work so well on the route – without many stops in the middle, most passengers can just sleep right through the journey, although there are occasional daytime trains on that route too if you want to savour the view on that 1,000km journey.

Finally, there’s Italy. This is another sleeper train, from Milan in the north to Syracuse on the island of Sicily. It goes via Rome and travels along the west coast of… wait, it’s a train to the island of Sicily? How, when there’s no bridge?

Well, this train takes a ferry. It’s just a train that they literally drive onto a ferry, sail across the water, and then drive off again at the other side.

Not the longest in Europe

Incredibly, the longest train in Europe doesn’t actually cross a single border. Unsurprisingly, it’s in Russia, but it’s not the Trans-Siberian – the vast majority of that route is in Asia, not Europe.

If you really want a long European train journey, head to Adler, just south of the Olympic host city Sochi. From there, you can catch a train up to Vorkuta on the edge of the Arctic Circle. The route zigzags a bit over its 89-hour, 4,200km journey, but it always stays on the European side of the Ural mountains.

[Read more: Why are trains in the UK so expensive?]

City Monitor Staff

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Longest railway journey on a single train in the UK

• Thread starter Vespa
• Start date 11 May 2023
• 11 May 2023

Established Member

What would be considered the longest distance single railway journey from point A to point B without changing train ? It would interesting to ride in such a way you can see most of the country without getting out of your seat.  

RailUK Forums

XC Aberdeen to Penzance?  

Wasn’t the Highland Chieftan the longest journey?  

Intercity110

On moderation.

either aberdeen-penzance or the caledonian highland sleeper?  

Choo choo 66

UK wise yes Aberdeen-Penzance (think it is starting again in May timetable change) If you go into mainland Europe there are many much longer journeys  

Veteran Member

43066 said: XC Aberdeen to Penzance? Click to expand...

Towers said: Wasn’t the Highland Chieftan the longest journey? Click to expand...

Intercity110 said: either aberdeen-penzance or the caledonian highland sleeper? Click to expand...

• 12 May 2023

class ep-09

That may be a topic for International Transport , but what is / was a longest journey on one train by country ( currently and historically )?  

Depends on whether you're counting distance or time. The longest distance service that runs regularly is Aberdeen to Penzance - currently Saturdays only, but resumes running Mondays-Saturdays from the May timetable change. Occasionally engineering works mean that the train travels over an even longer distance than normal, and upcoming ones mean that there is, unusually, a northbound Penzance to Aberdeen service too, running via Toton, Doncaster and Leeds. The longest service by journey duration is, however, the Caledonian Sleeper's Fort William portion whenever it runs via the East Coast Mainline. This results in an earlier departure from, or later arrival at, London Euston as the train reverses at Wembley Yard. Journey times average around 14 hours - about 45 minutes longer than the standard Aberdeen to Penzance timing. I think this qualifies as the longest "regularly scheduled" service on the basis that ECML diversions are generally planned on an LTP basis for weeks at a time, rather than just ad-hoc.  

Realtime Trains | 1S43 0633 Penzance to Edinburgh | 10/06/2023

Techniquest

I'd absolutely do it in First Class, it would be a consideration in Standard as long as I had a good supply of food and drink with me. I'd also need a decent hotel before and after the journey, as well as a good bit of exercise immediately before/after the journey. This actually sounds like a good plan, I'll have to investigate some time off and book it soon!  

liamf656 said: Crosscountry are running a Penzance to Aberdeen service, but only on Saturday 27th May, 3rd and 10th June. This is due to the Erewash diversions Realtime Trains | 1S43 0633 Penzance to Edinburgh | 10/06/2023 Real-time train running information for 1S43 0633 departure from Penzance to Edinburgh on 10/06/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain. www.realtimetrains.co.uk Click to expand...

penguin8967

The Aberdeen-Penzance service on 29th April got diverted via Severn Tunnel Junction, only adding on around 15 miles though (but also meaning it passed through 3 countries!)  

• 14 May 2023

class ep-09 said: That may be a topic for International Transport , but what is / was a longest journey on one train by country ( currently and historically )? Click to expand...

james60059 said: I would have thought the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok is (or was?) the longest journey (5753 miles) Click to expand...

Techniquest said: I'd absolutely do it in First Class, it would be a consideration in Standard as long as I had a good supply of food and drink with me. I'd also need a decent hotel before and after the journey, as well as a good bit of exercise immediately before/after the journey. Click to expand...

Techniquest said: I'd absolutely do it in First Class , it would be a consideration in Standard as long as I had a good supply of food and drink with me. I'd also need a decent hotel before and after the journey, as well as a good bit of exercise immediately before/after the journey. This actually sounds like a good plan, I'll have to investigate some time off and book it soon! Click to expand...

• 15 May 2023

D6130 said: If doing a first class All Line Rover, how about 08 20 Aberdeen-Penzance, then straight onto the Night Riviera to Paddington?....although if the CrossCountry were to be delayed, you might have to bale at another Cornish station. Click to expand...

TT-ONR-NRN said: I also want to do this, and if you win the weekdays only Seatfrog - which I believe is a fixed £5 regardless of journey for XC though I might be wrong - first class for even cheaper! In standard it’d probably be a drag for me. Click to expand...

eastwestdivide

What do we reckon to another thread on "what only seems like the longest journey..." ?  

SteelWeelApeal

eastwestdivide said: What do we reckon to another thread on "what only seems like the longest journey..." ? Click to expand...

Taking it literally about not changing train, how many circuits of the Circle Line could you do in a day from when the train left the depot to when it returned at night? (I realise that the Circle Line is no longer circular!) It will probably win on length of time, but probably not on distance due to the low speeds achieved, based on the rough calculations below. Wikipaedia quotes the old Circle Line as being 12.89 miles long and took a minimum of 51 1/2 minutes, Let's round it up to 13 miles and 60 minutes. Assuming a start at 06.00 and finish at 23.30, this means 17 1/2 hours at 13 miles each lap equals only 227 miles. This means it would exceed the Aberdeen - Penzance train on time, but hardly scratch the surface with regards to distance.  

Watershed said: Depends on whether you're counting distance or time. Click to expand...

SteelWeelApeal said: Having of course got to Aberdeen on the sleeper from London beforehand Click to expand...

• 16 May 2023

MotCO said: Taking it literally about not changing train, how many circuits of the Circle Line could you do in a day from when the train left the depot to when it returned at night? (I realise that the Circle Line is no longer circular!) It will probably win on length of time, but probably not on distance due to the low speeds achieved, based on the rough calculations below. Wikipaedia quotes the old Circle Line as being 12.89 miles long and took a minimum of 51 1/2 minutes, Let's round it up to 13 miles and 60 minutes. Assuming a start at 06.00 and finish at 23.30, this means 17 1/2 hours at 13 miles each lap equals only 227 miles. This means it would exceed the Aberdeen - Penzance train on time, but hardly scratch the surface with regards to distance. Click to expand...

• 17 May 2023

I tried to do Aberdeen-Penzance in 2019, but waves coming over the Dawlish sea wall meant that Voyagers were being terminated at Exeter so we had to board a GWR HST for the rest of the journey. If I tried to do it again, I'd do it in First Class rather than Standard. Especially as we were an hour late and so I got a 100% delay repay refund.  

Realtime Trains | 1V56 0748 Glasgow Central to Penzance | 01/07/2023

• 19 May 2023

Re: Glasgow Subway, it's 6.5 miles so rough calculation, 752.5÷6.5=116 (rounded up). Do any of the Subway units do 116 trips around the loop in a day?  

• 07:00, 3 Jun 2024
• Updated 10:37, 3 Jun 2024

Sorry, Ant and Dec, there’s a better way to experience the outback that doesn’t involve camping with Nigel Farage or Matt Hancock. If you want real star treatment, how about all-inclusive service on board the world’s longest passenger train passing through vivid technicolour landscapes? I’m not a celebrity, but get me on there.

Whether it’s Brief Encounter or the latest Hercule Poirot film , the romance of train travel has lost none of its allure. The Ghan – a mile-long train cutting through the heart of Australia for three nights and four days – matches them for cinematic experience.

From the tropical north to the surfy south via its Red Centre, I was gripped at the window by the 1,851 miles of scenery as it shifted from urban grey to lush rainforest then rusty red.

My adventure began in swampy, steamy Darwin, Australia’s hottest city. It’s the capital of the Northern Territory, which is five times the size of the UK but with a population of just 250,000.

There are more crocodiles here than anywhere else in the world, with croc-themed excursions aplenty. You can swim with them – in a secure cage, happily. I only had a short and snappy stay in Darwin, so I joined a more sedate sunset harbour cruise instead.

On board the Charles Darwin restaurant boat, we tucked into a buffet including local prawns, oysters, jewfish (like bass) and bay bugs, which are similar to crayfish.

After a night at the lovely Adina, an Aboriginal-owned waterfront hotel, it was a quick coach transfer to the railway station and all aboard The Ghan, named after the Afghan camel riders who somehow carved out a north/south route through the continent 150 years ago. The sleek sleeper train was so impossibly long I couldn’t see the back while I took the near-obligatory selfies at the front. You can take a golf buggy to your cabin if it’s all too much.

This is luxury but cosy travel. Choose a single or bunk-bed cabin in standard (gold) class, or upgrade to platinum for a twin or double bed, plus a few more home comforts. Each walnut-panelled cabin offers its own bathroom including shower, a huge window, a wardrobe, and a three-seater settee which transforms into your bed.

However, passengers spend most of their time on board in the communal Outback Explorer Lounge, featuring an all-day, all-inclusive bar, with meals in the Art Deco Queen Adelaide restaurant one carriage along.

This was definitely not a Bushtucker trial but fine dining, with all meals freshly prepared by on-board chefs. There were plenty of native offerings like kangaroo (tastes like game), barramundi (a flaky, meaty fish) and crocodile (like a chunkier calamari) all paired with local wines.

But you don’t have to choose adventurous dishes and if you have dietary requirements, submit them in advance because what they pack on to the train is all they can serve. There’s no popping to the shop, there are none for hundreds of miles.

There’s also no TV and only intermittent spurts of wi-fi and mobile reception which makes for a spectacular enforced digital detox. Just switch off, relax and enjoy the scenery and camaraderie. It’s a kind of cruise ship on wheels and most of your “shipmates” are retired couples, with a good smattering of solo travellers on midlife adventures.

Mainly they’re fair dinkum Aussies but with a few fellow Brits too.

In no time at all, I’ve become temporary best mates with my fellow travellers in the lounge, all of us drinking in the sunrises, sunsets and cocktails. By the time I’ve slinked back to my cabin at night, the staff have turned my settee into a bed, with cotton sheets and pillows.

Don’t worry about dinner jackets and ball gowns, smart casual attire is fine on The Ghan, along with practical walking shoes, a hat, and sunscreen for the time off the train.

After a decent night’s kip we were pulling into our first stop at Katherine Gorge, now properly known by the Aboriginal name of Nitmiluk, owned by the indigenous Jawoyn people who show tourists around 364 days a year.

Reassuringly, throughout the journey, The Ghan operators Journey Beyond Rail work closely and respectfully with the indigenous communities who have lived in Australia for 40,000 years.

Each day on The Ghan you can choose from at least three excursions and I opted for a river cruise between the sandstone cliffs of this national park, my eyes peeled for the resident freshwater crocodiles. “Is that a croc?” I asked hopefully as water splashed in the distance. “No, it’s a logadile”, laughed our guide, pointing out a submerged branch. If you’re more adventurous you can also go wild swimming or canoeing here.

On the second day we pulled into Alice Springs, the iconic outback town which made its name in the Australian gold rush. Here the excursions included a very tempting helicopter ride to the sacred site of Uluru. That one required an extra fee, but virtually all others were included in the cost.

On this, my first visit to Oz, I wanted to see as many of their amazing animals as possible. At the Alice Springs Desert Park, in the foothills of the MacDonnell mountains, there were emus, dingoes and kangaroos as well as thorny devil lizards, malas (small wallabies) and the rabbit-like bilbies.

There was also a stunning “natural theatre show” where free-flying birds of prey demonstrate hunting and foraging. A tour guide also took us through the bush plants used for medicine and food like witchetty grubs – tasting and testing is encouraged. To the expert eye, the desert is like a natural chemist shop.

On the subject of flora and fauna, if you’ve always hankered to head Down Under but were anxious about their creepy-crawlies, perhaps my experience will prove reassuring. The first few times I gingerly touched a door handle or lifted a loo seat I was expecting something unexpected. But whether in the big cities or the remotest countryside, I saw no spiders or snakes.

Our evening meal wasn’t on the train but instead under the stars at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station.

While the barbecue sizzled, I strolled around this historic wonder, built in 1872 to help provide lines of communication for European settlers from south to north of Australia and then all the way back home. There’s a museum, blacksmith demonstrations, camel rides, and you can toast marshmallows and your fellow diners by the roaring campfires.

Day three and I was still getting to grips with how vast this country is. We passed a cattle station that’s bigger than Belgium. The dingo fences stretch for thousands of miles. And there are so many wild camels roaming around – about 1.2 million – they are exported to the Middle East. Strewth!

My final off-train coach excursion snaked through the stunning Breakaways mountains to a strange moonscape. “Welcome to the middle of nowhere,” our tour guide aptly announced, at the eccentric mining town of Coober Pedy.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was filmed here, as was Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and NASA trained its astronauts and tested Mars buggies here.

The local population of about 2,000 fortune-seekers live underground due to the punishing outdoor temperatures hitting as high as 40C in summer and not much above zero in winter. They make the best of it with a horse-racing track, a drive-in movie theatre, and even an 18-hole golf course.

Many underground homes are lavish and boast as many as 21 rooms, with everything from a cinema room to a bowling alley. At the excellent Umoona Opal Mine, we were let loose with pickaxes to find a gem. Next morning, I awoke to find we were already on the final straight and just a two-course breakfast away from our final stop at Adelaide, the largest city in South Australia.

Somehow this train journey lasting 53 hours and 15 minutes hadn’t been long enough. I also noted we had travelled the equivalent of London to Moscow and arrived bang on time.

It’s hard to avoid that cliched phrase of a “once in a lifetime” trip.

Fortunately there’s a chance to make it twice in a lifetime as Journey Beyond Rail also operates the four-day Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Perth, from east to west. And there are the Spirit of Queensland and the Spirit of the Outback long-distance services too.

I feel like a celebrity, get me back out there.

Book the holiday

• Singapore Airlines flies from Heathrow to Darwin, returning from Adelaide starting at £1,434. singaporeair.com
• Australian Sky offers a seven night Darwin to Adelaide holiday travelling on The Ghan from £4,499pp. Includes four nights in hotels and three nights on the train, with excursions to Katherine Gorge, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy. australiansky.co.uk
• Rooms at the Adina Darwin Waterfront Hotel start at around £165 a night B&B. adinahotels.com
• More info at australia.com

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NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Travel chaos for thousands of people after train derails on major UK route

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‘Do not travel’ – this is what people are being told after a train derailed on a major route.

Chaos has engulfed multiple services between  England  and Scotland today after cargo wagons came off the rails in  Cumbria .

The incident happened yesterday on the West Coast Main Line, between Carlisle and Oxenholme Lake District.

Nobody was injured during the derailment, but more than 15 hours later, there are still major delays for people.

Some lines are blocked and a very limited train service is running on the line that remains open.

Multiple trains have since been cancelled and delayed, and rail companies have waned of knock-on effects for the rest of the day.

A statement from Avanti West Coast said: ‘Do not travel north of Preston. Services between between Oxenholme Lake District and Penrith have been cancelled due to a freight train derailment blocking the line.

‘Please do not attempt to travel with us between Preston and Scotland today.’

Replying to frantic messaged from stranded passengers, the company added: ‘We are advising customers not to travel today due to the severe disruption.

‘We have no estimated time as to when this will end.’

Meanwhile, TransPennine Express said disruption was expected until at least 2pm.

Ticket holders can delay journeys until tomorrow or travel with other operators.

It remains unclear what caused the freight train to derail.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected] .

For more stories like this, check our news page .

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'Do not travel' alert issued after freight train derails on major route

The incident happened on the West Coast Main Line between Carlisle and Oxenholme Lake District.

Thursday 30 May 2024 12:44, UK

A "do not travel" alert has been issued - and rail services cancelled and delayed - after a freight train derailed on a major route between England and Scotland.

The incident happened on the West Coast Main Line between Penrith and Oxenholme Lake District on Wednesday night.

Some lines are blocked and a very limited train service is running on the line that remains open.

Train operators Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express issued the alert, urging passengers not to attempt to use their services for journeys between Preston and Scotland on Thursday.

Ticket holders can delay journeys until Friday or travel with other operators.

Network Rail apologised to passengers affected by the derailment and warned services would be disrupted for the rest of the day.

It said specialist repair teams were on site working as fast as they can to make the railway safe.

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A spokesperson told Sky News: "We are working hard to move a partly derailed freight train near Shap, between Oxenholme and Penrith on the West Coast Main Line.

"We're really sorry to passengers whose journeys have been impacted while we work to safely reopen the line as quickly as possible.

"Please check before you travel if travelling north of Preston."

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Network Rail's acting North West route strategy director Kara Wood added: "Disruption is expected for the rest of the day, so we're urging people to plan their journeys and check before they travel with their train operator or National Rail Enquiries."

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