Great Train Journeys around the World
Train across the "Roof of the World" Xining, China to Tibet
So off we go on the next journey via the train route known as across the top of the world to Tibet. This is the highest rail line in the world. Its 1,200 miles of tracks traverse 342 miles of permafrost, much of it at altitudes exceeding 13,000 feet. Rising to a height of 16640 feet (5072 metres) at its highest point.
The train was more comfortable than we were expecting... haven’t seen the hard sleepers so I can’t comment on them. We were all on the same carriage and had compartments of 4. Phil and I managed to get in the same one, and our UK guide swapped with our Tibetan guide and joined us. A Chinese lady was already in the cabin, but disappeared shortly after we arrived with all her luggage, and eventually a younger Chinese lady joined us. She immediately climbed on the top bunk and went to sleep!
We had a bite to eat from our bag of goodies and settled down for the night. A pillow and duvet were provided. About midnight the train stopped at a station, and after a while a bell rang.... I’m guessing as a warning we were about to depart. All of a sudden the Chinese girl in our cabin, jumped up, grabbed all her stuff and shot out, leaving the door open, and talking very animatedly to someone... anyway she must have made it off the train as she didn’t return!
After that all went quiet again, and back to sleep.
Woke at 7:15am, about half way there....1000km along the track of about 1800km, and at 4600m altitude and still climbing! Outside is white! We are passing through wide open plains, a few hills, and lots of wide open river beds, which are mainly mud with some water. There are also lots of small lakes at times. In areas where there are snow fences to stop drifting, there are also a grid pattern of rocks laid, presumably to help stop the drifting. There are queues of lorries on the road at every small incline where they are going very slowly.
Breakfast and coffee had, and more of the same scenery. So far we have seen wild donkeys, yak, some sheep, a fox? Or something dog like anyway. And something that may have been antelopes.
9am - just had an update from our local guide, Basang, we will be at the highest point of the trip in 30 - 60 minutes times - over 5000m. He also brought around a bag of goodies for us - a banana and a small cucumber each, for breakfast! Interestingly at the moment we have green and mud to look at, not white! The track is running alongside a road, which was built about 50 years ago... the final section of the train track just 12 years ago. It is single track, with lots of extra infra structure.... crossing sections for the wildlife - wild donkeys, yak, antelope, foxes. The earlier section of the road we saw queues of lorries, going in both directions.
As we continue to climb there is less visibility, and as we near the top of the Pass, it has got whiter and mistier.
11:30 am, and out in the corridors a very smartly dressed in uniform train lady trying to sell souvenir books (I think). She has been there for over half an hour explaining in great detail, i.e. page by page, two books. I don’t think she’s drawn breath more than half a dozen times! We have our photo taken with her.
This railway, the Rooftop Railway is one of the highlights of our tour. It covers 1956km and at the Tangula Pass, at 5072m is the worlds highest point on a railway. The final section, from Golmud to Lhasa was operational in 2006, and cost $3.68 billion. It is 906km and at an elevation of more than 4000m. There are 675 bridges and 550km of track is laid on permafrost. The Fenghoushan Tunnel the worlds highest at 4905m was a serious engineering challenge to bore through the ice and rock of the Kunlun mountain range. European tunnelling engineers said it could not be done!
As the day wore on the scenery hasn’t changed much. We went through a large section where we weren’t near the main road, but then came back towards it. At the moment we are going alongside major works... a new road is being constructed. This continues for pretty much the rest of our route....it is really an incredible feat of engineering, with bridges, (smallish over rivers), larger viaduct types over wide expanses, tunnels through mountains.
All along the way we have seen “sentry points”, with one person nearby, who has been saluting as we go past. Our guide has just told us they are local people who keep a look out for animals wandering onto the track and are letting the driver know all is clear.
As we start to descend a bit we see more signs of life, small communities, more herds of sheep and yak, a few horses, and small areas of cultivated crops. We can see workers in these small fields, scything the cereals, and stacking the straw in traditional hay stooks. We saw a few groups sat down under large umbrellas resting and eating.
As we got nearer to Lhasa, the more traditional buildings started to give way to the Chinese influence of lots of tall tower blocks, with lots of new buildings.
The train journey was a truly great experience, smooth and quiet, and quite comfortable. Nearly 22 hours after we left we finally arrived in Lhasa. We had been warned to be careful when taking photos from now on, and particularly getting off the train to make sure we didn’t take pictures of any army, police or security people. There were a lot of army groups on the train that all got off, lined up on the platform and marched off together.
Photo taking on the train was quite difficult... we had lots of different weather to contend with, dirty windows and moving objects, but hopefully the photos will give a flavour of what we have seen.
The Glacier Express - a panoramic journey through the heart of Switzerland Zermatt to Davos
Today we take the Glacier Express, one of the Worlds great train journeys to Davos. This fabulous train panoramic journey goes through the heart of Switzerland to Davos, via Visp, Brig, Chur, and Davos. During the trip we crossed 291 bridges, went through 91 tunnels and over the Oberalp pass at 2033 metres.
Below is a range of photos from this memorable days train trip, through beautiful and sectactular scenery.
The Bernina Express from Davos to Tirano.
Today we take another of the Worlds great train journeys, this time from Davos to Tirano, Italy on the Bernina Express, via San Moritz.
It was a rather wet day as you can see from the photos, although the train journey was spectacular, along the high mountain passes and the tunnels.
On the journey we called into San Moritz, so it was just a quick look at the famous town, for the rich and famous, then we were off again.
One of the most spectacular areas was a set of tunnels into the mountainside, where you go in, loop around and come out looking in the wrong direction and confused which way you are going!! Great fun and it did allow for a descent in height in a “limited” space. We then went on the incredible Brusio spiral viaduct, a very special experience.
Once we crossed the Italian boarder, we were soon in Cantiniera, although amazingly the tracks were in the middle of the Main Street, which we carried on down with cars and people all around! after this town we were soon in Tirano.
We had a couple of hours to look around Tirano, a colourful place, and get lunch. We had ice cream and later pizza for lunch to celebrate we were in Italy. Soon it was back to the train again.
On the way back the weather had not improved unfortunately, but we did enjoy the day and looking around Tirano
The Bernina Express to Tirano.
Tirano, Italy.
Back to Davos
Fort William to Malaig by the World Famous - The Jacobite Steam Train or more recently famous as the train in the Harry Potter film...
This train journey, which we were lucky enough to do in 2009 is one of the greatest railway journey in the world. The 84 mile round trip starts in Fort William, and winds its way to Mallaig. The train has one stop en route to Mallaig at the village of Glenfinnan. Beyond Glenfinnan are the beautiful villages of Lochailort, Arisaig, Morar and Mallaig. The views on the trip are spectacular and I hope the pictures below help to tell the story
