An incredible achievement
WE are used to seeing super-long freight trains, especially overseas in countries such as the USA, South Africa and Australia – but the idea of a passenger train stretching almost 2km, or well over a mile, is just crazy right? But that is exactly what Switzerland’s Rhaetian Railway achieved on October 29, when it ran a 100-car EMU (yes one hundred carriages!) over the 12.6km/7.8miles between Preda and Bergün in the east of the country. The event was staged to help celebrate 175 years of Swiss railways, but in doing so set a new Guinness World Record, beating the previous longest by about 30 vehicles. The record-breaking train was formed of 25 four-car units that required seven drivers to be in position throughout the full 1.91km/1.19mile length. It was so long that, as it snaked its way along the Albula Line’s famous loops and spirals, the end of the train was at one point going in the same direction as the front… but on the opposite side of the valley. Our correspondent John Heaton was aboard and his report on this amazing journey is on pages 16-19 along with some stunning pictures of the train as it travelled through the Alpine scenery. It seems like such a record should remain for some time – but then again, records are there to be broken. So any takers anywhere?