Longest trains

This article is about car count or vehicle length. For the trains with the longest routes, see Longest train services.

Mauritania Railway iron ore train at the station in Nouadhibou.

The length of a train may be measured in number of wagons (for bulk loads such as coal and iron ore) or in metres for general freight. Train lengths and loads on electrified railways, especially lower voltage 3000 V DC and 1500 V DC, are limited by traction and power considerations. Drawgear and couplings can also be a limiting factor, along with curves, gradients and crossing loop lengths.

Very long freight trains with a total length of 3 km (1.9 mi) or more are possible with the advent of distributed power, or additional locomotive units between or behind long chains of freight cars (referred to as a "consist"). Additional locomotive units enable much longer, heavier loads without the increased risks of derailing that stem from the stress of pulling very long chains of train-cars around curves.

Bulk

A BHP Billiton Iron Ore train with 264 cars heads out of Port Hedland on the Mount Newman railway towards Newman, Western Australia, with lead units at right, and distributed power units at left.[1]

• Australia
  • BHP iron ore train has typically 268 cars and a train weight of 43,000 tonnes carrying 24,200 tonnes of iron ore, 2.8 km (1.7 mi) long, two SD70ACe locomotives at the head of the train and two remote controlled SD70ACe locomotives as mid-train helpers.[2]
    • BHP used to run 44,500-tonne, 336-car long iron ore trains over 3 km (1.9 mi) long, with six to eight locomotives including an intermediate remote unit. This operation seems to have ceased since the trunk line was fully double tracked in May 2011.[3]
    • The record-breaking ore train from the same company, 682 cars and 7,300 m (7.3 km; 24,000 ft; 4.5 mi) long, once carried 82,000 metric tons of ore for a total weight of the train, largest in the world, of 99,734 tonnes. It was driven by eight locomotives distributed along its length to keep the coupling loads and curve performance controllable.[4]
  • Leigh Creek coal—2.8 km (1.7 mi), formerly ran as 161 wagons and three locomotives.[5][6]
  • Cane tramway – 75 wagons (610 mm (2 ft) gauge).[7]
• Brazil
  • Carajás Railway 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge iron ore trains are typically 330 cars long, totaling 3 km (1.9 mi) in length.[8]
  • VLI 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Grain with 160 hopper cars, or 80 hoppers plus 72 FTTs (for pulp transport) totaling about 3.2 km (2.0 mi) long.[9]
• China
  • Datong–Qinhuangdao railway is a dedicated coal-transport railway. Every day 50 pairs of 2.6 km (1.6 mi) long trains consisting of 210 wagons and two HXD1 locomotives use the line. Each train hauls over 20,000 tons of coal.[10][11][12]
  • Shuozhou–Huanghua railway is a heavy haul freight railway that has successfully tested 30,000 ton coal trains that stretch over 4 km (2.5 mi) in April 2024. The train consists of 324 cars wagons hauled with four China Energy Investment HXD1 variants.[13][14]
• India
  • Indian Railways operated the longest train in India on 15 August 2022. The 'Super Vasuki' freight train was 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long had a total of 6 locomotives pulling 295 wagons of coal.[15]
• Indonesia (proposed)
  • Muara Wahau coal to Bengalon port – 2,196 km (1,365 mi)[16]
  • Super Babaranjang 120 cars testing. The testing train consisted of 120 coal cars with 4 EMD G26 leading. The consist was roughly 1.7 km (1.1 mi) long.
• Mauritania
  • Iron ore trains on the Mauritania Railway are up to 3 km (1.9 mi) in length. They consist of 2 diesel-electric EMD locomotives, 200 to 210 cars each carrying up to 84 tons of iron ore, and 2-3 service cars.
• South Africa
  • Sishen–Saldanha railway line ore trains on 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) – 4.1 km (2.5 mi)[17]
• Ukraine
  • 12,000 tonnes [18]

General

A BNSF train of loaded well cars (or double-stack cars) at Caliente, California, United States.

A Canadian National Railway double-stack container train.

• 6,100 metres (20,000 ft) – United States – a June 2024 third-party study over 10 days in Arizona found that Union Pacific routinely runs intermodal trains of more than 5,500 m (18,000 ft) in length, of which the longest was a 6,100-metre train (20,000 ft) carrying 506 containers in 280 well cars.[19]
• 1,524 metres (5,000 ft) – France – intermediate locomotive – trial[20]
• 1,222 metres (4,009 ft) – The Bangalore–Dharmavaram goods train (India)[21]
• 1,000 metres (3,300 ft)
  • The Netherlands–Germany—trial trains of this length[22]
  • Saudi Arabia 1,000 m (3,300 ft) double stack[23]
• 900 metres (3,000 ft) — Babaranjang Baratarahan from Tanjung Enim Coal Mine to Tarahan Port, Indonesia. 2 or 3 locomotive and 60 to 61 coal wagons.
• 835 metres (2,740 ft) — In Denmark and to Hamburg, Germany; 2 locomotives and 82 wagons.[24][25]

Special test runs

These are one-off runs, sometimes specifically to set records.

Bulk (ore, coal etc)

• BHP run on 21 June 2001, comprising 682 wagons and hauled by eight 6,000 hp (4,500 kW) General Electric GE AC6000CW diesel-electric locomotives controlled by a single driver with a total length of 7.352 km (4.57 mi) on the 275 km (170.88 mi) iron ore railway to Port Hedland in Western Australia – total weight 99,734 tons on a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge line.[26][27][28]
• Datong–Qinhuangdao railway, China. On 2 April 2014, an experimental train ran with 320 wagons and six locomotives hauling a 31,500 ton load, with a total length of 3.971 km (2.467 mi).[29]
• Sishen–Saldanha, South Africa. Run on 26–27 August 1989, comprising 660 wagons, 7.302 kilometres (4.537 mi) long and a total weight of 71,765 tons on a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge line. The train comprised 16 locomotives (9 Class 9E 50 kV AC electric and 7 Class 37 diesel-electric).[30][31]
• Bulk coal train from Ekibastuz to the Urals, Soviet Union, 20 February 1986. The train consisted of 439 wagons and several diesel locomotives distributed along the train with a total mass of 43,400 tonnes and a total length of 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi).[32]
• A 1991 test train pulled by two British Rail Class 59 diesel locomotives, weighing 12,108 tonnes and approximately 1.65 km (1.03 mi) long, was pulled with moderate success from Merehead Quarry to Witham Friary.[33]
• Norfolk and Western Railway unit coal train from Iaeger, West Virginia to Portsmouth, Ohio, 15 November 1967. The train consisted of 500 cars and six EMD SD45 diesel-electric locomotives distributed throughout the train for a total weight of 48,170 tons and total length of 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi).[34]

General cargo

• Union Pacific, United States. Run from 8–10 January 2010, consisting of 296 container cars and hauled by nine diesel-electric locomotive spread through the train with a total length of 18,061 feet (3.4206 mi; 5.505 km), from a terminal in Texas to Los Angeles. Around 618 double-stacked containers weighing 14,059 t were carried at speeds up to 70 mph (113 km/h).[35][36]
• BNSF, United States, 10 July 2009—3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi; 12,000 ft), 458 container units powered by seven locomotives[37]

Passenger

• Kijfhoek–Eindhoven, Netherlands. In 1989, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) celebrated their 150th anniversary. On 19 February 1989, NS ran a test train with 60 passenger cars (1,602 metres (5,256 ft) long and weighing 2,597 tons), of which only the first 14 cars held actual passengers, pulled by one 1500 V DC locomotive.[38] Twenty years later, in 2009, Railz Miniworld repeated the stunt on a smaller scale, inside their exhibition in Rotterdam.[39]
• Ghent–Ostend, Belgium. On 27 April 1991, one electric locomotive and 70 passenger cars (totalling 1,733 m (5,685.70 ft) and 2786 tons, excluding the locomotive) held a charity run for the Belgian Cancer Fund, exceeding the Dutch record.[38]
• Rhaetian Railway, Switzerland. On 29 October 2022, the Rhaetian Railway celebrated the 175th anniversary of Swiss railways with an hour-long, 25-kilometre (16 mi) journey from Preda to Alvaneu in southeast Switzerland. The train had 25 4-car ABe 4/16 "Capricorn" EMUs, totalling 100 coaches with a total length of 1,910 metres (6,270 ft); it ran on a narrow-gauge railway over several switchbacks and long curves.[40][41]

See also

• Distributed power—Where operational considerations or economics require it, trains can be made longer if intermediate locomotives are inserted in the train and remotely controlled from the leading locomotive.
• High-speed rail
• Track gauge
• Extreme Trains on the History Channel 2009
• List of steepest gradients on adhesion railways
• International Heavy Haul Association
• Longest road trains

References

1. According to count of visible cars in the pic and Google Earth imagery of 2011.
2. According to count of visible cars in Google Earth imagery of April 2015.
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6. "Leigh Creek Coal Now Major Asset". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 7 October 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
7. Light Railways October 2013, pg 22
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16. Railway Gazette International November 2010, p56
17. "Archived copy" (PDF). www.ihha2011.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
18. Heaviest UA
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20. Railway Gazette International May 2014, pg9
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25. Modern Railways November 2012, p78
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34. "Norfolk Southern Corp". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
35. Connell, Rich (12 January 2010). "Safety, traffic concerns raised when 3.5-mile-long freight train rolls through L.A. Basin". LA Times. Archived from the original on 14 January 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
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