Official world record attempt: The longest passenger train in the world

[bahnause]

Official world record attempt

The test begins: as part of the 175th anniversary celebrations of Swiss railways, Rhaetian Railway (RhB) is making an official attempt to operate the longest passenger train in the world on Saturday, 29 October 2022. The 1910-metre-long train with 100 coaches will travel along the Albula/Bernina UNESCO World Heritage route from Preda to Bergün and on over the Landwasser Viaduct. The corresponding tests for technical feasibility and safety assurance have taken place over the past few months.

 

[joncombe]

Imagine the wait at level crossings!

 

[pdeaves]

Imagine the wait at level crossings!

(on tannoy) "Please have tickets ready for inspection"
(hours later) "Is the guard coming through or not?"

 

[High Dyke]

Hopefully, you're not in the wrong part of the train if it stops at your station, but that part isn't in the platform.

 

[2192]

Could it work the Stourbridge Town branch?

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Could it work the Stourbridge Town branch?

Er, no, because it would be twice as long as the Stourbridge Town branch.

 

[pdeaves]

Er, no, because it would be twice as long as the Stourbridge Town branch.

I think that was the point!

"Passengers for this station please use the first carriage; passengers for the previous station please use the middle carriage..."

 

[Shimbleshanks]

If it went round the Merseyrail loop in Liverpool would it end up passing itself?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

If it went round the Merseyrail loop in Liverpool would it end up passing itself?

The loop is 2m05c or 3.3 km, so no.
But it could be in 3 of the 4 loop stations simultaneously.

James St-Hamilton Square is 1m14c or 1.9 km, so the train would sit nicely under the Mersey with an end vehicle in each station.
Except the RhB is metre gauge...

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Except the RhB is metre gauge...

Details, details...

 

[pdeaves]

The test begins: as part of the 175th anniversary celebrations of Swiss railways, Rhaetian Railway (RhB) is making an official attempt to operate the longest passenger train in the world on Saturday, 29 October 2022. The 1910-metre-long train with 100 coaches will travel along the Albula/Bernina UNESCO World Heritage route from Preda to Bergün and on over the Landwasser Viaduct. The corresponding tests for technical feasibility and safety assurance have taken place over the past few months.

Official world record attempt

Will the public ride on this train, or will it be special guests only (lots of them!)?
I like the route image on the record attempt page, it looks like a child's scribble (obviously in reality showing the complex nature of threading a railway through and around mountains).

 

[Howardh]

Ignoring the planned route, could it, if it could go anywhere it liked, be in three different countries at the same time? Thinking the Basel region if the lines were suitable, but the closest I could find is near Vaalserberg where NL/D/B all meet but unfortunately the line just shaves the Netherlands, and doesn't go through it. Pity, it would be nice to watch Tim Traveller striding down the stationary train and ticking off each border!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The metre gauge RhB network extends into Italy at Tirano via the Bernina Pass route.
The length of the Italian section from Campocologno is exactly 2.0 km, so it would just fit in Italian territory if it reached Tirano station.
It could also theoretically navigate the Glacier Express route to Brig and Zermatt.

 

[bahnause]

There will be no passengers on the train exept for 150 VIP, seven drivers and 21 technicians. But there will be a fairground for 3000 guest (tickets needed) and viewpoints along the line. If you get up early, you might have a chance for a good spot.

The livestream will include videos from the viewing points, the train and drones.

The trains will be updated with a special software for the event to limit braking forces and forces for the infrastrucure and the carriages. The maximum currents for acceleration and braking will be limited as well.

 

[Harvey B]

(on tannoy) "Please have tickets ready for inspection"
(hours later) "Is the guard coming through or not?"

It'll likely have Conductors/Guards that look after 4/5 carriages each

 

[dgl]

It's a new time saving "super express", as it can do multiple stations with one stop

Your sitting in the first carriage thinking "I could do with a bite to eat" and you hear over the tannoy "the buffet car is located to the rear of this 100 coach train" and realise you'll just have to go hungry!

 

[OldandRambling]

Link no longer working?

 

[pdeaves]

Link no longer working?

The link in the original post? It seems fine to me.

 

[Rab Smith]

After just being in Switzerland to experience their rail system, somehow this doesn't seem as crazy as it sounds.
They have a phenomenal attitude towards their railways!

 

[Austriantrain]

After just being in Switzerland to experience their rail system, somehow this doesn't seem as crazy as it sounds.
They have a phenomenal attitude towards their railways!

Which also shows in how much they invest into rail infrastructure.

According to graph on page 5 of this publication: https://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/..._Fahrplan_Zukunft_Interaktiv_Einzelseiten.pdf

it‘s 440€ per capita and year (for comparison: 249 in Austria, 131 in the UK and only 88 in Germany).

 

[AdamWW]

Which also shows in how much they invest into rail infrastructure.

According to graph on page 5 of this publication: https://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/..._Fahrplan_Zukunft_Interaktiv_Einzelseiten.pdf

it‘s 440€ per capita and year (for comparison: 249 in Austria, 131 in the UK and only 88 in Germany).

But you will get quite a lot less for your 440 Euros in Switzerland than in the other countries listed.

 

[Austriantrain]

But you will get quite a lot less for your 440 Euros in Switzerland than in the other countries listed.

While I am aware of the high general price level in Switzerland, the costs quoted for eg the base tunnels do not seem excessive compared to elsewhere.

 

[blackfive460]

This ran successfully this afternoon and there was a live stream provided by Blick TV which covered the event pretty well.
Much of the live stream is available on YouTube.

Especially if you don't understand Schweizerdeutsch, I'd suggest starting at about 55 minutes and the best views are in the next 30 minutes or so.
Well worth watching.

 

[duesselmartin]

And in Graubünden / Grisia on the day

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2022 ==

While I am aware of the high general price level in Switzerland, the costs quoted for eg the base tunnels do not seem excessive compared to elsewhere.

I assume geography makes Swiss railways more expensive to maintain.
The German sum is pityful. No wonder the network is in a mess.
Any idea what BR got in its latter years ( in todays money)?

 

[Jamesrob637]

Already by the second EMU it was longer than most trains in the UK outside of the London area

 

[Winthorpe]

There’s now a short video of this on the BBC website:

World's longest passenger train rolls through Alps

The 1.9km (1.2 mile) long train, which is composed of 100 coaches, has completed a 25km journey.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[BRX]

Must then be quite an operation to get all of those 25 units back to wherever they need to be on a Monday morning...

 

[Watershed]

Must then be quite an operation to get all of those 25 units back to wherever they need to be on a Monday morning...

Apparently they were split up to form services to get the crowds moving.

 

[Lockwood]

Welcome aboard this Swiss Railways service to Wherever. This is coach number 31 of 100.

Apparently they were split up to form services to get the crowds moving.

"Passengers for A, Ax, Ay, Az should board the first four coaches of this 100 coach train. Passengers for B, Bx, By, Bz should board the second four coaches of this 100 coach train. [...] Passengers for Y should join the rear four coaches of this 100 coach train. A trolley service of drinks and light refreshments is available on this service."

 

[MarcVD]

Some technical info I gathered from another forum - hoping all of that being correct :
1) the units used can be mu'ed with a maximum of 4. So there were 7 drivers, for 6 trains of 4 units and 1 train of 1 unit. They were communicating together using army field radios.
2) the train that broke the record went exclusively downhill, in order not to overload the electricity supply system. They went up previously as separate trains and reconnected together at the summit station
3) speed was limited to some 35 km/h in order to limit the intensity of the regenerative braking current sent back to the catenary