Video of Jon Worth's "longest" European rail journey: Kemijärvi, Finland to Lagos, Portugal

[jamesontheroad]

Starting on Monday 7th September, European rail campaigner Jon Worth set out to test the connectivity of different railway systems by travelling from Kemijärvi in northern Finland to Lagos in southern Portugal, supposedly now the longest possible journey by passenger train in Europe. All of this has been made possible by the renovation and electrification of Kemi-Haparanda and the start of new VR passenger trains across the border to Sweden.

There were problems along the way, and it took a little longer than planned, but here is the outcome.

This video actually showed up on YouTube a few days ago, but I think it was pre-released in error to everyone instead of just his supporters, and then made private again. But now it's live and on the Simply Railway channel. Enjoy!

 

[popeter45]

Starting on Monday 7th September, European rail campaigner Jon Worth set out to test the connectivity of different railway systems by travelling from Kemijärvi in northern Finland to Lagos in southern Portugal, supposedly now the longest possible journey by passenger train in Europe. All of this has been made possible by the renovation and electrification of Kemi-Haparanda and the start of new VR passenger trains across the border to Sweden.

There were problems along the way, and it took a little longer than planned, but here is the outcome.

This video actually showed up on YouTube a few days ago, but I think it was pre-released in error to everyone instead of just his supporters, and then made private again. But now it's live and on the Simply Railway channel. Enjoy!

Video public again

sounds like Jon is not happy with Simply railway over there edit with quite alot of stuff wrong according to him

The film of the longest train journey in the EU

So the good news: the film of the longest train journey in the EU is out, and you can watch it here: Or directly on Youtube here. The deal essentially was this: cameraman Rick Minnich would follow me throughout the trip, we would get all the footage as swiftly as

jonworth.eu

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Sep 2026 ==

seems like its been fixed now, that blog did have a list of issues but since gone so presume its all fixed now

 

[MoominAndChips]

I'd watched as far as Malmö this evening when the video disappeared out from under me. Good to see it back.

 

[jamesontheroad]

The video in my OP (and all the early comments from fans) appears to have been replaced by this one.

 

[mrlegohead]

The video in my OP (and all the early comments from fans) appears to have been replaced by this one.

I am astounded by the number of inaccuracies on that map in the thumbnail

At a glance:
The border between England and Scotland has been drawn along the Great Glen, and none at all for Northern Ireland and Wales
Switzerland is much reduced
Czechoslovakia exists once more
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro have merged
The Italians seem to have taken a large portion of Austria
The Netherlands and Belgium have merged
Lithuania has gained Kaliningrad Oblast

 

[Farigiraf]

An interesting watch, and I can recommend his blog as a source for European rail info that isn't just a regurgitated press release. It does feel a little disingenuous though to constantly go on about it being 'research' when ultimately he's just going on a very convoluted jolly. Glad he enjoyed it, but there's no need to justify it on the premise that he's investigating the realities of the EU rail network or something like that.

I am astounded by the number of inaccuracies on that map in the thumbnail

Could be AI, many YouTube thumbnails are nowadays, as AFAIK it literally generates one for you when you try to upload a video.

 

[Roast Veg]

An interesting watch, and I can recommend his blog as a source for European rail info that isn't just a regurgitated press release. It does feel a little disingenuous though to constantly go on about it being 'research' when ultimately he's just going on a very convoluted jolly. Glad he enjoyed it, but there's no need to justify it on the premise that he's investigating the realities of the EU rail network or something like that..

He is funded by donors to collect information on the ground about the realities of the EU rail network.

 

[Flying_Turtle]

he could add 40 more km if he went the other way, to Vila Real de Santo António

 

[Roast Veg]

he could add 40 more km if he went the other way, to Vila Real de Santo António

But the objective was not track mileage, it was geodesic distance. You could get infinite track mileage by simply traveling in circles.

 

[Amalie]

He is funded by donors to collect information on the ground about the realities of the EU rail network.

On the other hand, I’m not sure whether this trip would really collect particularly new information in the name of research. Either he lucks out with connections or he doesn’t, and either situation wouldn’t say particularly say anything novel either.

The timetable and state of the various railways isn’t exactly a secret either.

To be clear, I am not against doing the trip, and it was a lovely watch. Although I do agree with the other poster that it isn’t really research.

As a sidenote, I was disappointed to hear the “YouTube background music” in a video by a channel known for not doing that.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Taking the Tornio-Haparanda train counted as research. It was his first chance to try it since the line reopened in August.

 

[Roast Veg]

Additionally he has highlighted repeatedly that the critical issues in the Single European Railway are are not unreliable-but-frequent trains in Germany (despite the frequent criticism of late) but the 1-or-2-per-day unreliable services in Sweden and Portugal.

 

[Halish Railway]

Additionally he has highlighted repeatedly that the critical issues in the Single European Railway are are not unreliable-but-frequent trains in Germany (despite the frequent criticism of late) but the 1-or-2-per-day unreliable services in Sweden and Portugal.

I don’t entirely agree with this point of view. I think that it was fortunate that for the itinerary he chose (going via Basel and onwards towards Geneva) there are numerous ICE services and route duplication as DB’s services to Basel are essentially domestic services that serve the likes of Karlsruhe and Freiburg, with Basel just being a short stone’s throw away immediately across the German-Swiss border and a convenient place for trains to terminate. Let us not forget that SBB are (somewhat reasonably) more than happy to terminate trains that continue beyond Basel further into Switzerland in Basel should there be a delay.

Speaking of Hamburg, should someone wish to travel to the Netherlands or Belgium then they’re out of luck as there are no direct trains and any connecting itinerary will be quite poor, even though on the surface this would seem to be a much bigger market than Hamburg to Switzerland and Czechia, which do have relatively frequent direct trains.

As for the goal of a “Single European Railway”, it’s effectiveness should mainly be judged by how well it allows people to make normal, if not boring everyday cross boarder journeys, rather than infrequently made, ultra long-distance, multi-day trips like this. In particular I’m thinking of how rubbish the cross border services between the Netherlands / Belgium / Germany are despite their respective border regions being densely populated and having more than enough demand to justify better services.

Having said all of this, the video is quite interesting and does highlight a few of the issues surrounding local cross border services, with the caveat that these were in fairly rural areas and not the most egregious examples on the European network. Many of his experiences, such as the quality of Swedish-Danish services, being able to use of of the few good international services in Germany and the ease of crossing Switzerland are the exception and not the norm.