World’s longest train journey that stretches a whopping 8,000 miles and takes 21 days
The longest train journey in the world takes weeks to complete but is not made with passengers in mind.
The world's longest train journey carries people across thousands of miles and bridges two continent in a fantastic engineering feat.
China's Belt and Road project has seen the nation invest $900billion (£706billion) into revitalising an ancient trade route once known as the Silk Road.
Part of the Belt and Road is the Yiwu-Madrid railway line, which takes freighter trains from the Zhejiang province city through Asia and Eastern Europe to the Spanish capital.
The route is the longest in the world and, aside from traversing nearly two whole continents, connects more than half a dozen countries.
But adventure-hungry holidaymakers may never have the opportunity to try out the route - unless they are prepared to make a significant career change.
The Yiwu-Madrid line was launched in November 2014 by InterRail Group which, despite its name, is primarily focused on rail freight, alongside Chinese Railways and Deutsche Bahn (DB).
The line starts from the Chinese city, a trading hub 300 miles south of Shanghai, and travels west for approximately 13,000 kilometres (8,100 miles), terminating in Madrid.
Over that distance, freighters travel through six other countries, including Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, and France, with trips taking up to three weeks.
Trains navigating that route are laden with goods and the workers who pilot them, as operators do not run commercial trips for passengers.
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In 2023, the line ran two commemorative trips celebrating Sino-Spanish relations, with trains carrying cultural commodities between Madrid and Yiwu.
The train bound for Spain carried 110 standard containers of smaller commodities, ceramic products, electric scooters and a selection of daily necessities.
The freighter running the reverse route from China carried 70 containers of wine, olive oil, sunflower oil, baby food, chemical products and other Spanish goods.
The closest thing travellers can find to Yiwu-Madrid are three other world-famous lines but they don't cover the same distance.
The Trans-Mongolian railway runs 2,215 km (1,376 miles), covering the entirety of Mongolia from the Russian to the Chinese border.
The other two famous lines - the Trans-Siberian and the Trans-Manchurian - are 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles) and 8,986 km (5,623 miles), respectively, and carry commercial passengers between Asia and Europe.