Top 20 countries with largest railways: which has the longest train in the world?

The importance of good transportation systems can never be over-emphasized. Naijauto.com believes that the government of every nation should try to understand the benefits attached with ease of commuting and transportation of goods locally. The transportation networks of any country should be richly designed and maintained by its government as it not only aids easy commuting, it also improves trade locally within such a country.

When there are lots of convenient transport routes and networks for people to commute as well as transport goods, businesses will easily thrive and grow faster. The rail transport system has been existing for long and it’s still one of such platforms that are easiest to transport heavy and bulky goods till date. Nowadays, it is becoming more obvious that over-dependence on environmental polluting fossil fuels is a plain bad idea. As a matter of fact, a more serious government these days will invest more in electrified transportation systems.

1. Longest electrified rail network in the world

It was quite surprised when we discovered that China currently has the record for the largest electrified rail network in the world of 87,000 km in length. It’s not their record that surprises us, it’s the fact that they have electrified a massive 87,000 km travel while the distance from Lagos to Sokoto is just a mere 924Km approximately, yet not even a single electric train is available in Nigeria.

Electric trains are not only very fast but also environmentally friendly and convenient for long distance commute

2. What is the longest train in the world?

To determine the longest train in the world, experts measure the number of wagons on the train (these wagons can be used to load coal or iron), or they can count the general length of a train by metres.

Can you estimate the length of this train?

On June 21, 2001, Australian BHP Iron ore train was officially recorded as the longest train to ever run in the world with the total length of 7.35 km. The train carried 82,262 tonnes of ore at the time and consisted of 683 loaded wagons.

3. Collection of countries with longest railways in the world

Well, we have collected below, a list of the world’s top 20 countries with the largest rail networks. The data is presented in a table below and in this table, we have both the country names and their corresponding approximate total rail network size. Please note that the figures you will be seeing below in the table are combinations of both non-electrified and electrified networks summed together as one approximated figure. The figures below also include the suburban/urban mass-transport systems as well as transport lines which are barred from passenger services. Here is the table below:

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Our dear country “Nigeria” currently has a land area of almost four times that of Romania, and a current population that supersedes that of Romania by ten times. But, to our greatest surprise, even as small as Romania is, they have a total rail network size of 22,298Km with a portion of about 3,971Km completely electrified. Whereas Nigeria only has a total rail network size of just 3,528Km and worst of all, no electrified rail network till date as well as no plan yet for such.

Top 10 Largest Railway Network Systems in the World | Under the Dark

As a matter of fact, we should even spell out that there is not one region in Nigeria that can currently boast of enjoying a stable 22hours of uninterrupted electricity daily. So, should we even dream that we will ever power our rail system electrically? An uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria for any transport system is still solely dependent on fossil fuels such as Petrol, gasoline, diesel and the likes. Does it not sound correct to say evidently that the encompassing of the Nigerian government as a whole regardless of any political parties, are depriving us all of some basic things which could make life easy for us the masses?

Have we not been basking too long in mediocrity?

Can you imagine how easy life could be if we had a well-organized, fast and modern rail network system? You can literally live in Ibadan and commute easily to work in Lagos. Imagine some stressful interstate long-distance travel within Nigeria that normally take up to 2-3 days by bus could become as easy and short as taking just a few hours by fast electric trains. Can you imagine how relieving it will be to not ever get stuck in the famous Lagos traffic anymore?

The long frustrating Lagos traffic hold-ups have been a major concern for many people till date

Eliminating the frustration caused by being stuck in the long traffic hold-ups in Lagos and other popular Nigerian cities alone could save a thousand lives. Some individuals have been going through this traffic hold-ups daily to work for many years now and still no improvement by the government. All this our transport related problems could be literally solved at once by building fast electrified rail network systems to connect all the major cities in Nigeria together. And serious anti-corruption measures have to also be put in place for the team that would manage these electrified rail network systems if they are ever built. If not, it might end up becoming what the Nigerian elders call “Beautiful but nonsense”. Eliminating corruption totally might not really be feasible for now but it can definitely be minimized.

4. Last words

Naijauto.com does not produce articles like this to bring shame to our beloved nation Nigeria, No!

Rather, we are only spelling out some of the important things that our dear country deserves and can afford by now but are currently non-existent. Some things like our rail network systems exist already but are poorly executed till date and needs transformation for us to meet up with world standards. If even a tiny portion of these things can be transformed, organized, executed and/or put in place properly, Nigeria will become great again.

God bless Nigeria!

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