Longest trains



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 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

 * 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 long, two SD70ACe locomotives at the head of the train and two remote controlled SD70ACe locomotives as mid-train helpers.
 * BHP used to run 44,500-tonne, 336-car long iron ore trains over 3 km 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.
 * The record-breaking ore train from the same company, 682 cars and 7,300 m 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.
 * Leigh Creek coal—2.8 km, formerly ran as 161 wagons and three locomotives.
 * Cane tramway – 75 wagons ( gauge).
 * Brazil
 * Carajás Railway gauge iron ore trains are typically 330 cars long, totaling 3 km in length.
 * VLI Grain with 160 hopper cars, or 80 hoppers plus 72 FTTs (for pulp transport) totaling about 3.2 km long.
 * China
 * Datong–Qinhuangdao railway is a dedicated coal-transport railway. Each typical train hauls 20,000 tons of coal using 210 wagons and two HXD1 locomotives, with total length 2.6 km.
 * India
 * Indian Railways operated the longest train in India on 15 August 2022. The 'Super Vasuki' freight train was 3.5 km long had a total of 6 locomotives pulling 295 wagons of coal.
 * Indonesia (proposed)
 * Muara Wahau coal to Bengalon port – 2.196 km
 * Mauritania
 * Iron ore trains on the Mauritania Railway are up to 3 km in length. They consist of 3 or 4 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 – 4.1 km
 * Ukraine
 * 12,000 tonnes

General

 * 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 18,000 ft in length, of which the longest was a 20,000 ft carrying 506 containers in 280 well cars.
 * 1524 m – France – intermediate locomotive – trial
 * 1222 m – The Bangalore–Dharmavaram goods train (India)
 * 1000 m
 * The Netherlands–Germany—trial trains of this length
 * Saudi Arabia 1000 m double stack
 * 835 m — In Denmark and to Hamburg, Germany; 2 locomotives and 82 wagons.

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 6000 hp General Electric GE AC6000CW diesel-electric locomotives controlled by a single driver with a total length of 7.352 km on the 275 km iron ore railway to Port Hedland in Western Australia – total weight 99,734 tons on a gauge line.
 * 🇨🇳 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.
 * 🇿🇦 Sishen–Saldanha, South Africa. Run on 26–27 August 1989, comprising 660 wagons, 7.302 km long and a total weight of 71,765 tons on a  gauge line. The train comprised 16 locomotives (9 Class 9E 50 kV AC electric and 7 Class 37 diesel-electric).
 * 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 km.
 * A 1991 test train pulled by two British Rail Class 59 diesel locomotives, weighing 12,108 tonnes and approximately 1.65 km long, was pulled with moderate success from Merehead Quarry to Witham Friary.
 * 🇺🇸 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 km.

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 ft, 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.
 * 🇺🇸 BNSF, United States, 10 July 2009—3.6 km, 458 container units powered by seven locomotives

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 (1602 m long and weighing 2,597 tons), of which only the first 14 cars held actual passengers, pulled by one 1500 V DC locomotive. Twenty years later, in 2009, Railz Miniworld repeated the stunt on a smaller scale, inside their exhibition in Rotterdam.
 * 🇧🇪 Ghent–Ostend, Belgium. On 27 April 1991, one electric locomotive and 70 passenger cars (totalling 1733 m and 2786 tons, excluding the locomotive) held a charity run for the Belgian Cancer Fund, exceeding the Dutch record.
 * 🇨🇭 Rhaetian Railway, Switzerland. On 29 October 2022, the Rhaetian Railway celebrated the 175th anniversary of Swiss railways with an hour-long, 25 km 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 1910 m; it ran on a narrow-gauge railway over several switchbacks and long curves.