Longest trains

Bulk

• Australia
• *Rio Tinto—29,500 tonnes of iron ore—2.4 km, three locomotives
• *BHP Billiton 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 Billiton used to run iron ore trains of 336 car length, 44,500 tonnes of iron ore, over 3 km long, six to eight locomotives including 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, 161 wagons and 2 locomotives.
• * Cane tramway – 75 wagons
• Brazil
• *Carajás Railway gauge iron ore typically 330-car trains, each 3 km long.
• *VLI Grain with 160 Hopper or 80 Hopper+72 FTTs about 3.2 km long
• China
• *Daqin Railway coal trains—20,000 t, 3.2 km, 210 wagons
• Mauritania—3 km—iron ore from Zouérat—trains lurch violently when accelerating or braking
• India
• *Indian Railways operated the longest train in India on 2 June 2020. The 'SheshNag' freight train was 2.8 km long had a total of 251 wagons.
• *The 'Super Anaconda' three-in-one freight service has 177 wagons and three electric locomotives with a 6000 HP capacity each.
• Indonesia
• *Muara Wahau coal to Bengalon port – 2196 m
• South Africa
• *Sishen–Saldanha railway line ore trains on – 4100 m

  General

• 5166 m – Mexico – The Kansas City Southern de Mexico operating between Laredo and San Luis Potosí.
• 4730 m – United States — The Kansas City Southern Railway regularly runs between Kansas City, MO and Shreveport, LA
• 4200 m – Canada – double-stack container trains reaching 4200 m are regularly operated by Canadian National Railway systemwide with distributed power diesel electric locomotives. General cargo trains are limited to 3700 m, and bulk trains are limited to 3000 m but up to 20,700 tons
• 3658 m – United States – Trains are limited by air brake capability. electronically controlled pneumatic braked – AAR Standard S-4200.
• 1800 m – Australia—Parkes–Perth–Adelaide–Darwin—
• 1524 m – France – intermediate locomotive – trial
• 1500 m – Australia—Adelaide–Melbourne–Sydney–Brisbane—
• 1500 m – UIC standard double length train
• 1222 m – The Bangalore–Dharmavaram goods train —The train runs between Bangalore and Dharmavaram almost every day. There is no stop for this train, and there is no railway station on this route which can accommodate the whole train on a single track or platform. Indian Railways term this as increased vehicle length. This reduces the traffic in this single-lined region; two goods train attached back to back, each train is led by two diesel electric locomotives.
• 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 waggons.
• 800 m — RVR in East Africa to introduce longer trains, which needs longer crossing loops.
• 750& m – Normal for mainlines in several countries in Europe.
• 750 m – UIC standard single length train
• 400 m – New South Wales steam era, where lengths also limited by practical length of crossing loops mechanically operated from signal boxes.

  Passenger

• Australia – The Ghan, running the 2,979 km from Adelaide to Darwin, was lengthened to 44 coaches totalling 1,096 m for nine weeks from May 2016. More usually, both The Ghan and the Indian Pacific, which runs the 4,352 km from Perth to Sydney, average around 30 coaches, with a motorail wagon and two locomotives, totalling around 770 m in length.
• Canada – The Canadian transcontinental train may have 33 cars during peak season
• China – Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway Fuxing CR400AF–B and Fuxing CR400BF–B 17-car trainset 440 m
• Denmark – five ER electrical train sets combined – 380 m
• France – two TGV Atlantique trains combined – 476 m
• German Democratic Republic – up to 22 cars Berlin–Dresden ca. 500 m
• Germany – two ICE 3 trains combined – 402 m
• India – 24-coach trains are standard for most popular long-distance services, which translates to approximately 600 meters per train.
• Japan – Tōkaidō Shinkansen N700 16-car trainset 404 m
• Mongolia – up to 30 coaches on the Ulaanbataar – Zamiyn Ude train.
• Netherlands – up to 15 coaches – 403 m
• Russia – two combined Sapsan trains – approx. 500 m
• Sweden – 17 coaches – 484 m between Stockholm and Luleå. Sometimes charter trains are longer than that, e.g. 22 coaches, 530 m on 24–25 February 2012.
• United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Netherlands – Eurostar / British Rail Class 374 – 400 m
• United States – Auto Train between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida – up to 50 cars. 4 or 5 coaches, 1 lounge, 3 diners, 6 sleepers, one transition sleeper and up to 35 autoracks – approx. 1440 m
• United States – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus trains – were the longest privately operated passenger trains in the world at nearly sixty cars each. Two trains, the Red unit and the Blue unit, toured the country in an overlapping two-year cycle. Each circus train consisted of around 40–45 passenger cars with dorm rooms for the circus performers and crews, four animal cars usually placed at the front of the train for a smoother ride, a dining car referred to as the "pie car", two generator cars to provide power to the train, two merchandise boxcars, and 15–20 flatcars carrying circus vehicles and containers. Ceased operations in 2017.
• USSR/Russia – 32 coaches – 846 m; total weight of 1,920 tonnes, using locomotive ChS7 or ChS8.

  Special test runs

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 1,435mm gauge line.
• Sishen–Saldanha, South Africa. Run on 26–27 August 1989, comprising 660 wagons, long and a total weight of 71 765 tons on a 1,067mm gauge line. The train comprised 16 locomotives.
• 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.
• N&W 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.

  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, from a terminal in Texas to Los Angeles. Around 618 double-stacked containers were carried at speeds up to 70 mph/112 km/h. 14,059 t.
• Canadian National, United States. 10 October 2017. Manifest train consisting of 340 cars, 16,646 feet
• BNSF, United States, 2010—

  Passenger

• Kijfhoek–Eindhoven, Netherlands. In 1989 the ' Nederlandse Spoorwegen' celebrated their 150th anniversary. On 19 February 1989, NS ran a test with what would become the longest passenger train in the world. The train was pulled by one 1500 V DC locomotive and had 60 passenger cars, of which only the first 14 cars held actual passengers during the run. Twenty years later, in 2009, Railz Miniworld repeated the stunt on a smaller scale, inside their exhibition in Rotterdam.
• Ghent–Oostende, Belgium. On 27 April 1991, one electric locomotive and 70 passenger cars held a charity run for the Belgian Cancer Fund, thereby exceeding the Dutch record.