When you hear the sound of the train coming from a distance, you wish to cross the rail line before it reaches. What if you fail to cross the line before it reaches you? A few seconds or minutes will not be too much to wait for a litter longer. It will soon pass, you tell yourself. 

However, that is not the case for the world’s longest passenger train, recently designed in Switzerland. If you fail to cross the rail line before it reaches you, you might have to take your seat until the 1.9km-long train opens the way for you. To avoid being bored, you might also have to take out your phone and put on its camera to capture the record-breaking train.

Over the weekend, a Swiss company Rhaetian Railway conducted a trial on what has become the world’s longest passenger train. It travelled past the rail track in mountainous regions of the country. It took an ariel view to see the length of the train. Residents could not help but wonder how the marvel came about.

The train travelled from Preda to Berguen, which is located in the southeastern part of Zurich. It passed through 22 tunnels and 48 bridges. The train also crossed mountains as high as 65m above ground level.

Why invest so much in a train?

Countries like Russia and North Korea display their arsenals on their big days. Most African countries show their cultural heritage on the days of their celebration. Unlike such countries, Switzerland does not have so many dangerous arsenals or cultural arts to display. But it also wanted to show the world its engineering achievement over the past 175 years. 

Renato Fasciati, the director of Rhaetian Railway company, said the innovation was to mark and celebrate 175 years of Swiss railways.

Mr Fasciati, while receiving the Guinness World Record, said it took tremendous effort the ensure that the long train travelled safely through the Alps. He said the train had seven drivers and 21 technicians that worked hard to ensure that the 25-in-one train accelerates and breaks simultaneously.

The long history of Switzerland’s railways

Switzerland had its first train service in 1847. It was a 23 kilometres trip from Zurich to Baden, a trip that took 33 minutes. Since then, the country has not relented in developing its rail sector. It is known for having the most complex rail lines in the world. Many have described the rail lines in Switzerland as the most magical in the world owing to the landscape of the country. The nearly 25-kilometre route travelled by the long train on Saturday was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2008. 

The European country is also famous for having one of the most punctual train systems in the world.

The previous world record

Before the movement of the train on Saturday, the Belgian Railway Company was holding the world record for the world’s longest passenger train. On April 7, 1991, in a bid to fund the Belgian Cancer Fund, the 1.7km long train travelled from Ghent to Ostend in northeastern Belgium. The train had seven carriages. 

The Swiss train was longer than the Belgian one by about 200m, annulling the previous record.