There's something so beautifully romantic about trains. Perhaps that's why filmmakers love them. I can't help but think of the characters in Days of Heaven, migrating across the Texas Panhandle for work and a new life. Or the wonderful opening scene of Clouds of Sils Maria, with Kristen Stewart ducking and weaving, the barrier between Juliette Binoche and the frenzied celebrity culture of the outside world. Or the scene in Pather Panchali where the young kids encounter a train for the first time and you understand that they haven't just seen a train, but indeed they've gotten a glimpse at modernity, at a brave new world that they don't understand, but will come to encompass them.<p>Everybody loves their road films but I think trains are the ultimate film vehicle.
Semi-related: I've been to Uzbekistan before pandemic with friends. It was very fun. Country is modernizing fast but has some remnants of the old era, which make a fun mix. Very nice people; at the same time, the controls on rail stations are airport-like, with x-raying people and the baggage, triple checking the tickets etc (but it seems mostly pro-forma).<p>What was surprising is that they have very modern high-speed trains, and super new train stations (most of them built just a few years ago). The country is huge but very well connected by train (and air; we first flew to the far west, and then came back east by train and visited a few cities along the road).<p>For one of the trains we bought regular tickets, but the ticket inspector friendly insisted on us to get an upgrade to the "lux" class :) (probably the regular class was busy), which was a good decision; the upgrade was absurdly cheap, and worth it (4-people compartments, very spacious and comfortable) due to the length of travel (several hours).<p>Another fun story: in another train we've been in an "open space" w/o compartments; it had TVs on the room which first played Michael Jackson concert, and the some TV series :)
I spent a few days on the train in Kazakhstan in 2012 - went Moscow-Shymkent-Almaty-Urumqi (on my way from London to Osaka). It was striking looking out across the steppe and seeing a line of telephone poles, and then a completely empty landscape all the way to the horizon. The baths in Almaty were wonderful too.<p>Edit: the kind of scene I'm talking about: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/photos/share/8PiwLfaaWMNCyULYDTAvy1vOSoLFv3iRYRwaJLOGTKH" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.co.jp/photos/share/8PiwLfaaWMNCyULYDTAvy1...</a>
Reminds me of this great travel blog from 2008: <a href="http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/</a><p>The writer traveled from Vienna to Pyongyang by train, giving him 36 unsupervised hours in North Korea.
Kazakhstan is an interesting place. The huge open landscapes are completely different to what I've experienced in Europe. There are seemingly endless rail tracks and telegraph poles.<p>I've been to Baikonur to see a proton rocket launch from there, which is not typical Kazakhstan, but a little bit of Russia in the middle of Kazakhstan. Unfortunately the launch was delayed, but I did get to see the rocket itself.<p>I put some photos here (<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/W8tkAdjkeZsP3Sqh6" rel="nofollow">https://photos.app.goo.gl/W8tkAdjkeZsP3Sqh6</a>), but this includes some of the Energia control centre and a space museum. I do have some better photos on my camera, but I still need to process them...
All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc.<p>Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen here as some kind of benchmark are noisy with earplugs. They stop multiple times in the night so you wake to the beeping of the doors opening and closing.<p>I think there’s a market for rail travel. I love the idea. But it’s just not comfortable at all, or at least not economical to travel comfortably.
A related YouTuber: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt</a><p>He treks around former soviet countries (mainly) on his own creating commentary travellogs.
You don't have to go to these remote places to feel the vintage-discomfort of old, smelly and unpunctual trains! Just visit Italy, where even diesel trains and optional time-tables will make your journey through art exceptional!<p>I still remember those 2 (some times 4) daily train trips from Modena to Bologna to get to the university (yes, this is in a developed and rich region of Italy) where you had to sit in the floor, where windows didn't work and there was no air-conditioning...
Traveled several times across Kazakhstan by rail and my impressions are quite the opposite. You wait to arrive to your destination for days and nothing changes outside the window: just the same scenery with endless sand or steppes with no sign of trees or animals or people. Probably the most boring experience I had in my life.<p>Funny how western media can't resist poking the dead enemy at every occasion:
> <i>Adylet: ‘Anyone who still mourns the Soviet Union today is out of his mind!’</i><p>Well, if you'd really talk to people, you'd find out that significant percent of population still mourns the Soviet Union and they have all the reasons to.
My late father used to ride K3, and K4 Beijing-Moscow train very often in early nineties, when Russia had visa free travel with China.<p>That's where he made his first money. The train was called "Bazaar on wheels" back then. Amazingly, kids were usually just waved off at immigration at the time.
I crossed Kazakhstan by rail+bus in 2013, I wrote a few blogposts:
<a href="https://blog.hboeck.de/plugin/tag/kazakhstan" rel="nofollow">https://blog.hboeck.de/plugin/tag/kazakhstan</a>
Reminds me a bit of a friend who took surface transportation from Vietnam all the way to where we lived in Padova, Italy at the time. Busses to China, then the trans-Siberian train, then various trains to Europe and down to Italy.
As kids, long train journeys was an exciting part of our vacations. India has an extensive railway network connecting all parts of the country, and thus have their own <i>"Railway Tourism"</i> segment. Some of the really famous and popular india super luxury trains include:<p>1. Maharajas’ Express - <a href="https://www.the-maharajas.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.the-maharajas.com/</a>
2. Palace on Wheels - <a href="http://rtdc.tourism.rajasthan.gov.in/palaceonwheels" rel="nofollow">http://rtdc.tourism.rajasthan.gov.in/palaceonwheels</a>
3. Deccan Odyssey - <a href="https://www.deccanodyssey.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.deccanodyssey.com/</a>
4. Golden Chariot - <a href="https://www.goldenchariot.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.goldenchariot.org/</a>
5. Buddhist Circuit - <a href="https://www.irctcbuddhisttrain.com/index" rel="nofollow">https://www.irctcbuddhisttrain.com/index</a>
Some of my earliest childhood memories are about traveling in train, in India. For a few hours during a journey, a train compartment becomes home away from home, in almost literal sense. IMO trains are by far the best mode of travel for journeys under 700-800KM.
Nice article. Now I'm inspired to go back and reread Paul Theroux's travel books (mostly by rail except for the one where he walks around the coast of the UK, I think).
If you liked this I humbly offer my own stories from traveling across Siberia by train, starting with: <a href="https://www.gregkogan.com/journal/russia-trans-siberian-railway-st-petersburg/" rel="nofollow">https://www.gregkogan.com/journal/russia-trans-siberian-rail...</a>
the weakest apa in central asia
vs
the strongest male in europe<p>> “You can’t even defend yourself if you don’t eat meat. Kazakhs are born to be warriors; that’s why they eat a lot of meat!” she says and promptly challenges me to an arm-wrestling match, which I accept but quickly admit defeat.
One thing I love about travelling by train is that when I reach a new city and leave the train, I am right in the middle of the city, instantly surrounded by locals doing their thing.