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TOP PICKS : Magnificent rail journeys

FEELING guilty about the size of your carbon footprint? Rail travel offers a solution. Redolent of old-world glamour, it’s a relaxing mode of travel, especially when surrounded by some of the world’s most spectacular scenery. Here are 11 picks of the world’s greatest railway journeys.

 

  1. India’s Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the Toy Train, employs steam trains built between 1889 and 1925. At several points the train passes through marketplaces and alongside fruit and vegetable stalls. (Turn to Page 4 for an insight into an Indian train ride).
     
  2. The Centovalli Train serves the Piedmontese Vigezzo Valley in Italy, taking passengers through breathtaking mountain scenery along its route and passing through chestnut forests on its  56km route.
     
  3. The easiest way to access Machu Picchu is via PeruRail’s passenger service from nearby Cusco. The route boasts five switchbacks, known locally as El Zig-Zag, which enable the train to make a steep ascent before entering the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
     
  4. In winter the ice covering Lake Baikal in Siberia can be 10 metres thick, so it’s best viewed from a train carriage. The Trans-Siberian railway was completed in 1916 after a quarter of a century of construction and spans seven different time zones.
     
  5. The narrow-gauge El Transcantabrico ambles along  644km of northern Spain between Santiago de Compostela in the northwest and Leon, skirting the coast and stopping off at some of the country’s most beautiful cities.
     
  6. Mexico’s Copper Canyon cuts through the Sierra Madre mountains in the north of the country and is largely inaccessible except on the vintage 1940s stock of the Sierra Madre Express.
     
  7. Parts of the Qinghai-Tibet line between Xining and Lhasa, China, pass through Himalayan foothills so high that the specially-built trains are equipped with oxygen masks for passengers unable to cope with the high altitude.
     
  8. The Alaska Railroad carries both passengers and freight but operates a reduced service in winter. Its trains connect to the rest of America with rail barges.
     
  9. Named after the two great oceans that it links, Australia’s Indian Pacific line traverses over  4,023km between Perth and Sydney, spanning a whole continent in a journey that takes three days and three nights.
     
  10. The Pride of Africa recreates the luxury of pre-war rail travel where mostly tourist passengers are expected to dress for dinner on one of the many South African routes.
     
  11. The Rocky Mountaineer operates four different routes through the Canadian Rockies, the most spectacular of which is the journey from Vancouver to Whistler, where trains are often forced to stop to allow wild bear to cross the tracks.​

News Source : www.nst.com.my