15 Most Amazing Railway Tracks In The World

also known as a permanent way train tracks provide a dependable surface for trains to roll along they are a cornerstone of public transport but did you know they can be significantly more interesting than you might realize not all railway tracks are a bog standard straight line zipping from a to b some are almost labyrinth like in their layout and complexity these are the most amazing railway tracks in the world [Applause] number 15 the brucio spiral viaduct the varying elevation of the landscape in switzerland has posed a unique challenge to railway designers and one incredible solution they came up with was the brucio spiral viaduct [Music] it was designed to allow trains to reach higher altitudes while traveling along the main line between brucio and compassion and actually raises them by 20 meters in an incredibly short distance this is almost unheard of with railways because engines are only just powerful enough to pull their loads along flat tracks let alone up an incline without a solution like this viaduct they wouldn't have been able to transport much at all the spiral structure is 110 meters long and is formed of 9 spans every 10 meters along its main track with a horizontal radius of curvature of 70 meters and a 7 longitudinal slope you won't see anything like this anywhere else in the world perhaps most impressive is the fact that this design was designed and built in 1908 and is fully constructed from stone it contributed to the flourishing success of the towns it connects and is still a vital part of the transport network to this day like this video smash the subscribe button and click the notification bell right now or this centipede will crawl on your face when you're sleeping [Music] number 14 glacier express switzerland switzerland is a country full of mountains hilly terrain and valleys and at the beginning of the 1900s a massive engineering feat was undertaken to build the glacier express this railroad connected the commercial hubs of the country from the west to east but the problem was there's a mountain range in the way don't let the name fool you this is hardly a fast way to travel take your seat on the glacier express and it is in fact the slowest express route in the world taking eight hours from end to end but there's a very good reason for that it covers a 181 mile long journey and to navigate the terrain and ensure that the gradient of the track never rises above 3.5 percent there are 291 bridges and 91 tunnels including the ferca tunnel which itself is 9.6 miles long it's an astonishing feat of engineering and has been integral to the swiss economy since it first opened in 1930. if you want to travel along the route make sure you have a swiss watch to keep track of time though because during the winter there's only one train in each direction per day and this only increases to 3 in the summer number 13 gisborne airport new zealand gisborne airport is a relatively remote and quiet transport hub that's on the east coast of new zealand's north island located in the outskirts of the town it serves its runway is a one-of-a-kind because instead of being a dedicated stretch of tarmac for planes to land and take off it's actually bisected by a railway track covering an area of 160 hectares the airport covers the most convenient route out of the region so engineers had no choice but to design this unusual workaround the palmerston north to gisborne train line is one of the most important transport links on the island but since 2001 it has only catered to freight trains after the demand for passenger services dropped this makes it easier to run the complicated timetables through the airport where of course serious planning has to be made to ensure trains and planes aren't trying to use the route at the same time most trains now run overnight and the airports only open between 6 30 in the morning and 8 30 in the evening and thankfully over the decades that this situation has been the case there's not even been a close call number 12. japan's monorail track switching while most of us think of monorails as transport networks that you ride on at theme parks the technology has actually been incorporated into the urban design of some places in the world most notably japan tokyo's monorail was the country's first urban monorail system and is responsible for transporting hundreds of thousands of people each day but none of this would have been possible without hitachi's novel approach to track switching switches are vital to routing trains along different routes and it has enabled city planners to create transport hubs where trains on a number of different lines can stop with a monorail it's more complicated than switching tracks on a traditional railway and tokyo switches in some cases can move between five different options it actually involves moving an entire section of the track itself to make the connection but from the passenger's perspective it remains as smooth a ride as the rest of the journey you won't even notice when you're passing over one of these systems and it's testament to the innovative design that's being used number 11. the shonen monorail the shonen monorail connects commuters between ofuna and shonen near tokyo in japan and is the first transport system like this to be built in the country because instead of sitting above the track like most monorails the cars are suspended below it opened in 1970 the 4.1 mile long track serves eight stations and trains can travel at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour as well as traveling very close to the surrounding buildings there are two tunnels along the route and you can complete the journey end to end in just 14 minutes it's a vital transport artery through the region with departures every 7 minutes and has been credited with relieving the pressure from the road and traditional rail networks and has significantly increased the city's public travel capacity based on its success others like it have been built around the country and the company that designed it mitsubishi has become a world leader in such designs it's hoped of course that cities in other countries will adopt the technology for their own needs too but right now demand is yet to take off number 10. rameshwaram train bridge this incredible structure is the pamban train bridge that connects the indian island of pamban with the town of mandapan on the mainland it was the country's first sea bridge having opened in 1914 and is just under 1.5 miles long before the parallel road bridge was completed in 1988 it was the only land connection to the island and as such was an integral part of the local transport network it holds the track 41 feet above sea level and is made up of 143 piers and a section that has a lift that can be raised to allow ships to pass underneath while you're riding on a train along the bridge it's so narrow that all you can see from the windows is the water which leads to a rather surreal experience unfortunately cracks were detected in the structure in 2018 and after more than 100 years in service it remains closed rather than repairing it plans are now underway to build a new modernized bridge to replace it and the future of the pam-ban train bridge is unknown number 9. devil's nose railway most railways travel from one destination to another with various stops being along the way but if you were to board a train on ecuador's ominously named devil's nose railway you might just find yourself ending up where you started [Music] it took almost 10 years to build after 25 years of planning and finally opened in 1908 it was designed to connect with the coastal city of guayaquil with the country's capital quito but the problem was there's an almost vertical wall of rocks in the way which is known as the devil's nose engineers pondered how to get past this geographical blockage and the solution was to carve tight zigzags into it which would allow the trains to ascend the incline by carefully going forwards and backwards along the line it was once commonplace for people to sit on the roof of the train to take in the astonishing scenery but since safety regulations were brought in and following a devastating storm in 1997 only an eight mile stretch of the route remains in operation still it remains one of the most impressively designed railways in the world and for almost 90 years kept the country connected number 8. the death railway the frighteningly named death railway which locally is known as the burma railway is a route between ban pong in thailand and van busiet in burma it passes through luscious terrain crosses the notorious bridge over river kwai and navigates the hellfire pass in the tanasaram hills but for all its beauty and majesty this railway has a dark past it's not called the death railway because it's dangerous to travel now but because of the extreme human sacrifice involved in constructing it it was built by the empire of japan during the second world war and they used laborers and prisoners of war to complete the work in total as many as 25 000 locals and 61 000 prisoners were used and they were treated so terribly and kept in such awful conditions that more than 100 000 of them died the track is lined with graves and in some of the particularly difficult regions to build the death rate of workers is believed to be as high as 50 percent following the war 111 japanese officials involved in overseeing the project were tried and found guilty for war crimes with 32 of them given the death penalty but so far no reparations have ever been offered to the survivors or the families of the victims number 7 white pass and yukon railroad the white pass and yukon railroad is a real link between the alaskan port of skagway and whitehorse which is the capital of the yukon unusually it's completely independent and has no links to the rest of the real network and was originally built at the turn of the 20th century to grant workers access to the goldfields it's 107 miles long and as well as carrying gold seekers it became the main way to access the interior of the yukon it became an important connective route through the region for the next 82 years before it was closed due to falling passenger numbers several years later it was reopened as a heritage railway and to this day remains a popular tourist attraction providing a comfortable way to travel through the region and see the stunning countryside only the first 68 miles as far as car cross remains operational however due to wear and tear and a lack of maintenance of the rest of the track so those wanting to go all the way to whitehorse have to resort to more traditional methods number 6. pilatus railway switzerland switzerland's pilatus railway is what connects lake lucerne with the towns on the other side of mount pilatus to do this engineers had to develop unique systems to help the cars ascend the slopes and it's the steepest railway in the world by quite some margin the 2.86 mile long track reaches a height of 6801 feet and due to the strains put on the trains to travel along it they can only manage a top speed of 6.2 miles per hour which also makes it one of the slowest railway lines in the world trains first traversed the track in 1889 when they were steam powered and it would only be in 1937 that it would be electrified the cables that power the trains are also used to provide electricity to the towns that it serves and it's a vital lifeline to all the communities that live on the mountain so impressive is the design that in 2001 the american society of mechanical engineers named it a historical mechanical engineering landmark and it was built so well that the rails used today are the same ones that were installed more than 100 years ago number five make long railway market the make long railway connects the 42 miles between wang wen yai in bangkok with samit sankaram in the center of thailand and was opened in 1904 designers faced a major hurdle with the planned route however because it passes through a region where the economy relies on trade in seafood and there was no choice but to lay the tracks straight through the center of one of the largest seafood markets in the country this didn't deter the vendors though and they still sell their goods from the same place to this day they set up their stalls and produce but when a train approaches they have to quickly put it all down so it can pass fortunately trains aren't very frequent and they can be heard long before they reach the market which gives everyone plenty of time to coolly and calmly move out of the way it's had the effect of making this one of the most unusual markets in the world and it's now a tourist attraction in its own right for people who have to see it to believe it number four the ns and w railroad when you think of a railway line you envisage shiny metal tracks that are either perfectly straight or have a carefully designed curve to them and are ideally designed for heavy locomotives to pass over them in some places though the reality couldn't be further away from this and that's the case for a number of sections in the ns and w railroad in the us often regarded as the worst railway in the country decades of underinvestment along with the fact that was built over swampland means that the track that connects to woodburn indiana with liberty center ohio is full of warps bends cracks and twists that most certainly aren't there by design when you see the state of the track it's a miracle that trains are able to traverse the route and it's not something they do easily when approaching a problematic section they're forced to drastically reduce their speed and proceed at a snail's pace until they've passed the line was purchased in 2012 and the new operator said it was in dire need of work after having no investment for 50 years plans are to fully renovate it but with such long stretches needing to be fixed it's going to take a long time number three south devon railway during the industrial revolution railroads were built to connect the farthest reaches of the uk in order to connect them to the commercial hubs but since their construction more than a century ago the landscape around the lines has changed drastically this is no clearer than the case of the south devon railway which was once half a mile in land but due to coastal erosion now runs along the coast in scenes that look like a thrill ride at a theme park when the weather picks up waves lash against the rocky coast and spray across the track and any trains that are going past this has become particularly problematic in recent years because it's the only rail line that stretches down through cornwall and towards the southwest of the country during an unusually violent storm the waves flooded and destroyed parts of the track and prevented rail travel to the region for several months until it could be repaired the case of the south thevin railway shows how important it is to future-proof infrastructure projects because you can never fully know how long they'll remain viable for in a few decades this whole coastline will have receded even further and there will be no choice but to build an entirely new route number two love railway in ukraine the love railway also known as the tunnel of love is one of the most magical and unusual railways in the world not least because most people travel along the tracks by foot instead of on a train it's a stretch of industrial railway near the town of kleven and for about three miles it's been completely surrounded by a forest with glorious green arches that surround the entire route it's no surprise that this has become somewhat of a romantic getaway a train only passes through three times a day to deliver wood to a nearby factory and the rest of the time you'll see couples taking an afternoon romantic stroll the covering is at its fullest during the spring and summer but it's also a wondrous place in fall when the leaves turn orange and winter when snow falls all around and covers the branches of the trees it's a spectacular scene and something everyone should go see if they're ever in that part of ukraine number 1. parranda scenic railway the karanda scenic railway in australia is a line that connects cairns in queensland to the town of kuranda via the eastern highlands at 23 miles long it was once used for normal real services but now the only trains that run are for tourists along the route you'll see the karanda tropical gardens the barren gorge national park and the train stops near the barren falls for stunning views across the scenic backdrop carriages pass within feet of small waterfalls you'll see a wide range of local wildlife and the route quite rightly is often cited as the most beautiful railway journey you can embark upon anywhere in the world at just one hour and 55 minutes each way you'll be keen to do the trip more than once just to take in the full serene glory of what it offers with regular services 364 days a year there's no bad time to experience it and you'll always find something new no matter how many times you go which of these railways did you find to be the most impressive and have you ever been lucky enough to travel along one of them yourself make sure to let us know in the comment section also check out our other cool stuff showing up on screen right now see you next time

Channel: The Genius Lemon

Views: 1,487,028

Rating: 4.544805 out of 5

Keywords: dangerous, rail, railway, tracks, subway, facts, world, hindi, most dangerous rail tracks, dangerous rail tracks, dangerous train in the world, dangerous train, pamban bridge, most, bridges, trainroutes, india, longest, railroutes, worlds most extreme railways, amazing train routes, highest railway, railways, indian railways, train, railroads, journey, indian, trains, bangladesh railway, alaska, incredible, burma railway, routes, railroad

Id: -YQy5ba50QM

Length: 19min 21sec (1161 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 17 2020