World's Most Extreme Railways

there are millions of different train routes all over the world that passengers travel across every day but not all of them are modern reliable or even safe from tracks built across vertigo inducing canyons and cliffs to trains that are so overcrowded they're an accident just waiting to happen so you better strap in tight as we take a look at some of the most extreme railways in the world phenomenal fedocadile central andino first stop peru traveling almost fifteen thousand seven hundred feet above sea level the fedocadillo central and dino railway is a route that's been meticulously blasted through the mountains and gorges of the peruvian andes this makes the transandian track the second highest railway in the world and while its altitude alone is impressive it's the railway's extreme engineering that's truly breathtaking made up of 58 bridges and 69 tunnels this route has been blasted across canyons and is narrowly connected by a series of near vertical cliffs this allows the train to climb from the low-lying capital city of lima to the lofty reaches of cerro de pasco which is a staggering two and a half miles higher up but to get there the tracks have to cross the stomach churning 253 foot high verrugas bridge aside from vertigo what really gets riders hearts racing as they cross this near 600-foot expanse is the bridge's death-defying history back in the late 1800s this bridge collapsed not once but twice thanks to the area's terrifying tendency to flood but determined to keep this essential route open the verrugas bridge was reconstructed for a third time in 1936 where it's remained standing so far astounding argo gate does crossing a bridge that doesn't have any safety rails leafy feeling quite literally on edge then you're going to want to avoid traveling on indonesia's argo gate railroad which runs between bandung and jakarta it may look like a lush forest journey but right in the middle of this route lies the unbelievably unnerving chikubong bridge with no guard rails in sight this bridge sits a little over 260 feet above the river chikabong and is held up only by those huge steel pillars beneath it the central four which weigh a whopping 110 tons each rigidly support the bridge allowing trains to barrel their way over almost 1 000 feet of elevated track like the sheer size of it wasn't daunting enough there are rumors that back in 2002 part of the argo gay train was devastatingly derailed while it was on the bridge but thankfully no accident like that was ever officially reported so this might have just been made up to make the bridge seem scarier than it is although to people like me who are terrified of heights just looking at this on a computer screen is scary enough most trained conductors would ask to see your tickets right about now but to ride the bmas train all you have to do is punch those like and subscribe buttons down below all done great that it's full steam ahead to our next jaw dropping stop white knuckle white pass and yukon route during the klondike gold rush of the 1890s prospectors stopped at nothing to get to the precious gold reserves deep in the treacherous mountains of alaska and yukon so much so that they built an utterly insane mountain railroad connecting alaska's skagway with yukon's white house just to access them sections of this narrow winding route were built so precariously into the mountainsides that today the very thought of traveling across it is enough to send shivers down your spine to make the route work the gauge of the railroad which is the spacing of the rails on the track is just three feet across compared to the standard four foot eight inches this narrow gauge allows the train to make tighter turns so it can climb up a death defying 3000 feet in just 20 miles for perspective there isn't a skyscraper in the world that's that tall through tiny tunnels and over wooden trestle bridges the train makes this gut clenching climb and at one point the route also relied on this 215 foot high cantilever bridge at the time this was the tallest bridge of its kind in the world and it was built on the side of a freaking mountain it may have been a marvel of engineering back in the day but you couldn't pay me to step foot on that rickety-looking thing now molten minami aso while some train routes run through amazing mountainsides or lush jungles japan's minami aso route takes it to another level by running through an active volcano site the line connects tatano to takamori in the kumamoto prefecture stretching right around the base of japan's largest active volcano mount aso and to make it even more daunting part of the track passes over the almost 200 feet high fragile daiichi shirakawa bridge which was first constructed back in 1928 it may look pretty but because of the area's unpredictable tectonic activity visitors risk witnessing a catastrophe at literally any moment like back in 2016 when sudden violent earthquakes triggered huge landslides that damaged the line the surrounding area was devastated and even though the minami aso line was restored in 2020 it's no longer used as often as it was couple that with the sometimes smoldering scenery and visitors should really think twice before boarding this train outstanding otaniqua chuchu many people claim they can cope with stomach churning drops and hair-raising bends but few can handle south africa's otanequa choo-choo steam train which travels over a seriously risky coastline route whoa that carriage is leaning so far over the cliff it looks like it might tumble down into the water at any second and it only gets worse the faster it steams on like over this bridged portion of its ocean route completed back in 1928 the near 42-mile route hugs south africa's southeastern coastline and isn't supported by any kind of reinforcement or guardrails even though the line was given preservation status in 1992 parts of it were in such a severe state of disrepair that it was closed indefinitely in 2010. this train may have stopped running but you can bet it gave its passengers one wild ride dangerous georgetown loop colorado is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in all of the united states but to balance it out it's also home to one of the most adventurous railways in the world known as the georgetown loop this four and a half mile track was built back in the 19th century and it's been perilously laid over the treacherous ridges of the rocky mountains but why would anyone want to build a railway this dangerous well silver mines in the area used to attract fortune-hungry prospectors and the railway was one of the only ways to transport them along with their equipment but to reach these far-flung mines the trains relied on bridges spanning huge canyons like the 100 foot tall devils gate high bridge the train has to crawl as slowly as possible over this curved high bridge just to make sure it doesn't go speeding off the edge while crossing these bridges in the day takes a strong stomach doing so in the pitch black of night takes serious nerves of steel all aboard the nightmare train india's incredible toy trains the amazingly mountainous himalayan route from north india's kalka to shimla is one of the last places on earth you'd expect to find a train service yet through some insane engineering the kalka shimla railway which was completed back in 1903 still runs to this day with a teeny tiny gauge of two feet six inches the trains that run on these narrow tracks are adorably known as toy trains but despite their name they're definitely not for playing the route starts in calca at an altitude of 2150 feet above sea level but in the space of just 60 miles the train clambers to an elevation of more than 6800 feet it manages this by using a phenomenal 102 tunnels 864 bridges and 919 sharp curves to wind its way up the pass although bridge number 541 really stands out from the rest as it's one of the most architecturally complex bridges of the entire route it rises 75 feet out of the ravine below and is constructed in four separate stories of stunning stone arches that makes this part of the route as beautiful as it is terrifying wild western ghats as you just saw some of india's train routes look as stunning as they do risky and one route over the western ghats is no exception this railway stretches 192 miles from the city of hassan all the way to the coastal reaches of mangalore treating its travelers to a stunning range of scenery from racing across cloud-covered mountain tops to passing below the tumbling waters of the 1017 foot dude sagger falls alongside 25 wonderful water streams the route passes through it also makes use of 57 tunnels and almost 110 bridges to reach its destination however all that wonderful water comes with a downside during monsoon season heavy rains often trigger mudslides and flooding which can lead the lines out of commission for months at a time thankfully none of these catastrophic events have sent the trains careering off the tracks yet blizzards of the bergen line the bergen line is a railway route that's world famous for its stunningly scenic views of norway's mountainous landscapes but in the winter this line changes from an otherworldly dream into a waking nightmare the 310 mile railway from oslo to bergen can experience extremely frosty temperatures of 15 degrees fahrenheit with more than five feet of snow falling on the tracks in any given month but even in this abysmal weather the train still runs whoa that snowstorm is so thick you can barely make out the sun through the clouds while these tracks may look terrifyingly stark it can always get worse back in 2020 avalanches pummeled the bergen line tearing down power lines and structures designed to keep the tracks safe although this isn't norway's first snowy rodeo to keep the trains running through this wild weather many have wedged snow plows fixed to their front which simply shunt the snow out of the way remind me to never pick a snowball fight with that train now norway didn't always rely on wedged snowplows back in the 1940s norway used these brilliant behemoths also known as rotary snowplows to clear the tracks these are engines with huge fan-like rotors attached to the front which clear the tracks by chopping up and spitting out snow like a wood chipper the modern descendants of these bad ass looking plows are still used all over the world although more archaic models like this swiss x-rat are rarely used nowadays which if you ask me is a shame because i reckon those bright yellow blades could add some well-needed color to that bleak bergen landscape when trains meet planes piloting a plane is no easy feat but imagine the stress of landing a plane knowing a set of train tracks run right across the landing strip that's right there are a handful of airports around the world that unbelievably share their runways with an active set of tracks like this one in madagascar due to the geography of the island the monikara airport and fionarenzo cotest railway have to share their roots with one another this often means that plants like this have to give way to oncoming trains scheduled across the runway throughout the day though it's not the only airport with this terrifying track feature new zealand's gisbon airport covers an area of land close to the coast that's about the same size as 300 football fields but because it's so large it has to share space on its main runway with the palmerston north to gisborne railway line resulting in this incredible crossover but just how do these trains avoid colliding with planes using the runways well fortunately this aircraft at gisborne was parked just for show so this isn't a photo taken before a terrible accident the timing of the train crossings has to be meticulously observed by the airport authorities and coordinated with any scheduled plane arrivals or departures this means the airport authorities really have their work cut out to make sure planes don't hit the trains as they take off and land and i thought my job was stressful choppy chennai ramasferum route if you look out over a typical harbor you'll probably see a couple of boats bobbing along but if you look out over the pambin harbour in india you'd actually see a train riding the waves this is the panven railway bridge a 1.2 mile stretch of track that connects the island of ramosvarum to mainland india built into the seabed of the indian ocean way back in 1914 this sea bridge is supported by 145 concrete piers with a middle section that opens up to let other seafaring vessels through while this journey may already look extreme there's a lot more going on beneath the waves it's located in the second most corrosive environment in the world and in 2016 27 severely corroded girders were discovered along its tracks many of them could have given way at any minute not only that but because of the seas unpredictably high winds and wild waves the trains on this track are only permitted to travel at a top speed of 27 miles per hour as you can imagine this daring seafaring design has had some serious drawbacks in the past back in 1964 a deadly cyclone swept up 23-foot tidal waves that washed a passenger train straight off the bridge devastatingly not one of the 115 passengers on board survived so if you ever find yourself in this part of the world make sure you check the weather before boarding this train dollish disaster now it's not just trains traveling over sea bridges that get battered by the waves on the other side of the world in the uk devin's dollar station also has to be wary of oncoming waves the track runs along four miles of the devonshire coast and is essential for connecting the seaside cities of devon and cornwall but strong storms and surging seas like these can batter the carriages and cause a lot of disruption like back in 2014 where a devastating storm destroyed a section of the sea wall protecting the line leaving the railway tracks suspended in midair and then in 2020 after they were repaired the tide-facing tracks were battered by the sea during yet another storm but the waves were so powerful that they shattered the windows of one of the trains and a passenger inside was injured by the broken glass and to top it off i bet they felt seasick as well unbelievable underwater bullet trains the united arab emirates or uae for short is no stranger to extremely futuristic transportation from sky taxis that can fly passengers from a to b to the hyper-fast hyperloop that'll eventually transport its passengers at a staggering 745 miles per hour but none of them can compare to the country's conceptual underwater bullet train which will connect the uae city of fujita to the indian city of mumbai obviously it won't just be diving into the sea like some sort of fish so how exactly will it travel underwater well this unbelievable mega project involves a long tube floating just beneath the surface of the arabian sea suspended and held in place by a network of floating rigs by then creating a vacuum inside these tunnels and minimizing any air resistance these trains will be able to whisk passengers along at a staggering top speed of 621 miles per hour that means it'll be able to make the 1136 mile journey in just two hours not only that but some concepts even suggest doubling up the train tubes to carry oil gas and even water between the two countries it sounds pretty far-fetched not to mention incredibly dangerous should the train break down i mean would you want to be trapped in a train in an underwater vacuum halfway across the arabian sea yeah me neither so to become a reality the planning of this mega project would need to be airtight quite literally that's a colossal task for the tunnel's engineers which is probably why there's been no word about its development since it was first conceptualized back in 2018. that's disappointing enough to give anyone a sinking feeling the nose of the devil high up in the andes mountain range of ecuador is a railway that was once considered to be one of the most difficult in the world to engineer and construct and when you take a look at it you can see exactly why skirting these near vertical cliffs almost 9 000 feet above sea level the tracks of la naris del diablo or in english the devil's nose certainly live up to their name this is a section of ecuador's original 288 guayaquil quito railway which consists of a series of staggering switchbacks carved directly into the towering rock face of the condor mountain it was completed way back in 1908 well before the time of health and safety so it wasn't unusual to see passengers riding on top of the old train carts while making the near half mile ascent up the mountain i'm sorry to say that these days you're not allowed to ride on top of the trains but without any safety rails to keep the train from rolling off the tracks just looking out the window to the vertical drop below is heart attack inducing enough the train to the clouds but on the other side of the andes in argentina there's yet another terrifying trip that steel nerve adventurers can make by train known as la tren alas or the train to the clouds this 134-mile train service connects salta in northwest argentina to la pulveria on the chilean border to get over this amazingly mountainous terrain the trans transandian tracks have been laid over 29 bridges 21 tunnels 13 viaducts and even two spirals to reach their destination but the crowning jewel of the mall has to be the la pulveria viaduct the train travels 735 feet to the highest point in the line which is raised 210 feet over the ravine below traveling at a peak altitude of 13 845 feet la tren alas new base is one of the highest railways in the world and not to mention one of the most terrifying petrifying pilatus railway now when it comes to mountain skirting railway lines very few can claim to be as extreme as switzerland's pilatus railway the line runs from alphnoxtod on lake alknock to the essel summit of mount pilatus but to get there the train has to clamber up an impossibly steep maximum gradient of 48 that's so steep that the carriages are shaped to the mountain slope in order to keep their balance as they climb this extremely impressive feat of engineering means the tracks are part of the steepest cogwheel railway in the world and they're not just there for show the railway transports visitors up more than 5 350 feet in less than three miles that'd be the same as climbing about 495 storeys straight up while the ride is terrifyingly steep with sections skirting huge vertical drops the breathtaking views are worth every heart attack that visitors have on their way up although maybe not in the winter yeah i think i'll take those stairs mad make long railway at a glance the make long market in thailand looks like any other thriving hub of street vendors and bustling businesses but it has one astonishing feature that'll really make your jaw drop yup this market amazingly shares its turf with the tracks of the make long railway six times a day vendors and visitors are given just three minutes to clear the streets and get out of the way [Music] that loud whistle warns them that the train is on the move forcing people to shift their produce and umbrellas off the tracks before the train passes through also known as the umbrella pulldown market it was first founded back in 1905 before the railway was built now most markets would move location of a train line cut through the middle of their patch but these guys just decided to work around it and so the market has remained where it is to this day sadly people do occasionally lose their lives even though the train moves through the market slowly so it's up to vendors to listen out for the honks of the train to make sure they and their produce aren't squashed beneath those wheels bizarre bishwa each team of special trains every year the small peaceful township of tongi in bangladesh transforms into a thriving hub of life thanks to the annual muslim meeting of the bishwa ishtima it's one of the largest peaceful gatherings in the world with around 5 million muslims traveling from all over to pray by the banks of the river tourag the event is awe-inspiring but it's the trains running to and from tongi during this time that'll really make your jaw drop trains to tongi from all over the country don't operate that often but during the festival the bangladesh railway company operates several more special trains to help devotees reach their destination but even with these extra services the trains are hugely overcrowded so much so that devotees routinely hop on the roof the front or even cling on to the sides of these death-defying trains [Music] and i thought regular rush hour was bad the death railway as you can probably tell by its nickname the burma railway also known horrifically as the death railway is a train route with a deeply disturbing past the 258 mile track connects banpong in thailand to than business in myanmar stretching across areas of jungle and winding dangerously over sections of the famous river kwai but for all the adrenaline surging drops worrying wooden viaducts and noticeable lack of safety rails its horrendous nickname doesn't come from any tragic train accident construction on the track started back in 1942 at the height of the second world war an alliance between thailand and japan at the time allowed japan full access to thailand's infrastructure helping it prepare for offenses against their british enemies so the railroad was meticulously designed by the japanese but instead of using their own men the tracks were barbarically built by approximately 250 000 prisoners of war the inhumane conditions of their labor were unspeakable and it's estimated that a staggering 100 000 people perished during the railways construction though it's been almost 80 years since then the railway is still used to this day but its barbaric legacy is remembered in its gruesome nickname great go tick viaduct now not all of myanmar's historic railroads have such horrendous pasts and some are even considered to be extreme for their feats of engineering such as the vertigo triggering go tick viaduct this incredible railway trestle bridge in nankyo forms part of the line from mandalay to lacio supported by 15 separate steel towers the viaduct spans 2260 feet over a huge gorge which drops down a stomach churning 335 feet below thanks to its staggering size it proudly claims the title of myanmar's highest railway bridge as well as being the largest railway trestle bridge in the world but with all that height and no guard rails trains have to cross this steel leviathan very carefully otherwise a poorly timed rush of wind or even a slight bump in the tracks could derail the entire train so it can take up to 25 minutes for a single train to crawl across this steely expense and i thought regular train delays were bad would you be brave enough to take a ride on all these extreme railways or would you rather walk instead let me know down in the comments below and thanks for watching you

Channel: BE AMAZED

Views: 633,031

Rating: 4.8869958 out of 5

Keywords: beamazed, be amazed, top 10, world's most extreme railways, craziest railways in the world, scariest railways, most dangerous railways, airport on railway tracks, plane nearly hits train, train passing over ocean, underwater train, highest trains in the world

Id: 4gfdMr5C744

Length: 29min 14sec (1754 seconds)

Published: Sun May 09 2021