Here's how to make the best of this eminently civilised and companionable mode of transport in the twenty-first century.  More images

Back around 1990, the monsoon rains imposed a forceful reminder that to travel hopefully on the East Coast Railway, also known as the Jungle Railway, is more important than to arrive.  This time around, a more successful journey ensued, with some intriguing Australian connections along the way. 

More images.

In late 2008 Great Southern Rail, operators of The Ghan, introduce two innovations: Platinum Service cabin accommodation, which will greatly enhance the choice of top-end accommodation aboard The Ghan; and  Southern Spirit, combining elements of  The Ghan with other epic rail journeys to create a range of 'luxury Australian rail cruises' spanning the continent.

. 

See additional images: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=8329

The birthplace of the revolutionary movement that tore Mozambique apart in the 70s and 80s, the northwest of this country is a spectacular landscape of twisted rock forms - the background to one of Africa's most colourful rail trips. From Cuamba to Nampula by train and then on by road to the atmospheric island of Ilha de Moçambique, take a trip through the Mozambiquan heartland. .                                     

by Philip Game

Ride the Orient Express 1900 kilometres from Bangkok to Singapore.  Be waited on, hand and foot for 41 hours as the rice paddies, rubber trees and rainforests of glide past your window… or why not experience the real thing and chop a few zeros off the cost?

Make the same journey in air-conditioned comfort – or in colourful, chaotic squalor, the choice is yours – on the State Railway of Thailand and KTM, the Malayan Railway, a network spanning Thailand and reaching across the Malaysian border, right down to Singapore.

More images

Amélie, should she have ever existed, was just one of the estimated six million Parisians and visitors who use this enormous system on a daily basis. To service it, 15,000 staff are employed, and every map of Paris shows the criss-crossing network of lines and stops. With this city’s magnificent métro system if you can get to one of the 283 stations then you can reach almost everywhere else. Today fourteen lines covering 211 kilometres of track shuttle 3500 carriages on a precise schedule between stations.

……………

This article continues with details of the Metro, the underground rail system that efficiently links all of Paris, as well as its history and use, and the unique decor of some of the stations.

………………..

(finishes…)

Once only, during our many trips to Paris, our trusty tickets apparently let us down. When they were not accepted at an exit gate we were nonplussed until a friendly Parisian explained that we were trying to use métro tickets on an RER line. We didn't know there was a difference, but we had obviously strayed outside the inner section of the city. One person offered for me to squeeze through with her, but I was too hesitant, then another used her own season ticket to let us through.

Now, who says Parisians aren't friendly?

©Sally Hammond 2007

Picture Credits: ©Gordon Hammond 2007

(Sally and Gordon Hammond travelled independently)

………………..

Please contact Sally Hammond (shammond@iprimus.com.au) for a pricing schedule or to discuss purchase of this article.

• Currently the article runs to approximately 1000 words plus Factfile (fact-checked and updated free with the sale of this article).

• The length of the article may be changed according to editorial needs, and the Factfile may be expanded, however if substantial additional work is requested it will affect the final cost of the article.

• Pictures are available

• This article is currently unpublished. All rights available.

Settling into our allocated seats as the chimes of the traditional gamelan orchestra and the reedy notes of a solo bamboo flute pour out from the train's public address. As we gather speed out of the city, morning sun throws a rich golden hue across the flooded rice paddies.  A parade of stewards begins, bearing pillows, drinks, snacks and menus.

The train winds through the minutely terraced volcanic hillsides of West Java.  A patchwork of emerald green is stitched together by clusters of terra-cotta red roofs and tree-clad volcanic ridges. Sometimes a rushing brown river passes underneath, its steep gorge fringed by coconut palms or by a belt of bananas.

More images

Mountains loom up from the canyon floor, dwarfing the 17th-century mission church.  Cacti reach for a hot, china-blue sky; children scrabble in the dust outside the church whilst stetson-hatted figures come and go in battered utility trucks.  The quintessential Mexico…

Deep inside the Sierra Madre of northern Mexico, the Copper Canyons tumble to greater depths than Arizona’s Grand Canyon.  This rugged terrain, the Sierra Tarahumara, is traversed by one of the world’s most dramatic train rides.  In 410 miles (660 kilometres) El Chepe, the Copper Canyon Railway, crosses 39 bridges and penetrates 86 tunnels, climbing 8,000 feet (2,400 metres) from the arid tropical plains beside the Sea of Cortez up to the high, rolling wheatfields of the Altiplano. More images