To most of us, the train is merely a mode of transport to get us from A to B. To some of us, though, the journey is part of the discovery itself.
David Feng prefers trains to planes, and he in particular likes making note of which railway lines has been to, as well as which part of which country is he has visited by rail. And obsession with record-keeping meant that he was quite sure which part of a rail network in which part of the world he was on already.
However, through to late 2023, he has only managed to keep systematic records of all national, territorial, or regional rail lines and journeys made. He has not made a systematic list of train travel on Metro, tram, or other track-based rail lines.
Following the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, he took the opportunity, on 01 January 2024, to reset all miles, stations, and lines travelled so far. In the New Train Records (NTR for short), he will systematically record every single railway journey he has completed, as well as journeys across metro systems, trams, and other track-based modes of transport.
The NTR takes into account only lines and miles travelled and stations visited as of 00:00 UTC on 01 January 2024.
Before this significant rail record reset, he has already done over half a million kilometres on the rails, as well as visited over 2,500 stations. At times, though, life calls for records to be beat or reset, so there’s more incentive to get out and discover the world again — by rail!
However, he will still continue to update, from time to time, his lifetime global totals – in the hopes of finding missed journeys and crafting the missing pieces of this train travel puzzle better.
Forms of rail transport counted
There will be four main forms of rail transport, including:
- Railway
For services operated by a national/territorial/regional operator, or an operator which has such services which are intended to carry passengers across a regional distance beyond an immediate metropolitan area; - Metro
For services operated by a city/regional operator intended to restrict such transport to an immediate metropolitan area which is not defined as “light rail” or “tram”; - Tram
For services operated by a city/regional operator intended to restrict such transport to an immediate metropolitan area making use of light rail or tram services; - Other Rail
For all other rail services, including rack railways/mountain railways, cable-towed railways, amusement park railways (except individual attractions where all passengers must return to the same or designated disembarkation point), airport terminal transit systems, and pods (personal railway systems)
Maglev and monorail systems belong in either Railway or Metro depending on the breadth of services provided geographically, or in Other if they are restricted geographically to, for example, a campus or other restricted geography.
For rail transport operated over other forms (eg Train/Tram, tram on national rail tracks), the individual means of transport is determinant here. Otherwise, if the same rolling stock runs on both services, the distance travelled per form of intended rail transport (eg, for train/tram systems, running as a tram over tram parts) is counted.
Active and passive station visits
The NTR differentiates between visits to a station which are active or passive.
Active station visits include a crossover from a public to paid area with a resulting transport by rail to a next scheduled service stop leaving the station completely, even on a ring service. The doors must close, or the train must be moving with doors open (or a lack of separation as provided by doors) at such speeds where safely disembarking the service is not possible. Travel must be via ticket, stored-value or public transport card, or another form of accepted tender by the rail operator.
Passive station visits include all other visits to the station, including a crossover between areas not involving a train journey.
If a journey involves an active, meaningful rail journey, and the station visited concerns it the first such time, then the same record is made for both Active and Passive, with the time of boarding (or exiting the train service) optionally separating the two.
For a rail station visit to be counted, the passenger must have the legal right to be at the station, accounting for immigration, defence, and other purposes, or be in the legal position to secure such permission reasonably.