Are there any really long passenger trains in the world?

Are there any really long passenger trains in the world? Where I live I've seen Amtrak trains that max out about 10 cars because that's how long the stations are. I'm pretty sure Amtrak wouldn't use a train longer than the station. I've seen freight trains 100 cars long though. Is there any place in the world where a passenger train is close to 100 cars long? If not, why not?

Public Comments

1. Ringling Bros has two circus trains (Red and Blue) that are as long as some moderately sized freight trains, but they are actually a mixed consist, with both passenger equipment and piggy back cars, as well as those cars transporting the animals and feed, etc. They are a fun trip, with priority routing. I got to work on a couple of them and enjoyed it both times. But, there can be longer passenger trains. As far as air-brake equipment and air test requirements goes, once longer than 25 cars, freight rules apply, as with the red and blue trains of the Ringling Bros.
2. Amtrak claims that its Auto Train between Sanford, Florida and Lorton, Virginia is one of the longest passenger trains in the world. The terminal stations were specially designed for the Auto Train, and include a row of tracks just for the auto rack cars, as well as platforms for the passenger cars. It takes two P42 engines to pull the Auto Train. Here's a sample Auto Train consists, taken from a trip report on the website on-track-on-line.com: Engines 97 & 82-(P42) back to back 38045—Dining Car 38067—Lounge Car (former diner) 33104—Coach 34122—Coach 34130—Coach 34128—Coach 34129—Coach 32080—Sleeper “Idaho” 32087—Sleeper “Maine” 32502—Sleeper “W. Graham Claytor Jr.” 38041—Dining Car 33103—Lounge Car 32503—Sleeper “A. Phillip Randolph” 32102—Sleeper “North Dakota” 32116—Sleeper “West Virginia” 39002—Transition Sleeper for on board crew Plus unknown number of auto-carrying cars To get a good feel for the size of the Auto Train, go to Youtube.com and look for one of the several "run-by" videos of the Auto Train.
3. The Indian Pacific Trans Continental passenger train in Australia runs sometimes as a "double consist", this consists of up to 24 to 26 cars and auto carrier wagons and weighs around 1400 to 1600 tonnes.
4. The longest passenger train on the mainline network in the UK is the Caledonian Sleeper which runs from London to Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William. This is a "portion working" which works as a single train to Edinburgh where it divides. Generally it is 16 coaches in length and is hauled by a single Class 90 electric loco. This is just pipped by the Eurostar which has 18 passenger carrying vehicles plus two power cars. I believe the French run TGV's in multiple on some services which would be longer yet. Then again, the longest train I'm aware of formed of passenger rolling stock occurred when an electric multiple unit (EMU) took a wrong route and ran off the wire. Because there were no locos available to go and fetch it back the only option was to send more and more EMU's until they had a long enough formation to reach around the junction to the stranded train while maintaining one at the back still on the wire in order to drag the whole lot back. By the time they had enough to reach, the formation was in excess of 20 coaches long. The problems with running longer trains is that they are constrained by the length of station platforms. Any longer than about 12 coaches and the train simply wouldn't fit into the terminus stations.
5. The Ghan in Australia and I believe also the Indian Pacific, normally they have about 17 cars, (plus some engines,) but if it is very busy they double the train. Just have one half at a time in the stations underway, let the people out and move the other half in. When you get to the train to get on, both at the start of the journey and after long breaks in the journey, the train uses two tracks and/or platforms in the station, to be coupled again to one after departure. I think the first ride of the Ghan after they opened the part from Darwin to Alice Springs they had the train 4 fold, so about 45 cars. The amount of cars does not say all about the amount of passengers, as most of the cars are sleepers with only a few people per car. And some of the carriages are car transport ones, so no passengers in those. The normal trains in the Netherlands may only be 15 cars for a normal long one, but with all seating and standing only the amount of passengers is much higher than a comparable length of train in Australia. I think I remember 25 car long Dutch trains but I am not sure, and with double deckers for the busy routes the extreme long trains are rarer still. And our Dutch stations are build to accommodate the long trains, also on the small stations where those long trains have a regular stop. The longest Ghan ever (till 2005 when my magazine was printed) held 550 passengers. An average Dutch train will hold many times that number when it is really buzy. The common cummuter trains hold twice that number in seats if I do my calculations right. http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/the-ghan/the-journey.php Next to the general runs there are some extreme tries, for special occations the railways will try to get a record. I think I remember a few that were to celebrate a special aniversary of the railroads in that country, like 100 years or 150 years. I think the real limit on the amount of carriages for passenger trains will be safety concerns, as the carriages are not build on extreme long trains and may not have the special braking systems extreme long freight trains have. But that is a guess as I am a passenger not a train buff or professional. By the way, in Europe I have never seen a freight train longer than 50 cars, I do not say they do not exist, but they are not common. Most people here do not really believe me when I tell them about the average of 100 cars on the freight trains I had seen in Canada.
6. Amtrak runs long trains all the time. They just "double stop" the platform, no big deal. You wouldn't see a passenger train 100 cars long, because you'd have to about "10 stop" the platform, and that would take far too long.