Introduction

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The idea to our journey was born in march 2002. A press release from the Iranian Railway informed that a new passenger train connection from Tehran through Turkmenistan und Uzbekistan to Almaty (former Alma-Ata) in Kazakhstan had been inaugurated. The weekly train needed 3 days for the 3290 km (2045 miles) long journey. This opened up a completely new overland route from Europe to China for the adventurous railway enthusiast. Already in 2001, the connection from Istanbul to Tehran had been re-opened for passenger trains after many years of interruption, and since 1992, there has been a completely new connection from Kazakhstan to Urumqi in north-western China.

We came in contact via the Internet-Forum of the Swedish Railway Club SJK. The train from Tehran to Almaty was unfortunately discontinued after only a few weeks, but that does not stop us from travelling in the region. We will be forced to go by taxi or bus on some parts of the line, and China will not be on the route at least for this time, but otherwise, we mainly follow the originally planned route.