Around the World in 80 Trains author Monisha Rajesh reveals her favourite rail trips
Rail travel expert Monisha Rajesh says these journeys are the best for getting a real taste of local culture.
Monisha Rajesh has boarded more than 200 long-haul trains. The British journalist and author has made a career out of tracing the tracks and unearthing stories about the people, landscapes and political issues connected by railway lines.
Trains weren’t always her passion. In fact, Rajesh had little interest in them until she started to explore a national rail network for her first book, published in 2012. That debut, Around India in 80 Trains, cemented her place in modern travel writing. Eschewing glossy escapism, Rajesh sought the grit and humour of journeys that cut to the heart of culture and identity. Crossing the vast Indian Railways network, she stitched together history and comedy to create a candid portrait of a country in motion.
“Rail provides the most extraordinary insight into the land,” Rajesh says. “I did a 48-hour journey from Delhi to Kerala. You could literally feel the rains coming in. I’ve never found anything that matches this experience in quite the same way.”
Her 2019 follow-up took the obsession global: another 80 trains, this time covering 72,420km across four continents. From Siberia’s frosty stations to China’s frenetic platforms, Around the World in 80 Trains was as much about people as locomotives and landscapes. It earned her a short-listing for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year in 2020.
Born in Norfolk to Indian parents, Rajesh’s own story spans continents. After studying French and Spanish at the University of Leeds, she completed a postgraduate diploma in magazine journalism, which led to bylines in The Independent, Time and The New York Times.
Her latest work, Moonlight Express, takes a darker turn, chronicling the world’s night trains on a multi-year adventure. Whether she’s writing on migration, reflecting on Britain or charting the shifting nature of travel, Rajesh brings the same candour and curiosity to this new book.
Best train for children
Finland’s Santa Claus Express is a double-decker train travelling from Helsinki to Lapland. It’s quite a slow train, with an amazing dining car offering reindeer stew and moose burgers. It’s lively until about 2am. All the bathrooms have heated floors. Of course, Santa Claus is at the end of the journey so it’s a dream trip for children. On a plane, I think most parents panic the second they board. On trains, their children have freedom to run around and be stimulated.
A life-changing rail trip
In 2010, I went to India for almost five months. I realised when I looked at the map that there was a line connecting the country – the railway. The Indian Railways pass for 90 days was $540, including food and accommodation. I witnessed the entire country captured in a single train. You can walk from first class, where you’ll find business travellers and the occasional politician, right down to the end of the train where there are fruit sellers and labourers.
Experiencing the polar night
People are much more friendly the further north you go in Europe, especially where they have the polar night. I learned this in Sweden, where people have to actively go out and meet others to have any sense of feeling alive in that climate. Communities make a point in their diaries to meet to ensure they actually see other people and do outdoor activities such as walking. It’s a completely unique spectacle of how humans survive together.
One train to travel in Britain
I had never done the Caledonian Sleeper – a classic UK route that travels from London to the highlands of Scotland – until I was researching my book (Moonlight Express: Around the World By Night Train, Bloomsbury Publishing). When you live close to something, you always think, “I’ll get round to it at some point.” It was incredible seeing the rolling green hills and getting out to explore. It was a good push to see what’s in my own backyard.
Strangers on a train
In China, a Tibetan nun tried desperately to get into my compartment, purely because she wanted to check if I was Indian. She wanted to thank me for looking after the Dalai Lama – it was so sweet and surreal. I had just been to Tibet and she was thrilled when I showed her images of the Potala Palace (pictured). We relied on another person to translate our conversation yet it was one of the most powerful interactions I’ve had.
How the body responds to the midnight sun in Norway
Recently we went to Norway for 10 days to experience the midnight sun, which is a phenomenon you have to see to believe. The sky is blazing red in the middle of the night. It’s a very strange bodily sensation and your circadian rhythms go completely haywire. I thought we’d all collapse from exhaustion, but oddly when you see that light hit the middle of the sky, you feel very energised.
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