Name: 13 Popular Countries That Don't Have Trains
Uploaded: 2020-03-06T19:11:17.000Z
Duration: 8 min 46 s
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To-infinitive

So You grab a coffee and get on the morning train to find yourself at your office desk

This is the everyday routine for millions of people across the world.

But there are countries where this simply isn’t possible – they have no trains!

If you ever decide to visit the land of fire and ice, geysers, volcanoes, elves, and horses

with cute bangs (really?), don't expect to travel across the island in a train; there's

no public railway network in the country.

In fact, there were some attempts to build railways here in the early 1900s to connect

Reykjavik, the capital city, to Selfoss, the largest town in South Iceland.

But they decided roads would be sufficient.

The more successful project was the railway within the City of Reykjavík, where two locomotives

transported rocks from the quarry to the harbor.

There was also a functioning farm railway at a dairy farm on the outskirts of Reykjavík

The train was used to carry goods around the property, but was abandoned some years later.

So, why doesn’t Iceland have railroads?

There are three reasons: the harsh climate, the small population, and their love of cars,

which are the number one means of transportation in the country.

Since there are more and more tourists coming to Iceland, the road from the airport is getting

So an idea has been introduced to build a high-speed Lava Express connecting Keflavík

It's still unclear if it'll get enough funding though.

Bhutan Half-way across the world is the country that

measures its “gross national happiness”, and whose temperatures are much higher than

Still, there's no railway network in Bhutan.

If you look at a map of Bhutan, you'll see mostly mountains and hills.

Building railways here would mean digging tunnels and constructing high bridges.

Plus, the nearly 1 million people living in the country aren't evenly spread out, and

So the money invested in the construction and maintenance of the railroad wouldn't pay

Just like in Iceland, there are plans to build a railway network connecting southern Bhutan

to India, but funding is still an open question.

Andorra Andorra is a microstate located in the Pyrenees

You'll have to arrive at one of the local ski resorts with all your gear by car or bus

But don't let “micro” trick you into thinking its small size is to blame for its lack of

Even Vatican City, the smallest country in the world, has its railway, which is less

In fact, Andorra and Bhutan have one thing in common – mountainous terrain.

That's why there aren't, and never have been, railways here.

In 2004, there was a plan to build an elevated cable metro system called 'Metro Aeri’,

Libya Libya is one of the countries on the list

that used to have a railway network, but is now train-free.

The first 250 miles of railways were built here by the Kingdom of Italy back in the early

By 1965, the lines had been taken to pieces.

At the moment, a new railway line is being constructed to connect the largest cities

But the process is slow because of funding issues.

Cyprus If you ever visit Cyprus, make sure to stop

by at the Railway Museum in the village of Evrychou.

You’ll see models of the stations, wagons, photos and other things that prove railways

did exist here, but are now just history.

Fun fact: future Prime Minister, Winston Churchill himself, visited Cyprus and wrote that railway

transport should be developed on the island.

In 1915, the official opening ceremony of the 75-mile long track took place in Evrychou.

But, there was basically no cargo traffic, so the line was shut down just a few years

The same happened to other railway lines.

Roads took over, and train stations were converted into police stations and other municipal buildings.

Here’s another island state in the Mediterranean, and another great vacation spot where you

can take a boat trip, ride a double-decker bus, or rent a car – but won't find any

There used to be one railway line here from Valetta to Mdina, but it wasn't economically

You can find some remnants of it as you explore the island.

Now, public buses in Malta are pretty crowded and the roads are busy, so a railway probably

The only thing is that building trains above the ground would create too much noise pollution,

and Malta is densely populated, with one town flowing into the other.

Building underground would be too expensive and not eco-friendly.

I don't know about you, but all those beautiful islands make me want to go on vacation.

Just wondering – do you prefer to stay somewhere closer to home or do you mind flying long

Kuwait Unlike many countries on the list where building

a railway system would be simply too expensive, Kuwait doesn't seem to have the money problem.

The nation is super rich in oil, and maybe its that abundance that made cars so popular

There've never been, and aren't currently, any railways here.

But there are plans to build a 1,200 mile Gulf Railway to connect Kuwait to Oman, and

a Metropolitan Rapid Transit System to help unload the busy streets.

One of the smallest countries in South America, Suriname, has an interesting history when

During the gold rush, a lot of people came here in search of easy money.

So, at the beginning of the 20th century, a single-track meter gauge rail-line called

Lawa Railway was supposed to be built to make the goldfields more reachable.

When it turned out they weren't as rich in gold as people were hoping, they stopped the