Posted 25 Aug 2010

Gap year travellers may soon be able to travel from the UK, right across Europe and onto Asia.

The construction of a new rail tunnel under the Bosphorus Sea in Turkey has been planned, the Guardian reported.

Martin Hickes, a guest blogger for the newspaper, said that the building of the rail tunnel may have been delayed but when it is complete it will link the UK with Asian destinations as far as Bangladesh.

Gap year adventurers will then be able to take the Eurostar to Brussels, change for trains to Vienna and then onward to the Bosphorus, Iran, Pakistan, India and beyond.

“The 7,000-mile Trans-Asia railway will follow one of the old Silk Roads through Istanbul, Tehran, Lahore and Delhi via Vienna, Cologne, Amritsar and Calcutta before reaching Dhaka and possible later links east into China,” Mr Hickes wrote.

“Already romantically dubbed the ‘Iron Silk Road’, it is already being described by some as ‘the world’s greatest railway journey’.”

Category: Asia