A couple of anecdotes...
During WWii, UK had standard time, daylight saving time and double daylight saving time, which I read was referred to as God's time, government time and fool's time.
Russian train timetables (when I was there) were all based on Moscow time and in the far east it was something like 8 hours difference.
Which makes for fun trying to catch the return journey on the Trans-Siberian Express. Though that's a marathon journey in itself once you board the train. Six days and nights minimum (more if there's deep snow to worry about, and by 'deep snow' I mean drifts over 12 feet deep). Still, at least you don't have to worry about falling down a massive precipice, as you do in Ecuador travelling the Nariz del Diablo railway ... look that one up if you want to see some
scary cliff faces ... or for that matter the Ferrocaril Central Andino in Peru, which takes you to nearly 16,000 feet above sea level, and introduces you to altitude sickness with a vengeance. Not far off in the dizziness stakes is Tren A Las Nubes in Argentina, which takes you 13,500 feet or so up the Andes.
Or you could try travelling on a train in Bangladesh ... where the demand for space is such that roof riding (and the accompanying horrific deaths) are a part of the experience.
Though none of those other railways take you through eight different time zones.
I recently worked out that it was possible to travel from Liverpool here in the UK, non stop by rail to Vladivostok. Train to London, Eurostar to Paris, connecting train from Paris to Berlin, then connecting train from Berlin to Warsaw, then connecting train from Warsaw to Moscow, then the Trans-Siberian Express to Vladivostok. That journey, if ever I undertook it, would take me through 11 time zones, 8 of them in Russia itself. Travel time estimated to be 11 to 13 days, depending on connections.
