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Cardinal Points

Visit the four "Cardinal Points" of the European railway network

That's item number 5 on the of the #33rides challenge.

Now, we know what you're probably thinking: define "Europe".

Well, that's probably an even bigger challenge.

Have you ever met two people who agree on a definition of "Europe"?

I don't think we have.

So, for the purposes of this part of the #33rides challenge, here's our definition of the Cardinal Points of the European railway network:

"The northernmost, southernmost, easternmost and westernmost stations in active use by scheduled passenger trains, in countries that participate in the Interrail/EURail network"

By that definition, the Cardinal Points of the European railway network are as follows:

Northernmost: Narvik, Norway (68°26'30.1"N)
Southernmost: Algeciras, Spain (36°07'35.9"N)
Easternmost: Kars*, Turkey (43°06'24.0"E) Akyaka*, Turkey (43° 37' 25.41''E)
Westernmost: Tralee, Ireland (9°41'54.8"W)

You can find them all on the map below.

But, if you have your own definition of "Europe", you're almost certainly at least as right as we are. Maybe more so.

And you might well have a different set of cardinal point railway stations as a result.

So feel free to create your own map and/or bike+train challenge, and please do share it with us. We'd love to see which stations make the list, based on different definitions of "Europe".

* Akyaka, you say? But what about Kapıköy, you say? Well, you're right, Kapıköy is indeed further east than Akyaka.
Kapıköy station: 44°17'42.4"E.Akyaka station: 43° 37' 25.41''E
But, so far as we can tell, no passenger trains are running to Kapıköy at the moment.
(Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Kapıköy was served by the weekly Trans-Asia Express from Van in Turkey to Tehran in Iran (and vice versa), calling at Kapıköy on the Turkey-Iran border.)
But since this train no longer runs, Kapıköy station is left without any scheduled passenger services.
And so, according to the #33rides rules, Kapıköy (alongside all other stations east of Lake Van) cedes its Easternmost Station crown by default, and the next-easternmost active passenger station in Turkey, Akyaka, takes up the mantle.
There's also a chance that trains stop running to Akyaka, too.
(They were suspended between 1993 and February 2011 due to the closure of the Turkish-Armenian border. While that border remains closed at the time of writing, we think that trains are running as far as Akyaka for the time being.)
In the event that both Akyaka and Kapıköy are closed, we have a fall-back easternmost station: Kars station, at 43°06'24.0"E

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