A South African company says that it has conducted a test run for what would be the world's longest ever freight train.

According to the Associated Press, state-run transport and logistics firm Transnet claims that it recently tested a 4.7-mile-long train consisting of 696 freight wagons. The train completed a 534-mile journey on October 17, from Saldanha Bay on the western coast of South Africa, to an inland iron ore mine. The wagons were empty for the entire two-day journey.

The previous record was held by a 4.5-mile-long train in Australia, which traveled from from an iron ore mine to a Western Australian port in 2002. The vast majority of freight trains are between half a mile and 1.5 miles long, although South Africa and Australia operate some of the longest trains in the world, largely because their mining industries need to move huge quantities of minerals from inland mines to coastal ports.

Regarding Transnet's record-setting train, the company's CEO Russell Baatjies described the operation as a learning exercise, designed to boost South Africa's ability to move minerals over long distances.