Royal train
A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the king or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is '''imperial train.'''
Australia
The various government railway operators of Australia have operated a number of royal trains for members of the royal family on their numerous tours of the country.Austria-Hungary
The imperial and royal court used the k.u.k. Hofsalonzug. Various versions existed under the rule of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Many of the cars were built by Ringhoffer in Bohemia. The cars were operated and maintained by the Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways. Two cars have survived, one is the dining car kept at the Technical Museum in Prague, and the other is the car of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, which is kept at the Technical Museum in Vienna.Belgium
Historic use
Some of the historic royal coaches are still preserved, two of which are on display at the Train World museum at Schaerbeek. From the royal coaches that served for King Leopold II and King Albert I are preserved the three most important royal coaches. From the royal coaches that served for King Leopold III and King Baudouin the following are preserved: the drawing room coach, the dining coach and the sleeping coach for the king and queen.Modern use (from 2000)
For rail transport during visits of heads of state to Belgium, there is a possibility of using a first-class SNCB I11 coach with seats partially removed and a set of armchairs put in the middle of the coach. This arrangement was used for the first time on 30 May 2002 during the state visit of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, for a trip from Bruges to Brussels-South, and a second time during the state visit of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on 22 June 2006 for a trip from Schaerbeek to Liège-Guillemins.In October 2019, the royal family used a converted 1st class train to visit Luxembourg. They departed from the Brussels-Luxembourg railway station, to not hinder the busy train network around Brussels.
Canada
Royal trains have been employed to transport members of the Canadian royal family on numerous tours prior to the 1960s, after which the Canadian Royal Flight was predominantly used.- 1860 – Grand Trunk Railway: Prince of Wales
- 1901 – Canadian Pacific Railway: Duke of York
- 1906 – Canadian Pacific Railway: Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
- 1939 – Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Denmark
Since then, the Danish royal family has had a succession of royal coaches. For her 60th birthday in 2000, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark received a new royal coach with a drawing room, sleeping compartments and kitchen. She used this coach for her state visit to Belgium, travelling the night of 27–28 May 2002 from Denmark to Brussels-South and returning from there to Denmark on the evening of 30 May 2002. The coach and the accompanying sleeping car for the staff were hooked to normal trains, except for the part from Aachen to Brussels, where it ran as a special train to allow for the arrival on a reserved platform where the press were waiting.
Ethiopia
was known to use a special first class saloon when travelling on the Franco-Ethiopian Railroad. In 1935, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia received two carriages from the Société Franco-Belge in Raismes. Another two from the Decauville works were commissioned in 1954. As of its last use in 1973, prior to the Emperor's overthrow in a coup d'etat the following year, the imperial train consisted of two locomotives, a baggage car with a diesel generator, four imperial carriages for the emperor and his family, two first class salon-sleeper cars for guests of the royal family and government officials, and two second passenger cars. Today the cars are held in storage in the obscure Railway Museum in the yards of Legehar train station, but as of the early 2000s were kept in good condition and are occasionally open for public viewing.Germany
Before 1918
Germany consisted of more than 30 states – most of them monarchies – when railways came into existence. In the beginning, royalty used first class coaches or first class compartments within public coaches and trains. So Prince Frederick of Prussia travelled in a first class compartment in 1851 when the train derailed in the vicinity of Gütersloh.But soon most of these kings, grand dukes and princes possessed their own private coaches or trains. In other cases the railway companies provided such coaches and rented them to royalty. Complementary to those private coaches and trains were private reception rooms in the station buildings and in some cases even private railway stations for the exclusive use of these privileged few. A well-preserved example is Potsdam Park Sanssouci railway station, a railway station for the use of Emperor Wilhelm II near his summer palace, the New Palace in Potsdam.
Prussia
purchased a set of royal coaches in 1857. They ran on two and three axles and were painted in a chestnut brown. None of these have survived. After 30 years of use they became technically outdated, so in 1889 the new emperor, Wilhelm II, who was always very interested in engineering and technological developments started to order new coaches. Until the end of his reign in 1918 there were about 30 coaches. These ran on bogies with either two or three axles and were painted in bright blue and ecru which contrasted significantly with ordinary coaches of the day which usually were painted green, grey or brown; only during World War I the imperial coaches were they painted green. The private car of the emperor is on display in the German Museum of Technology, Berlin, the private car of the empress in the museum of former Linke-Hofmann-Busch GmbH who built the coach.Other states
The kings of Saxony, Wurttemberg and Bavaria possessed their own trains. Two royal coaches of a most splendid design used by King Ludwig II of Bavaria are preserved in the Nuremberg Transport Museum, the king's personal coach as well as a terrace-coach, by half open-air. The Weimar Republic inherited about 100 of these royal cars, a number far larger than necessary for the president and government. So no new cars were built but some of the old ones remained in use. Others were used in luxury trains or in ordinary services, especially dining cars, or as sleepers. Many of them were also converted to departmental vehicles.Japan
In Japan, trains for the emperor, the empress, or the empress dowager are called Omeshi Ressha, literally meaning "trains that they use", albeit using an extremely polite word for "use". Trains for the other members of the imperial family are called Gojōyō Ressha, meaning "trains to ride" in slightly more common language. However, both Omeshi Ressha and Gojōyō Ressha refer to a non-scheduled service solely operated for the imperial family. Dedicated imperial carriages were owned by Japanese National Railways, and these came under the control of the East Japan Railway Company following privatization. The dedicated locomotive-hauled set was retired in the 2000s and replaced by the specially built E655 series EMU, which can also be used as a VIP charter trainset.When the emperor must travel on the Shinkansen or private railways, other trainsets may be used for Omeshi Ressha service, such as the Kintetsu 50000 series EMU for visits to Ise Grand Shrine. These trainsets are otherwise operated regularly for passenger service, but as is the case with the Kintetsu 50000 or the N700 Series Shinkansen, may have carriages retrofitted with bulletproof windows to accommodate the emperor.
Additionally, when travelling to Ise, an additional carriage is reserved solely for the transport of the Three Sacred Treasures as they must accompany the emperor.
Under Emperor Akihito, imperial trains were used less and less: the emperor generally travelled by air, or regular scheduled trains with a reserved carriage. In this case, bulletproof carriages were used where available. Imperial trains were still operated occasionally, but they mainly functioned as a cordial reception area for state guests, rather than transportation of the imperial family.