The contract to run the Royal Train will not be renewed when it comes to an end in March 2027, as part of wider efforts to reduce costs at the Royal Household which are being encouraged by the King.

The special journeys made on the set of up to nine coaches will be replaced by two helicopters, although the royal family will continue to travel by service trains, according to Buckingham Palace.

James Chalmers, keeper of the privy purse, said: ‘The royal train, of course, has been part of national life for many decades, loved and cared for by all those involved. But in moving forward we must not be bound by the past.

‘Just as so many parts of the royal household’s work have been modernised and adapted to reflect the world of today, so too the time has come to bid the fondest of farewells as we seek to be disciplined and forward in our allocation of funding.’

The rolling stock was last modernised in the 1980s, and was traditionally maintained at Wolverton Works in Buckinghamshire.

Queen Elizabeth II was very fond of the train, but she also used ordinary trains from time to time, such as when she travelled with Prince Philip on a Thameslink train from London to open Luton Airport Parkway in 1999. She also used Great Northern services from London King’s Cross to travel to King’s Lynn on her way to Sandringham. On such journeys a modest area of first class was cordoned off for her, and she was accompanied by her usual security staff.

The present King and other members of the royal family are expected to continue using service trains when it is convenient for them to do so.

The tradition of special royal carriages started in the early days of railways.

Queen Victoria’s future husband Prince Albert travelled with his brother on the Great Western Railway from Slough to Paddington in November 1839 in a special ‘posting carriage’ furnished with sofas, and was said to have found the experience ‘convenient and agreeable’. The GWR, hoping that the Queen would be persuaded, built the first Royal Carriage in 1840. The Queen used it for the first time on 11 June 1842, again between Slough and London, and was impressed, although she opposed ‘excessive’ speeds of more than 40mph (64km/h).

Other large railway companies soon provided royal saloons, but the first complete royal trains were built for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 by the Great Western Railway and the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway.

Readers’ comments

Who actually owns it at present?

David Boother, Ipswich 

[The coaches are owned by Network Rail and have been designated for preservation.–Ed.]

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