Royal train to be scrapped in 'cost-saving measure' - as eye-watering £44k journey revealed
The Palace announced the royal train will be retired by 2027 to save costs, as the annual royal finances report showed a two-day journey to Staffordshire cost more than £44,000.
Listen to this article
The decision has been made to retire the dedicated royal train as part of a "drive to ensure we deliver value for money."
After retiring the royal train, the Royal Family will continue to travel on regular train services.
James Chalmers, Keeper of the Privy Purse and overseer of royal finances, described the decision to retire the train as “the fondest of farewells” but said it was important to “not be bound by the past” as they move forward.
The announcement coincides with the annual release of royal finances, which revealed that a two-day royal train journey in February - from Gloucestershire to Staffordshire and then London - cost over £44,000.
The report also noted that the family took 141 helicopter flights last year, costing £475,000.
There are 43 separate journeys by royal family members listed in the official report for 2024/25 where travel costs were at least £17,000, up from 27 in 2023/24.
Some 13 of these involved the King, an increase from eight in the previous year.
Royal travel costs for the year totalled £4.7million.
Before being decommissioned, the royal train will tour the UK and may eventually be placed on public display.
The train comprises nine carriages, pulled by various locomotives.
The royal train’s origins date back to 1869 when Queen Victoria commissioned special coaches for the Royal Family’s travel around the country.
Mr Chalmers said: “The royal train has been part of national life for many decades, loved and cared for by all involved.”
It was used extensively during Queen Elizabeth II’s golden and diamond jubilees, with its last major refurbishment occurring in the mid-1980s.
However, the latest financial accounts for 2024-25 show the train was only used twice, prompting questions about the ongoing costs of maintenance and storage.
A two-day trip by the King on the royal train in February 2025 to Staffordshire, to visit the JCB factory in Rocester and the Tower Brewery in Burton upon Trent, cost £44,822, and a two-day trip on the royal train to Crewe in May 2024 cost £33,147.