Royal train’s journey ends after 156 years as King Charles III seeks to cut costs

The 156-year-long journey for the royal family’s private “royal train” is set to come to an end after King Charles decided to scrap it in a bid to reduce costs. The decision taken by Buckingham Palace to decommission Britain's royal train, a service dating back to Queen Victoria, comes as maintenance and storage were getting costlier by the day.

Victoria, King Charles' great-great-great-grandmother, commissioned the first royal rail carriages back in 1869. The Royal Family will still travel on regular train services. According to the BBC, the annual report revealed that 141 helicopter trips were taken in 2024, costing £475,000 ($652,348).

According to Reuters, the latest incarnation is made up of nine carriages, the most recent of them added in 1986. The royal train was used just twice during the financial year 2024-25, with the two journeys together costing almost 80,000 pounds ($109,869).

Speaking on the end of the royal train, James Chalmers, the king's treasurer, said the monarch had now agreed that the train, which critics had long said was a waste of money, would reach the end of the line in 2027.

"The royal train has ... been a 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," Chalmers, officially known as the Keeper of the Privy Purse, told reporters.

"The time has come to bid the fondest of farewells, as we seek to be disciplined and forward-looking in our allocation of funding." While the king had fond memories of the train, palace officials said it would require significant funds to pay for its long-term use, although it was not clear how much scrapping it would save.

The announcement came as Chalmers, on Monday, June 30, 2025, unveiled the annual report of the Sovereign Grant, the government handout that covers staffing costs, upkeep of royal palaces, and travel expenses and is currently set at 12% of the profit from the Crown Estate, a property portfolio belonging to the monarchy.

In November 2024, the Sunday Times and a TV documentary accused Charles and his elder son, Prince William, of making millions from the country's health service, army, and schools from charges imposed by the monarch's Duchy of Lancaster estate and the heir's Duchy of Cornwall estate.

William Bax, the chief executive of the Duchy of Cornwall, acknowledged that criticism as he detailed its annual report on Monday, saying they were making changes at a time of "reflection and evolution." Bax said they intended to end or reduce rents charged to some community groups and charities, while the report showed William's personal income from the Duchy had fallen slightly to just under 23 million pounds.

Anti-monarchists said the annual reports were misleading, claiming that the monarchy's price tag amounts to more than half a billion pounds. "The cost of the monarchy is out of control, and these reports receive almost no political scrutiny," Graham Smith, chief executive of campaign group Republic, said.

Chalmers said the global significance of the royals could not be underestimated, citing a Global Perceptions Survey that found the monarchy the single biggest influence on perceptions of the UK among international audiences.