Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Late Egyptian Monarch’s Royal Train to Provide Transport for Tourists

King Farouk's royal train is coming out of retirement and will soon be transporting tourists from Alexandria to Luxor.

Staff Writer

Royal train of Egypt’s King Farouk will be hitting the railways as a tourist attraction and will run between Alexandria and Luxor announced Major General Mohamed Nasrallah, the chairman of the Watania Sleeping Trains and Catering Services Company, according to Egypt Today.In an effort to promote tourism between Alexandria and Aswan as well as reel in revenue for the railway, Nasrallah added that the company sent in a proposal to collaborate with one of the largest tourism companies. He added that the proposal depends on operating the train with special tourist tickets. Designed by the Italian Fiat in 1951, the train is an antique that used to belong to Egypt’s last king. Dubbed ‘Royal Diesel’, the locomotive was one of the first trains to run on diesel and travels at 60 Km/h.The Royal Diesel - which King Farouk used to sometimes drive himself - is made up of two cars. The second car was where the royal hosted his guests and was equipped with a restroom, a wireless telephone and a music cabin. The train station which was set up by Koppa Palace saw guests transported directly to the palace from the Cairo and Alexandria stations.

The train held an important role up until the 1952 revolution after which former president Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to ride it, taking instead the people’s train.

Former presidents that have taken the Royal Diesel are Anwar El Sadat and Hosny Mubarak. A semi-open car for the Royal Diesel was later installed as well as an armored car which was designed for Mubarak; who rode the train twice. 

Main photo taken from Sayidy.net