Germany's state-owned railway company is to take over responsibility for running the British royal train under a £280m deal announced yesterday.
Deutsche Bahn has bought English Welsh and Scottish Railway - EWS - which as well as providing 70% of Britain's freight trains also provides the locomotives, drivers and train crew for the Queen and other royals.
The purpose-built carriages, which are owned by Network Rail and painted a distinctive maroon [obviously a Jambo, then], include a Queen's saloon with bedroom, bathroom and sitting room and a separate coach for the Duke of Edinburgh, which has similar facilities with the addition of a kitchen.
Fill in your own joke here (towels on deckchairs, sauerkraut and bratwurst, trains running on time, that sort of thing).
On the other hand, again according to The Guardian, Her Maj only uses it eleven times a year:
Royal train used for 11 official journeys, at a cost of £700,000. These included a £19,271 trip for Queen and duke to Brighton.
That's a lot to spend on a trip to Brighton.
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