Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a visit to Poland. After this, he will leave for Ukraine on Thursday night. He will travel by train and not by plane. This will be a special train, named ‘Rail Force One’. It is known for its luxury facilities and world class service.
PM Modi will reach Kiev after spending 10 hours in this train. It will take him the same time to return. Actually, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, airports are closed, travelling by road can be risky. This is the reason why whenever the world’s big leaders go to Ukraine, they prefer to travel by train.
Many leaders including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian PM Georgia Meloni have traveled in Rail Force One.
Train made for tourism, now used by world leaders
Most of the leaders, journalists, diplomats going to Ukraine travel by Rail Force One. This is a slow moving luxury train, which runs only at night. It travels 600 km from Poland and reaches Kiev.
Ukraine’s rail network is more than 24 thousand km long. It is the 12th largest rail network in the world. Different trains run in Ukraine but Rail Force One is the most special. It was designed for tourism in Crimea.
Russia occupied Crimea in 2014. Since then it is used to transport world leaders and VIP guests. This train is equipped with weapons. It has extremely secure communication systems. There is a team of high-tech security personnel present all the time, who constantly monitor the security. This is the reason why till now no complaint has been received regarding the security of this train.
The interior of Rail Force One is very beautiful. Its rooms are like a luxurious
hotel. The compartments of Rail Force One are made of wood. There is also a big conference table for important meetings. Apart from this, there is also a luxurious sofa and TV.
During the war that has been going on for two and a half years, Russia has targeted Ukraine’s rail network several times. About 400 railway workers have died in this.
To make train travel easier during war, Rail Force One has diesel engines instead of electric engines. In fact, Russia attacks Ukraine’s electric grid along with the railway line. In such a situation, if the train has an electric grid installed, it will stop. Whereas this will not affect the diesel engine.
The credit for the success of Rail Force One goes to former Ukrainian Railways CEO and now minister Alexander Kamyshin. It was he who named this train Rail Force One after Biden’s journey.