Decision causes dismay in rail industry, where staff were preparing to play their part in national mourning
A carriage of the Royal train, modified especially to carry Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin, lies unused after plans for the nation to turn out to show its respects were scrapped over fears for public safety and disruption.
The carriage is said to have been converted into a hearse built with wide doors and a rotating table to manoeuvre a coffin, ready to be sent to Scotland to bring the late Queen on her final journey.
Plans had been drawn up for the train to make its way slowly south, with members of the public invited to watch it pass while they paid their own tributes.
Industry sources on Monday said that the plan had been abandoned at the last minute over fears the route would become a magnet for protestors or reckless behaviour that would make it too difficult to police.
One claimed the decision was taken in part to give more time for the Queen’s body to lie in state in London, where hundreds of thousands of people are expected to visit the coffin.
A royal source said the plan to use the Royal train had only been a relatively recent option, discussed within the last five years, but dismissed some time ago on the advice of partner organisations, including the police.
The decision has caused dismay in the rail industry, where staff had been preparing to play their part in the national tribute to the late Queen.
One source said: “It’s such a shame and has caused a lot of disappointment.
“I’m sure the public could have been trusted to behave appropriately.”
One worker at Gemini Rail Group’s Wolverton Facility, located just outside Milton Keynes, confirmed the carriage, called Coach 2921, had been there until last week.
The Royal Train is usually a diesel locomotive with 10-12 coaches, with the intention of having it hauled by a steam engine to bring the late Queen’s coffin home.
The plan to use it on the Edinburgh to London route was abandoned in favour of flying it by RAF C17 plane.
Rail industry sources have been told that the decision was made by Buckingham Palace in line with the Queen’s wishes.
One said that he did not believe it matched her desire to be “seen to be believed”, saying it was a “great shame” those in the north of England would not have a chance to watch the train carry her through their local stations en route to London.
The King is now signing off all plans for his mother’s funeral.
A palace source said the decision had been taken on the advice of numerous organisations, including police, government departments and local councils. It is understood it would have caused disruption to public rail timetables.
They claimed that the use of the RAF plane had been the original plan, to which they have now reverted.
Nigel Harris, editor of Rail magazine, said the decision was “wrong-headed”.
“People have been denied their chance to pay their respects to the Queen,” he said. “I don’t think she would have gone along with that.”
He added: “Deciding not to use the Royal train to take Queen Elizabeth II back home to London on her last journey was, in my view, a major blunder by the Government, Palace and railway.
“Millions – and I do mean millions – of folk living south of the Scottish border and north of London have been denied that powerful, humble experience.”
He argued that the choice not to use it on such a momentous occasion would add to arguments to scrap the Royal train entirely.
“If the railway can’t use this taxpayer-funded asset, when the longest-serving British monarch dies after a 70-year reign, claiming it will trigger mass trespass [and] be unsafe … when will we ever use it?”
At 5pm on Tuesday, the coffin will be taken by hearse from St Giles’ Cathedral to Edinburgh Airport, where it will be placed on board an RAF aircraft by a bearer party found by the Royal Air Force. It will then be flown at 6pm to RAF Northolt.
The coffin will be accompanied on the journey by Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter, the Princess Royal, and the Very Reverend Professor David Fergusson, Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland.
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