What is ‘Rail Force One’, the train PM Modi took from Poland to Ukraine?

For the first time in history, the Prime Minister of India visited Ukraine personally. Before arriving to Kyiv by our train, @narendramodi called India a “friend&partner” of Ukraine, hoping for a “restoration of peace” and “strengthening of IND-UA friendship.”#IronDiplomacy🇺🇦🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/EFBzoFeCH9

— Ukrainian railways || Укрзалізниця (@Ukrzaliznytsia) August 23, 2024

The train has luxury compartments

The train, which is run by the state-owned Ukrainian Railways or Ukrzaliznytsia, is painted blue and yellow, the colours of Ukraine’s flag.

The train has several luxury compartments, one of which was likely built just before Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and was previously used to ferry wealthy tourists to the peninsula on the Black Sea, according to a report by the US government-funded Radio Free Europe.

Pictures from trips taken by foreign dignitaries show wooden panels, cream and blue curtains, leather sofas, king-size beds, wall-mounted flatscreen TVs and other modern amenities on the train.

The train’s 10-hour, 700-odd-km journey begins at Przemyśl Główny station in Poland, located around 400 km southeast of Warsaw, close to the country’s border with Ukraine, and ends at Kyiv.

The first foreign dignitaries to travel to Kyiv by the train were the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic, who visited in 2022.

Thereafter, the train was used by the former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, besides Biden and now Modi.

A symbol of ‘Iron diplomacy’

Alexander Kamyshin, Ukraine’s Strategic Industries Minister who is in charge of Ukrzaliznytsia, has often used the hashtag #IronDiplomacy to refer to the world leaders’ train trips.

In 2023, Kamyshin posted on X about President Biden’s 20 hours on the train and just four in Kyiv, and apologised to the public when Biden’s travel led to some other trains on the network being delayed.

“We had to delay some of our trains to give a way to #RailForceOne. It was painful for me and my team, but I had to do that. So only 90% of our trains arrived on time yesterday. I apologize,” he wrote.

Why trains matter to Ukraine

This train, and other trains in the Ukrainian railway network, have played an important role in the war effort, including helping transport aid across the country, and Kamyshin has spoken repeatedly about the importance of the railways to his country.

As the war broke out, many Ukrainians rushed to train stations in an attempt to escape to safer places, or to leave the country. “When allowed to board, they folded their bodies into the compartments: luxury sleeper carriages made for 18 would hold 150, a second-class carriage, made for 54, would carry 500,” The New York Times reported on the rush.

“For a country that has skillfully mastered the Western media narrative…the railways’ triumph quickly became another public relations boon and a morale booster,” the report said.

Ukraine’s widespread railway network has always been popular, and domestic travellers often favour trains over planes. Ukrzaliznytsia is the sixth-largest railway passenger transporter in the world, and seventh for freight, according to a CNN report.