What is the cost of Rajdhani train?

How much does it cost to buy a train in the UK?

• Me and my sister are debating the costs of a train. Not a train journey, but if you had your own bit of track, how much it might cost to actually buy a train. Like a virgin train, or whatever. I said about £100,000 but my sis reckons £500,000 - i think this is ridiculously expensive. Please help.

• Answer:

  A train like a Voyager will set you back about £5 million new. Second hand values are difficult to estimate because it's not a well developed market. You may be able to buy a pre-scrap HST for about £750k. There are some sleeper trains (based on the Eurostar) that were built for the Channel Tunnel but never used. These are probably quietly corroding away in a siding somewhere. They cost about £35M new but you'll probably get them very cheap if you're willing to collect. These things were never used because there was no market seen for them when the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet started. Also, the electricity demands for "hotel power" was so great during trials that there wasn't enough juice for the traction motors and speeds were about half what was expected. A old BR Mk1 carriage in good condition (runnable) will be about £100k, newer rolling stock will cost more. A working and licenced steam locomotive will set you back about £1M. Stick to Hornby.