Mainline railway companies outside the UK running excursion trains

[A S Leib]

Which examples are there of state railway companies outside the UK running trains explicitly for tourist / preservation purposes? I'm not sure how frequently, if at all, it's been done in the past, but the Trenitalia-supported Fondazione FS is running various services using preserved trains over the following months. Are there any other similar examples – the Bernina and Glacier Expresses, depending on who's responsible for operating the tourist services?

 

[nwales58]

SBB Gotthard Panorama Express and possibly a few others
RENFE's operations, both broad gauge and FEVE
MAV Nostalgia? from memory, I don't know the setup for sure
...
'Joyful trains' all over Japan, often with bespoke modified stock, though JR* are private sector so may not qualify, some are 3rd sector so local-authoriry owned

If we're being strict, RhB and MGB are Canton- rather than state-owned so it's only SBB/CFF/FFS operations in Switzerland

 

[DanielB]

Die Zentralbahn is officially naming itself on their website as "die Freizeitbahn der SBB" (Translates as "the leisure railway of SBB"), so I'd call that a train for tourist purposes. Though many of those railways attracting tourists in Switzerland are also important for locals to reach their towns and villages.

Depends a bit on what the OP was aiming for with this topic, but I'd say the special train from Utrecht Central to Utrecht Maliebaan operated by NS is also a kind of tourist-aimed service as it's only running to serve the railway museum and is so slow that walking is already quicker when the train doesn't leave immediately when you're at the platform.

The Dutch railway museum also has some trains which can still run on the main railway network, but I'm not sure if they do so under the licence of NS.
And as the topic title and first line of the OP contradict: RailExperts is a mainline operator in the Netherlands (though no state company, but NS isn't either) under whose licence many railway heritage foundations run their trains for excursions on the mainline network.

 

[eldomtom2]

'Joyful trains' all over Japan, often with bespoke modified stock, though JR* are private sector so may not qualify, some are 3rd sector so local-authoriry owned

The JNR did operate steam-hauled excursion trains, such as the SL Yamaguchi which still operates today.

 

[30907]

CD (Czechia) Nostalgie has an extensive programme of excursions.
Various German mainline passenger operators have Ausflugsverkehr (literally excursion traffic), typically weekends and holidays, as does ZSSK (Slovakia).
France has IIRC seaside excursions from Lille etc.

I suppose it depends how you define an excursion train - I definitely would exclude die Zentralbahn. Should it be an extra service with "extras" over a normal route (Golden Pass, Bernina...)? A service over a route not normally served (Germany/Slovakia....)? Or simply retro rolling stock on a timetabled train, such as the summer Davos-Filisur?

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

There are several instances in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Wurttemberg of excursion/tourist-type trains as part of the regular state-funded regional transport. They usually on run on weekends and sometimes Wednesdays, often with dated stock and sometimes they're the only service running on a line to officially keep it used.

Example include in Rhineland-Palatinate the RB56 Hinterweidenthal Ost - Bundenthal-Rumbach (DB Regio Mitte, Desiro DMU), the RB48 Kaiserslautern - Monsheim via Marnheim (currently suspended due to works) or the RE Weinstraßen-Express/Elsass-Express Mainz/Koblenz - Wissembourg (Vlexx, LINT DMU).

For Baden-Württemberg there's this handy overview: https://www2.bwegt.de/land-entdecken/freizeitexpresse or as a pdf https://www2.bwegt.de/fileadmin/ass..._Freizeitexpresse_15.03.2024_barrierefrei.pdf (highlights include the Uerdingen rail cars on the RB79 Neckarbischofsheim Nord - Hüffenhardt line, or the loco-hauled stock from Stuttgart to Lake Constance on the "Bodensee II" and "Südbahn" trains).

 

[A S Leib]

Depends a bit on what the OP was aiming for with this topic, but I'd say the special train from Utrecht Central to Utrecht Maliebaan operated by NS is also a kind of tourist-aimed service as it's only running to serve the railway museum and is so slow that walking is already quicker when the train doesn't leave immediately when you're at the platform.

I'd say it counts in either case, but is the rolling stock for the shuttle in regular use elsewhere on the network?

And as the topic title and first line of the OP contradict: RailExperts is a mainline operator in the Netherlands (though no state company, but NS isn't either) under whose licence many railway heritage foundations run their trains for excursions on the mainline network.

I didn't give a brilliant explanation; I was trying to think of a definition excluding e.g. NYMR and West Coast Railways (for UK examples).

 

[Alfonso]

Swiss national operator SBB historic runs a programme of tours with old stock, and Hungarian operator MAV does a similar sort of thing https://www.mavcsoport.hu/mav-start/belfoldi-utazas/idoutazas-marpedig-lehetseges-retro-vonatokkal (link is to "retro" programme in hungarian and can be auto translated by most browsers)

 

[dutchflyer]

A bit further away-though Jpn has also been noted:
Thailand. The SRT, the only main railwayline operator, runs on sundays-every sunday and a few other holidays, excursions from Bangkok to, depending on season, seaside or other well-known touristy towns in a 3-4 hr radius away. I visit TH since >30 yrs and these have all that time been on the agenda. In BKK they mosty still leave from the old Hualampong station and not the new fancy giant Aphiwat in the north. Normal everyday stock is used.
Since this year they also do (and not quite cheap) multi-day excursions a bit further away, incl meals, Htl etc.
On some special holidays (in the past mostly Kingś Birthday) steam may be put in service at a higher fare-these sell out very quickly.

 

[DanielB]

I'd say it counts in either case, but is the rolling stock for the shuttle in regular use elsewhere on the network?

Yes, it's just a standard SLT unit. (Or any other type of Sprinter unit that happens to be available at the Utrecht Landstraat stabling tracks)

 

[railfan99]

South Korea has at least one line with loco hauled specially modified carriages for tourists, operated by the state-owned operator.

Australia's Queensland Rail has historically worked in closely with Sunshine Express of the Australian Railway Historical Society.

 

[brooklynbound]

Italian state railways run loads...

The fleet - Treni Turistici

www.fstrenituristici.it

 

[TheFiend]

A bit further away-though Jpn has also been noted:
Thailand. The SRT, the only main railwayline operator, runs on sundays-every sunday and a few other holidays, excursions from Bangkok to, depending on season, seaside or other well-known touristy towns in a 3-4 hr radius away. I visit TH since >30 yrs and these have all that time been on the agenda. In BKK they mosty still leave from the old Hualampong station and not the new fancy giant Aphiwat in the north. Normal everyday stock is used.
Since this year they also do (and not quite cheap) multi-day excursions a bit further away, incl meals, Htl etc.
On some special holidays (in the past mostly Kingś Birthday) steam may be put in service at a higher fare-these sell out very quickly.

I was over in Thailand May/June and whilst heading back to Bangkok and enjoying some Diesel loco haulage passed a Steam excursion sat waiting in Chachoengsao Station waiting to depart back to Bangkok on a Monday afternoon, one of the special holidays. Couple of stations down the line I got off my train to catch another and managed to photo the steamers going through whilst waiting...

SRT Steam trips are double headed and coupled tender to tender so they just need to uncouple, runaround the stock and then couple on to the other end

SRT also runs some excursions using KiHa183 DMU's that were donated to them by the Japanese, and have just taken delivery of some KiHA 40/48 units.

 

[gazthomas]

CP the national operator in Portugal run steam hauled excursions on the Douro and Vouga lines as well as diesel on the latter. They also run other excursions.