Blue Train

“Blue train” is museum tourist train which was used, until departure of Josip Broz Tito, exclusively for the carriage of the president of SFRJ and high ranking government and political figures on their journeys in the country and abroad. The train was constructed in 1959 in the wagon factory “Goša”in Smederevska Palanka and wagon factory  “Boris Kidrič” in Maribor, local workers determined its name – Blue train because it was painted in blue, blue color was chosen in order to distinguish among other compositions of Serbian Railways in that time which were mostly  green. It was composed of ten wagons of so called  “Main train” and eight wagons of the so called “The firs train”.

“Main train” represented a complex that provided a complete comfort and possibility to work and performance the all protocol obligations during the journey and it consisted of: president’s lounge, ceremonial dining room, main kitchen, guest lounge, wagon restaurant, closed car carrier wagons, sleeping cars and energy distribution- cars. The interior of the train is luxurious and made mostly in mahogany and inlays were used for decoration of lounges and corridors. The interior in the style of Art Deco was complemented with high quality materials (wool carpets, velvet and silk). Given that the train had all necessary equipment for one luxurious and comfort table journey, it rightly was famous as parlor train. After more than half a century its appearance remained unchanged and all wagons offer a great sense of exclusivity and luxury. The president Tito hosted over world statesmen in blue train and it traveled more than 600.000 km in the country and abroad.

Since 2005 “Blue train” was launched in commercial purposes for domestic and foreign tourists and it can be rented for a desired route and in desired composition, which is mainly used by domestic and foreign companies. The maximum capacity of the train is 110 passengers. The train is equipped with air conditioning system, steam heating and with high quality and reliable sounding system.

The wagons, from the ceremonial dining room and the Zodiac-inspired bar to Tito’s lounge, office and private rooms, feature art deco details, wool carpets, silk and velvet furnishings, retro TV and radio.

The original locomotives are named after famous WWII battles such as Kozara or Sutjeska.

The Blue Train used to take Yugoslavia’s president-for-life, his wife Jovanka and their entourage to Brijuni islands in Croatia, Tito’s favourite summer playground. It was on this train that he hosted VIP visitors from around the world, from Queen Elizabeth II to Haile Selassie, Yasser Arafat, Jawaharlal Nehru… The train is also remembered for Tito’s last journey in 1980, when it transported his coffin from Ljubljana to Belgrade.

The train is stationed at the Topčider Depo; buy tickets at Belgrade’s central railway station and catch tram 3 from the railway station to the depo.