Vladimir Putin’s luxury train also contains a beauty salon, steam room and gym, according to documents released by an English NGO funded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian billionaire critical of the Kremlin. to the Süddeutsche Zeitung And to WDR. The file contains photographs, blueprints, classified service documents, and the documents and contracts of the company that built and serviced the special train.
The Russian president avoids flying – if possible – for security reasons and travels by train. Construction of her own train began in 2017, and workers reportedly worked seven days a week, even on public holidays, to get it ready as quickly as possible. Besides booking, they have already paid close to 74 million euros for it in recent years.
From the outside, the train is indistinguishable from regular scheduled trains, only the antennas installed on the carriages can detect. The train consists of 22 cars and is pulled by several locomotives, so that there is no need to stop if one of them breaks down.
According to the documents, the walls, windows and doors of the cars are also armored. It is not known exactly what kind of security they provide to the Russian president, but where staff use them they must withstand sub-freezing temperatures against Kalashnikov assault rifles.
In addition to the restaurant, the facility also has a beauty salon, Turkish steam room, gym, and medical room.
The beauty salon has face-lift machines and caviar packs, while the medical room also has a ventilator and defibrillator.
Despite the luxurious equipment, the technical equipment of the train is not real. According to reports, most of the communication technology was made in the 1980s, and the maximum speed of the train is 160 km / h. Putin’s private train has priority over all other trains, and there are secret stations that only the Russian president’s train uses.
The Russian president is not completely satisfied with the train: he wants to be able to watch television without interruption even when it passes through the tunnels.