This New $350 Million Luxury Train Will Change How We Travel

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While billionaire businessmen are jockeying to get to outer space, French designer Thierry Gaugain has a more grounded vision for the future of transportation: The G Train, billed as the world’s first private luxury locomotive, has 14 glass-enclosed cars that can digitally project a host of visuals. Plans for the 1,300-foot train include a primary suite at the front, followed by 18 guest rooms, a gym, spa, garden, dining car, and grand reception hall, with space for art exhibitions, live music, and movie screenings. Fold-down wings create alfresco terraces for social events, and Gaugain designed the caboose as a “toy chest” to store automobiles, motorcycles, and other off-rail vehicles. Should passengers want to go off in different directions, though, the G Train can also be split into two. At night, it will even give off an ethereal golden glow.

A rendering shows the sleekly designed G Train traveling through a desert.

Gaugain sees the $350 million train as a way to relish the journey, not just the destination. “We tend to think about rail transportation only in terms of speed, moving lots of people from point A to point B in record time,” he told Robb Report. “But this 14-car train would belong to a single owner. It’s an alternative, very leisurely way to see the world, beyond the yacht and jet.”

As the train races along at 100 miles an hour, passengers can enjoy the surrounding landscape or, at the press of the button, the high-tech glass can change the view to one of more than a half-dozen “inner journeys.”

“It might be winter outside, but the owner can suddenly be surrounded by a beautiful summer’s day with flowers and meadows,” Gaugain said. “The train is essentially a stage that the owner can configure in many ways.” They can also shift to an opaque mode for privacy.

The wrap-around windows give passengers an unparalleled view of their surroundings from inside the train.

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