ABOUT US

THE MAJESTIC IMPERATOR

A Palace on rails

The Majestic Imperator

In 1991, a century after the original train was built, Gottfried Rieck, an engineer with the Austrian Federal Railways, along with his wife Sibylle, set out to realize their dream of rebuilding one carriage of this legendary train. Gottfried had worked for the railways for over thirty-five years, having begun his career shoveling coal on a steam locomotive. After many months, their dream became reality with the rebirth of the Salon I carriage, adapting the still existing original plans to meet strict modern safety requirements.

Engineers have combined the rigid safety lines for modern trains with the exorbitant magnificence and glory of their ancient originals. On May 19, 1998, the youngest female descendant of Emperor Franz Joseph I. and his famous wife Empress Elisabeth, Maria Christina Habsburg-Lothringen, baptized the glamorously restored Majestic Imperator Luxury train composed of six wagons altogether.

The passion of the Rieck family to rebuild historical trains and bring them back on track again inspired further enthusiasts of nostalgic trains: Stefan Gutmann and his family entered into a partnership with the Rieck family and took over the majority of the company shares in 2012.

In 2015 the Majestic fleet was enlarged by an additional carriage named Franz Joseph. The baptizing of this 7th carriage took place on October 16th in 2015 under the honorable patronage of Herta Margarete and Sandor Habsburg Lothringen.