There's a sense of expectation as commuters arrive at Moscow Kazansky station and gaze in wonder at the 21-coach Persian blue train awaiting departure. It's as different from the train they've just arrived on as a Jaguar is from a Moskvitch and the grey-bearded figure surrounded by officials and striding towards the train bears an uncanny resemblance to Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II. The train is the new Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express, costing millions and created for those who want to travel the epic route in comfort and style. And the deadringer for Nicholas II is the tsar's first cousin twice-removed, HRH Prince Michael of Kent.
The Golden Eagle would have been unimaginable just 30 years ago. What would Brezhnev have thought about a Western-operated train running smoothly and luxuriously across the face of his country? But times have changed, nicely illustrated by Prince Michael being the guest of honour on this inaugural journey.
Although a ride on the Trans-Siberian is a permanent fixture on lists of Things to Do Before You Die, until now it has never been a magnet for the more discerning traveller thanks to its primitive accommodation, unappetising cuisine and basic facilities. However, this luxury private train aims to transform the schlep across the Siberian steppes into a trip that would satisfy the most demanding traveller - and even entice a royal.
A whopping £13m has been lavished on these carriages (as well as Russia's state-run railways), thanks to the British company GW Travel. Built at the Moscow carriage works that has made bespoke coaches for the likes of the late President Yeltsin and the new oligarchs, travellers can now do the Trans-Siberian while warming their toes on the underfloor heating or watching their favourite DVDs on a plasma screen. But while a one-way trip on the main Trans-Siberian train costs about £160, a 15-day passage on the Golden Eagle weighs in at £5,495.
After Prince Michael has welcomed the enterprise in his flawless Russian, accompanied by Princess Michael, he climbs aboard. Rather than going all the 5,772 miles to Vladivostock, our celebratory four-day trip involves a quick run out to Ekaterinburg via Kazan, a total of 1,130 miles. Leaving Moscow's Kazansky station, the train starts to thread the interminable suburbs of the capital at a sedate pace, past the factories and featureless apartment buildings.
As the outskirts of Moscow give way to forest, I head to the bar for a drink before dinner. It's already clear that for the American, Canadian, South African, British and Russian guests, life on board will revolve around the bar car. With its piano, red sofas and armchairs, passengers play cards and chess or chat with a kir royale at their elbow.
The two dining cars comfortably accommodate tables of four side-by-side thanks to the wider Russian track gauge. Local ingredients are used to produce dishes from regional cuisines, such as baklazhani (roasted aubergines stuffed with cheese and tomato) and evraziya (pan-fried pork fillet served with a pineapple jus). It's a challenge to get a smile out of the dining-car staff, but those looking after sleeping-cars are charm itself and, while we are eating, each cabin sofa is converted into a supremely comfortable double bed.
The idea of a railway line so long that as the sun rises at one end, it is setting at the other captures people's imagination like no other. So too does the immensity of the forests that roll like an endless blind past the window, as well as the chilling recollection of the role the railway has played in Russia's past. Freight cars have rolled along this route bearing convicts and political prisoners to the penal colonies begun by Peter the Great and taken to extremes of hardship and numbers killed under Stalin. Likewise, less than 90 years ago, Tsar Nicholas II and his family were taken from their palace at Tsarskoe Selo, south of St Petersburg, and transported to Ekaterinburg along the route we are now on.
There have been suggestions that Prince Michael might be installed on the throne. His facial similarity to Nicholas II comes from shared ancestry and the idea was even incorporated by Frederick Forsyth in his novel Icon. Of course there is no likelihood of this happening, but Prince Michael does take a great interest in the country. He has his own cultural heritage foundation, is patron of 14 Russian charities and hopes that the new Trans-Siberian Express will help visitors discover Russia beyond St Petersburg and Moscow. Two charities he supports - the National Park of Wooden Architecture and the Utyos Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre - are both near to the Trans-Siberian and hope to benefit from increased visitors, which is especially important to Utyos since its work with endangered Amur tigers has seen their numbers rise.
