Robert Kennedy's funeral train and the opening of the Medellin Metro
The History Hour
BBC
4.4 • 879 Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service, all related to trains and journeys which have helped to shape our world.
Our guest Nicky Gardner, travel writer and co-author of Europe by Rail: the Definitive Guide, discusses the origins of train travel.
The first story involved the hijacking of a train in 1950s communist Czechoslovakia which was driven across the border into West Germany.
We also hear about Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral train in 1960s America, and Italy's "happiness train", which took children from the poverty stricken south to wealthier families in the north.
Contributors - Archive interview with Karel Ruml. Frank Mankiewicz - Robert Kennedy's former press secretary, and Rosey Grier, his former bodyguard. Bianca D’Aniello - a passenger on the “happiness train”. June Cutchins - received gifts from the Gratitude Train. Tomas Andreas Elejalde - general manager of the Medellin Metro.
(Photo: People stand near railroad tracks as a train carries the body of Robert Kennedy on June 8, 1968. Credit: Steve Northrup/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, podcast fan. Consider this your invite to the UK's biggest podcasting party. We're heading to Sheffield from the 4th to the 6th of July for the BBC Sounds Fringe at the Crosswires Festival. We'll be joined by some of the biggest names in podcasting, including Sarah Cox, Charlie Hedges, Russell Kane, and some bloke called Greg James doing his Radio 4 show called Rewinder. |
| 0:23.0 | You can watch live shows of your favourite podcasts, and the best part is free. |
| 0:28.0 | To book your free tickets, go to crossedwires.org-slash fringe. |
| 0:45.5 | Hello and welcome to The History Hour from the BBC World Service with me, Max Pearson, the past brought to life by those who were there. |
| 0:51.7 | Welcome aboard, because this week it's all about trains, including the opening of the Medellé Metro, |
| 0:54.8 | which helped to change the fortunes of what used to be known as the murder capital of the world. |
| 0:58.7 | On behalf of all the people of Antiochia, and in my capacity as the President of Colombia, |
| 1:05.5 | I authorized the launch of our Medellin Metro. |
| 1:08.9 | Also from 1960s America, Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral train, |
| 1:13.8 | which traveled from New York to Washington with huge crowds lining the tracks. |
| 1:18.0 | I remember a family standing on a hill looking down on the train, and they carried a couple of |
| 1:24.9 | signs, one of whom said in Latin, we loved him, even those who hated him. |
| 1:30.8 | And Italy's happiness trains, |
| 1:33.1 | which took children from the poor South to live with wealthier families in the North. |
| 1:37.6 | I was almost dying. |
| 1:39.3 | My lungs got sick because we didn't eat. |
| 1:42.3 | There was nothing. |
| 1:43.9 | And children were falling ill with tuberculosis. |
| 1:47.6 | Those train-related stories coming up, |
| 1:49.8 | but we're going to begin with a train journey |
| 1:52.0 | which came to represent the inequalities and anxieties of the Cold War. |
| 1:56.9 | This involves the daring hijacking of a train |
... |
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