Trainy McTrainface will chug across Sweden after more than 1,000 people voted to christen a new commuter train with the name.
Train operator MTR Express’ rules were to name the trains after famous Swedish citizens, but voters decided to take a different route for the Stockholm to Gothenburg ride.
Instead, they were inspired by a beloved Memey McMemeface: Boaty McBoatface, the almost-name of a research vessel that charmed UK citizens last year. Sadly, at the time, the Natural Environment Research Council overruled almost 125,000 votes and dubbed the ship RRS Sir David Attenborough instead.
Since then, the “Somethingy McSomethingFace” convention has endured in jest, and now in earnest.
This time, democracy will not die in darkness, and MTR Express has promised the name Trainy McTrainface will stay on track.
Trainy McTrainface was the second MTR Express train Swedes voted on through public polls in the Metro newspaper. The name received 49% of the votes, against Håkan, — a Swedish musician — Poseidon and Miriam.
The new train’s name has sparked excitement, as Boaty McBoatface did when it first made a splash across the Internet. Some fans on Twitter say they want to go to Sweden just to ride the train.
Some Boaty McBoatface fans are finally relieved knowing that the name will live on, and not just as a consolation prize. (The NERC did give the name to a yellow submarine after taking it away from the research vessel, but that wasn’t enough for all of its supporters.)
This time, though, the joke is full steam ahead.
