CAF Mk 5s finally take over all ‘Caley’ Sleeper services
“WE have delivered a transformation,” Caledonian Sleeper Managing Director Ryan Flaherty told RAIL on October 11.
He was speaking on the morning that all Caledonian Sleeper trains were formed of CAF Mk 5 Sleeper coaches for the first time, powered by Class 73s and ‘92s’.
This was more than a year later than planned, owing to various problems with the stock. Mk 5s have been used on the ‘Lowlander’ service between London Euston and Edinburgh/ Glasgow since April.
“This is the full deal. I have been hugely operational in my role, but now I can speak to operators from here and abroad, and we can grow,” said Flaherty.
He explained that the first night was marred by overhead wire problems in the Preston area that delayed the trains, while the Fort William portion of the ‘Highlander’ did not run because the West Highland Line was closed for infrastructure renewals.
The first Mk 5s to reach Fort William in passenger traffic arrived on October 14, with the southbound train that night the first to use the new coaches.
Last month, Flaherty had told RAIL that the new coaches would be in traffic on Sunday October 13. In the end, they were introduced slightly earlier.
He explained: “We realised that the coaches were as finished as they were going to be. We also learned from the April launch - we looked at the plan and recognised that Sundays are very busy, so we went earlier to reduce the risk.”
While acknowledging faults on the stock, Flaherty said: “Would we have these coaches without CAF? No. They have got better with them. The issues have related to the provision of spares and materials, and it will take until the end of the year for everything to be right.”
He said the door locking system remains an issue on the new vehicles - this uses a key card system, as per a hotel.
“It’s niggly little things now,” he said. “In my view, we are now in the bedding-in process. Some of the coaches still require water pipe modifications, and we’ve a period now where I want to speak to CAF and let the stock bed in.”
Flaherty also told RAIL that Period 5 (July 21-August 18) was the busiest ever for CS since the franchise began in April 2015. He said that only 39 cabins were left unsold through the entire time period.
The Mk 5s replaced Mk 2s and Mk 3s that dated from the mid-1970s and early 1980s. CS owns the Mk 2s (with some sold to stock owner Eastern Rail Services), while Porterbrook owns the latter. ERS has also bought some of the Mk 3s, while some have been scrapped. Porterbrook is investigating potential uses for the stock.
The introduction of the new coaches on all routes means that only Class 73/9s and ‘92s’ can be supplied by GB Railfreight (which operates the trains for CS). This means Class 67s hired from DB Cargo UK and ‘90s’ hired from Freightliner have been returned to their operators.