New rail sleeper service ‘more comedy than romance’

Revamp to overnight trains on London-glasgow route hit by long delays, booking errors and food shortages

PASSENGERS were told to “dream big”. On the first new Caledonian Sleeper service yesterday morning, following its £150million revamp, they at least had plenty of time to do so, as it rolled into Glasgow hours behind schedule.

The service had promised to transform the experience of travelling by train between England and Scotland. Instead, there were lengthy delays, water leaks and booking mix-ups.

The coffee machine broke, the butter ran out and some passengers waited two hours for a bag of crisps.

The inaugural service from Scotland to London did not fare much better; there were power cuts, the food ran out and the lavatories were blocked. Passengers were offered full refunds. Michael Harrison from Glasgow could not contain his disappointment. “Are you even aware of how your new batch of trains are running?” he wrote online from his carriage. “It’s hideously late, no reasons given.

“Four hours to reach Edinburgh from Glasgow. Eight-nine hours later and we’re only halfway to London… we’re still faffing about in the Midlands having spent the whole night on a snail’s-pace tour of the North East.”

The northbound journey from Euston hit another problem when it became apparent that many cabins had been wrongly booked. But the staff ploughed on cheerfully and on the whole, passengers were determined to make the most of it.

There was a general consensus that the new seating carriages were more akin to a Habitat showroom, with lots of legroom and overhead lockers. The beat-up cabins and the microwaved food of old had been replaced with comfy seats, meals cooked in an actual oven, stranger-free sleeping arrangements and even double beds. Travellers au fait with the former sleeper service pointed joyfully to the power switches, USB sockets, dimmer lighting and en suites.

In the much vaunted Club Car, many passengers waited hours to receive their orders but praised the menu, which featured fish, game and haggis.

As the trains approached their destinations, weary staff knocked on cabin doors to give passengers, some of whom had paid around £350 for the experience, forms to fill in for compensation. The sleeper to London eventually arrived 80 minutes after the first daytime service from Glasgow.

But the teething problems were generally deemed to be expected and most passengers declared that, despite being “more comedy than romance”, the service was vastly improved.

Ryan Flaherty, managing director of operator Serco, said: “We apologise to guests affected by delays. These were as a result of signalling problems. We are engaging with Network Rail to understand why these issues occurred.”