Will European revival of overnight services spread to Britain?
IT is not long ago that the demise of overnight services in Europe was foreseen, but a change in sentiment has taken place because opinion formers no longer wish to use short haul air flights given the high level of pollution caused. The result is the Nightjet brand established by the Austrian Federal Railway
ÖBB and a significant fleet of new rolling stock ordered to re-establish overnight rail links that had previously been abandoned.
The services have come about as a result of a decision by Deutsche Bahn (DB), the German state railway, to abandon overnight services in December 2016, which resulted in ÖBB stepping in to continue the operation of a number of routes and saw the acquisition of vehicles formerly used by DB. This included couchette coaches, which have been a long-standing concept used by rail companies in Europe, that offer bunk beds without much in the way of personal privacy, and seating coaches.
In 2017 the services carried 1.4m passengers using a fleet of 42 sleeping cars inherited from DB. By 2020 the overall fleet had increased to 160 vehicles, but to meet continuing growth a rolling stock replacement strategy resulted in an order for 33 new sevencar trainsets from Siemens that will provide the three categories of travel currently offered. The operations are mainly centred on Vienna and Munich. In addition to directly operated services there are Nightjet partners that allow services to be extended to eastern European countries such as Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
BRITISH SLEEPERS
In Britain, overnight services with sleeper car accommodation are now limited to the Caledonian Sleeper routes that link London Euston with the Scottish lowland belt and highlands, and the Night Riviera service between London Paddington and Penzance.
The decision to create a Caledonian Sleeper franchise that was separate from Scotrail was designed to improve management focus on the potential of the services, and the successful bid from Serco was based on providing new vehicles to replace the Mk.3 rolling stock that did not meet current interior expectations.
Seventy-five vehicles were ordered, made up of 53 sleeping cars of two types, 11 lounge cars and 11 seated coaches. The structure of the service is unchanged, in that two 16-car formations run in each direction from/ to Euston: the Highlander, which splits at Edinburgh, provides portions to Aberdeen, Inverness, and Fort William and the Lowlander, which splits at Carstairs, has portions for Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The trains are timed at 80mph or the maximum line speed if this is lower, although the rolling stock has a 110mph capability. The market for the two services is different as the Highlander attracts users for leisure and tourism, whereas 60% of Lowlander demand is for business travel.
The aim of the product is to replicate a hotel experience which resulted in an extensive interior design process to provide this within the constraints of the loading gauge. The emphasis is on treating travellers as guests, who receive a personal check-in with room service or an at-seat service for seated passengers. The supply chain is critical as there is a need to service 432 rooms and 279 seats to a high standard each day, with a well loaded train averaging 200 users.
RIVIERA DREAMS
The Night Riviera trains continue to operate using Mk.3 sleeping cars with a lounge car and seating vehicle also provided. It is a popular service and the availability of a ready-made replacement rolling stock design for UK operation must represent an opportunity to update product quality, although it has been acknowledged that the ride quality of CAF-built Mk.5 vehicles is not as good as the Mk.3 vehicles that were replaced.
The demise of other UK routes came about as daytime services became faster and more frequent which meant there was less demand for overnight travel. Although the expansion of operations in Europe suggests there are opportunities to consider new routes within the UK, this has not to date been taken up, with the exception of running to Oban which was used when engineering work prevented access to Fort William.
There is, however, an increasing reluctance to use short haul flights that cause heavy pollution and, as in mainland Europe, attitudes could change, with a demand for services using the Channel Tunnel as was originally intended.