Caledonian Sleeper

Butts said:

Bring back First Scotrail and get rid of these sheisters Abellio and Serco !!!

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MrEd said:

To be fair, the reviewer (in the full review on TA) admits that the lounge car was in complete darkness throughout the journey, suggesting a complete power failure. In these circumstances, allowing members of the travelling public to sit in it would almost certainly be a no-no on health and safety grounds (it has no working lights, heating or air-conditioning for a start- even if it’s daylight, what happens when the train passes through a tunnel, and a passenger injures themselves by walking into the wall partition because they can’t see properly?). Even if they could perhaps have expressed themselves more politely, the staff are clearly in the right upholding these safety precautions- they’re there for a reason. If the lounge is merely closed due to a staff shortage, and the lights, heating and air conditioning are working properly, they may well let passengers use it as a seating area.

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Deafdoggie said:

Surely if you promised to remain seated it would be OK?

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John Finnie: Railways should be run as a public service

After delay after delay, excuse after excuse, we learn that the Highlands are not going to get new Caledonian Sleeper trains until September.

This is completely unacceptable. Continued attempts by Serco to blame delays on the process of getting new rolling stock is ridiculous. Surely, they already knew how long that takes?

As usual, the Highlands is the last place to get improvements, even though our need is greater.

Those furthest from England expect no less of a quality service. The new fleet, already used for lowlander services, has been beset with technical issues. And even when we do get them, will they even run on time? The service has the worst punctuality of any UK operator. We have been told we’ll be travelling in a “hotel on wheels”.

For Highlanders, getting the sleeper has been more like a low-budget hostel. Passengers waiting in “laybys” for hours may well have been worried it had become like the Hotel California – one they will never leave – until they get unceremoniously bundled into a replacement bus service in the middle of the night.


Meanwhile, the RMT union say the situation for staff is at “breaking point”, with insufficient staffing levels and training.

With this contract, Serco has not set off on time and the train doesn’t appear to be fully functional.

The company seems happy to talk to the media, but less willing to listen to their customers or staff.

And let’s not forget these trains have government money behind them. Our money.

I would encourage the Scottish Government to reflect on its decision to award this contract to such an unscrupulous company and urge them to bring Sleeper services back into public ownership at the earliest opportunity.

Our railways should be run in the interest of public service, not private profit.

- John Finnie is the Green Party MSP for the Highlands and Islands.

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Bletchleyite said:

The lack of air conditioning is not a safety issue and does not generally cause vehicles on trains to be taken out of service.

The things that might are lighting and any kind of fire alarm system specific to the sleeper. But which line was this on, and were there actually any tunnels coming up?

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PaxVobiscum said:

A not-particularly-helpful article in the Herald today: (thanks to RailScot News https://www.railscot.co.uk/news/ for flagging this)

https://www.heraldscotland.com/opin...-should-be-run-in-interest-of-public-service/



While I share his disappointment on behalf of his constituents and tourists and am no apologist for Serco, I fear he has little understanding of the actual situation with CAF and its current projects, and particularly the rôle and responsibility of Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government in this situation.

The Scottish Government will be wishing to distance themselves further from being seen to be in any way responsible for this mess, rather than being anxious to remove the buffer (ho ho) of the middle man - much as in the situation with Abellio ScotRail.

EDIT: Sorry about the triple paste earlier.

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WesternLancer said:

And of course BR never had any delays on rolling stock delivery / acceptance did they....

Perhaps he'd never heard of the APT?

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Chrism20 said:

It’s easy to say that and I’ve said it myself a few times, however First ScotRail didn’t have to deal with hardly any of the stuff the current two have had to.

Between significant changes to the infrastructure and new rolling stock I don’t think you can honestly compare the two current operators with the last one.

The question should be could First Group have done it better?

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Bletchleyite said:

The Riviera haven't got enough spare stock (if any) to get anywhere near replacing CS. The Riviera is two short trains. CS is a much bigger operation.

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ainsworth74 said:

And as that operation has gotten more successful they've started running as long of a train as their available rolling stock allows. During summer they're running everything they can I believe at this point. Gone are the days when the Riviera might be two or three Mk3 sleepers with plenty spare in Old Oak.

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sleeper fan said:

No lounge service on tonights southbound Inverness Highlander. Will it be open to sit in?

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Andy Pacer said:

Just passed a pair of 73's hauling some mk V stock through Gleneagles, on testing I assume.

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sleeper fan said:

No lounge service on tonights southbound Inverness Highlander. Will it be open to sit in?

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Deafdoggie said:

I have travelled between Exeter St Davids and Polsle Bridge (largely tunnel) with no lights on the train, and no one died, or even got slightly injured. I don't really see how one could injure your self just sat there. Surely if you promised to remain seated it would be OK?

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Alanko said:

I was thinking about the lighting complaint a bit. I've seen mention of the cabins being too light in the new Mk5s. On aircraft taking off or landing at night they like to make the cabin as dark as possible. I read once that this was so that passengers had better night vision, in the case of an accident (if there isn't some burning Jet A-1 to help you find your bearings).

I would have thought that if you needed to rouse the passengers in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, it would be better to have them with the best night vision in case they have to leave the train?

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Butts said:

I still find it hard to believe that The Scottish Government threw out an Aberdeen based Company and replaced it with a Dutch Conglomerate and Prison Transport Provider to run Rail services in the Motherland.

If First had all the money being thrown at Serco surely they could have made a success of the Sleeper Services judging by their Riviera performance.

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NEWS
Priest slams "horror" breakfast served up on £400 Edinburgh-bound Caledonian Sleeper service
The sausage definitely looked like it needed an exorcist

David Armstrong described this offering as "1970’s microwave horror" (Image: twitter.com/profpercy)
An Anglican priest has taken to Twitter to share a photo of a substandard - in his opinion - cooked breakfast served up on the overnight London to Edinburgh Caledonian Sleeper service. Fr. David is the priest for St Botolph without Bishopsgate in London, and paid £400 for his ticket on the premium train service.

The photo shows an incinerated sausage, a rather leathery-looking cooked egg, a small piece of bacon, a circle of black pudding that appears have been overcooked to the point it looks like a portal to another dimension, a crunchy-looking tattie scone, mushrooms that look like earplugs, and a worrying tomato.


Fr. David Armstrong shared a picture of the disappointing meal, saying:

"Sleeper London-Edinburgh - no water in cabin basin, loo out of order, no towels, door doesn’t lock, breakfast 1970’s microwave horror - all this for £400! And we’d booked for Glasgow! Are you serious?"


His followers reacted with sympathy, with one tweeter saying that they had once been charged £7 on the same service for a polystyrene tub filled with a small quanity of macaroni cheese.


The sleeper services bills itself as a way to 'explore Scotland in style', but it's been beset with issues in recent years. In October 2018 it was revealed that the Caledonian Sleeper was running the oldest trains in Britain, with the average Caledonian Sleeper more than 38 years old.

Subsequently, the fleet underwent a £150m revamp with more comfortable cabins, but in June 2019 one service had to be cancelled due to the train suffering from damaged wheels and had to terminate in the West Midlands.

However, the main question we really need to ask is - do you think Fr. David's breakfast was acceptable, or did it ideally need the services of an old priest and a young priest to give it the send off it deserved? Let us know.......

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