Brexit has added yet further difficulty and delay for Channel Tunnel services. Smith explains: “Non-EU citizens require passport stamps, and in future will require finger printing and checking of ETIAS visa waivers. People now have to turn up for Eurostar 90-120 minutes before departure instead of 30.
“The only way this will change is if they modify the ETIAS process when it is introduced in 2023, and an increased throughput can be achieved by getting rid of retail units at St Pancras to allow larger passport checking facilities.”
Open access Midnight Trains plans to launch the first service from its Paris hub in 2024, and its map shows a route to Edinburgh and eight continental end destinations at distances of between 800km (500 miles) and 1,500km (932 miles). Its website gives no indication of how it would overcome the aforementioned challenges and make a return.
Smith argues: “The best we can hope for is a hub at Brussels with trains on to Vienna, Berlin and Prague, with timely links by Eurostar. We need Eurostar to be a lot more co-operative in offering through fares with guaranteed passenger rights. But, at the moment, Eurostar is going for high yield with limited trains instead of volume and growth.”
Rolling stock
GWR Night Riviera services are operated by BR Mk 3 stock built at Derby in 1982-84, when 208 vehicles were turned out to two designs - one with 13 compartments, and the other with 12 plus an attendant’s compartment.
The fleet was refurbished in 2017-18 with the introduction of keycard locks, new lighting, WiFi, charging points, a wardrobe and under-bed storage.
The lounge car was completely redesigned with bar-style seating in various configurations, and Sleeper Lounges with shower facilities have been introduced at Penzance and Truro to reflect the facilities already offered at Paddington.
For the Caledonian Sleeper, from 2018 - under a £150 million programme, with £60m from the Scottish Government and £50m from the UK Government - Serco introduced new Mk 5 trains built by CAF in Spain.
When the new stock was introduced on the Lowlander services, there were so many problems (damaged pipework affecting the showers, technical glitches locking toilets out of use, poor room cleaning, staff shortages and strikes) that its launch on the Highlander services was postponed.
It is hoped that the introduction of CAF’s LeadMind platform will improve reliability by providing real-time remote monitoring and condition-based maintenance alerts. The process improves the effectiveness of fault diagnosis and optimises maintenance planning to improve service availability, comfort and safety.
Such complexity with stock illustrates why the high cost of Sleeper cars makes it harder to develop a commercial proposition to compete with airlines, even when the ticket price is regarded as rail fare plus overnight accommodation.
While ÖBB has pockets deep enough to place a €750m (£646m) order for new trains from Siemens, other operators can only afford to lease existing stock. This has led to the suggestion that the EU should commission a large fleet of overnight stock for lease to public or private operators - the economies of scale would lower costs and spur the development of more routes.
In the UK, the competitive position of night trains, as well as inter-city trains, was made even more difficult by then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak halving the air passenger duty (APD) on domestic flights in October 2021, weeks before the UK hosted COP26. While it is arguable that the additional CO2 emissions may be small, the impact on the competitive position between air and rail was substantial and sent the wrong signal in an age of climate crisis - pre-COVID, 74,500 people a month flew between London and Edinburgh. The counter-intuitive measure was not lost on international media. ■
The writer thanks Mark Smith and Kurt Bauer for their kind help. Neither GWR nor Caledonian Sleeper were willing to provide someone for interview.
