New Caledonian Sleeper arrives with double beds and showers

The first of a brand new Â£150 million fleet of Caledonian Sleeper trains will arrive in Scotland within months ahead of carrying their first passengers next April.

By The Newsroom Wednesday, 30th August 2017, 10:04 am Updated Tuesday, 12th September 2017, 12:06 pm

New images of the brand-new Caledonian Sleeper trains with ensuite cabins with showers. Picture: Contributed

It will give travellers their first chance to see new features such as double beds and ensuite cabins with showers.

New-look lounge cars will feature bar stools and banquette seating round tables.

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New images of the brand-new Caledonian Sleeper trains with ensuite cabins with showers. Picture: Contributed

Serco, which runs the Scotland-London service, today launched a new website to give passengers a glimpse of the replacements for the current carriages, which are 40 years old or more.

Pictures of the completed interiors will follow once they have rolled off the production line at Beasain in northern Spain.

The first new train is likely to run on the Edinburgh/Glasgow to London route, followed by others on the Fort William/Inverness/Aberdeen to London services.

New images of the brand-new Caledonian Sleeper trains with ensuite cabins with showers. Picture: Contributed

Other features include a hotel-style key card system so passengers don’t have to ask staff to unlock their cabins.

There will be wi-fi throughout the train, which is not currently provided, and new reclining seats for seated passengers.

Fares have yet to be announced, but they will be higher than at present for the extra facilities such as double beds or ensuite cabins.

That means most sleeping car passengers will pay more because some two-thirds of cabins will be ensuite on a typical eight-coach train on the Edinburgh and Glasgow routes.

Caledonian Sleeper chairman Peter Strachan said: “We are still firming up pricing, with details to follow in the autumn.

“We would expect accommodation with enhanced facilities to be retailed at a premium.”

Mr Strachan said the new fleet “will offer a new standard in overnight travel” and “improve the service dramatically”.

The full fleet is due to be in service by autumn next year.

Five of the 75 carriages have been sent to a test track in the Czech Republic for two months.

The first train is then expected to reach the UK in November or early December.

There are plans to put them on display at major stations on the sleeper routes, such as Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central.

Before then, passengers will be given the opportunity to take a virtual reality tour of the coaches using VR headsets.