New Edinburgh-Paris Sleeper Service Proposed

[RJS1977]

3 hours ago, caradoc said:

 

Even with the huge subsidy it receives, and the comparative simplicity of operating entirely within the UK, the Caledonian Sleeper is not exactly a budget way to travel ! 

 

 

I'm not sure about that. A few years ago some friends and I took part in a recording of 'Eggheads'. The TV company would pay for return travel and one night's hotel expenses.

 

Looking up the train times, I discovered that to get up to Glasgow and out to the studio in time for our 2pm arrival time (I think the recording was at 4, but there was make-up and various legal niceties to be gone through first), I would have to have caught a train from Reading about 6am, meaning a 5am alarm call - which meant I would be just hitting my tiredest at recording time.

 

I was then inspired to look up the cost of catching a train to London, then going up on the sleeper. To my surprise, it worked out at about half the price of the early morning journey from Reading. The TV company quibbled at first, but eventually agreed to my proposal provided another contestant shared a cabin with me.

 

The only fly in the ointment was that whilst Das fell asleep the moment he got into bed, I think I was awake at least as far as Carlisle - it took me that far to work out how to turn the nightlife off!

 

Once at Glasgow, I had time to go round the Riverside Museum and take a look at the Waverley and the TS Queen Mary in the morning, before taking a half hour nap in Starbucks while I waited for my teammates to arrive.

 

The lack of sleep can't have affected me too badly, as I was the only member of the team to beat an Egghead!

 

But I'd certainly consider taking a sleeper again - indeed I had considered a trip on the Cornish sleeper this year (the only place I can get to from Reading without needing a mask!) - the only thing that put me off was the number of other visitors to Cornwall this year.

 

 

[wombatofludham]

Strange, but I never had a problem sleeping in the Mk3 sleepers up to Scotland back in the 80s and 90s, I'd be rock solid until yer man knocked the door with tea and bikkies.  Whether the person sharing the cabin with me got a good night's sleep is another thing as I apparently snore like a Deltic at full chat.

The success or otherwise of this venture will depend on one thing: the community green conscience, and how successful air-shaming will become.  It's happening on the Continent, so who knows.  I would imagine, given CAF have managed to shoehorn a Premier Inn into a UK gauge train, they would be in the pound seats for a more fire resistant cross Channel fleet if it comes to pass.  Let's hope they can crack on with the designs just in case...

[wombatofludham]

One other thing I forgot to mention (well two): I recently read an article that Brittany Ferries are committing serious money to looking at an electric powered Ekranoplan type fast ferry which will skim the sea at TGV speeds, and the "flying bum" Airlander is putting forward an electric passenger hybrid airship for Liverpool to Belfast and Dublin, which whilst travelling at a leisurely 80 or so mph, will have on board amenities closer to a ship, and again be relatively carbon friendly.

So businesses are already thinking ahead to a point where flying will be socially unacceptable unless Airbus crack the electric or hydrogen fuelled passenger aircraft conundrum with their current research.  I wouldn't totally dismiss the idea out of hand just yet, I think even in gammony Britain there is some sign of attitudes changing.

[ess1uk]

Interesting idea.

I did overnight Moscow to Leningrad in 1987, but didn’t get much sleep.

[lmsforever]

This is one service that I cant see ever starting its just a train to far .