Caledonian Sleeper London-Edinburgh service cancelled after train gets flat wheels

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Passengers using the troubled Caledonian Sleeper train connecting London with Scotland face uncertainty after the cancellation of the Thursday night service from the English capital to Edinburgh.

Travellers were told: “Unfortunately, this service has been cancelled as the result of wheel damage sustained on the train during Tuesday night’s service."

The Independent understands that some of the new carriages, part of a £150m upgrade, sustained “severe wheel flats” when the emergency brakes were inadvertently deployed in the Midlands on Tuesday's northbound journey.

Booked passengers are being offered a full refund as well as option of travelling by bus – though this will take much longer than the eight-hour rail journey.

All other services, including the service from London Euston to Glasgow, are due to run as scheduled.

Caledonian Sleeper, part of Serco, cancelled the train after the failure of Tuesday night’s northbound “Lowlander” train north from London Euston to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The brakes came on as the train travelled through north Warwickshire. The train continued at 15mph to Stafford station, where it was terminated at 5.46am – “Roughly when it should have been passing Lockerbie,” as the rail writer Philip Haigh observed.

Passengers were still hundreds of miles south of their destinations, and some complained on social media about their treatment.

Frank Fletcher tweeted to complain about “the total lack of communication when we disembarked at Stafford, and leaving all your customers standing in the rain not knowing what to do or where to go”.

Passengers were eventually transferred to coaches for the journey to Glasgow, where they arrived at noon. Travellers heading for Edinburgh were obliged to take a separate onward train from there to the Scottish capital.

Some opted to remain at Stafford and continue north on Virgin Trains, which agreed to accept their Sleeper tickets.

Jane Davis tweeted: “I’ve been travelling on the old sleeper for over thirty years. Several times a year.

“Experienced a few delays, some technical difficulties too, from time to time, especially as trains got older. But, never, in all my hundreds of journeys did the train not get to its destination.”

Other passengers complained about faults with the en-suite facilities.

Ryan Flaherty, managing director for Caledonian Sleeper, said: “We are working to understand the cause of this problem and we apologise to all guests affected.”

If a serious underlying flaw with the new rolling stock is identified, then other trains may have to be taken out of service for modification.

The failure is the latest in a series of setbacks for the fleet of Spanish-built trains that were bought to replace sleeper carriages from the 1980s and a buffet from the 1970s.

The new rolling stock was due to enter service in spring 2018. The launch was first deferred to October 2018, but then delayed by a further six months.

In late April, the inaugural overnight rail journey from Edinburgh and Glasgow to London Euston arrived in the English capital 200 minutes late because of Network Rail problems.

The introduction of new rolling stock on the “Highlander” service from London to Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William was due on 2 June, but was further delayed by five weeks because of problems with the rolling stock.

Serco has called the roll-out of new stock a “hugely complex undertaking with many challenges”.

Mr Flaherty said: “We appreciate guests on the Highland route won’t be travelling on new trains as planned in June, but we believe this decision ensures guests will receive the quality service they expect from the new trains.

“By the second week in July our new trains will be operating across all routes.”

Air fares from London to Edinburgh have soared as travellers seek alternatives. The cheapest British Airways fare from Heathrow on Thursday evening or early on Friday morning is £338 one way.