Sleeper toilets closed after ‘wrong kind of bleach’ used by cleaners

Water pipes on the Caledonian Sleeper’s £150 million fleet were seriously damaged days before it entered service after the wrong type of chemical was used to clean them, Scotland on Sunday has learned.

The caustic fluid burned through pipework, leaving many passengers without water in the train’s brand new en-suite toilets, basins and showers.

All 75 carriages in the fleet were affected by the error, which is believed to have been caused by a firm acting for Spanish train manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), rather than Sleeper operator Serco.

The problem was only discovered after politicians and other special guests boarded the inaugural service from Glasgow to London in April.

Disabled toilet in new Caledonian Sleeper train. Picture: John Devlin

It is also thought to have affected sensors which monitor water levels, leading to toilets elsewhere in the train closing down.

However, the cause was not established until later, which led to major repairs.

An industry source said: “It was like the wrong kind of bleach being used, which reacted with the stainless steel of the pipes throughout the system.

“There has been a progressive programme to go through all the carriages, some of which were in worse condition than others.

“One set of carriages, which sat with the chemical in them for some time, was the worst affected.”