Caledonian Sleeper so popular it could fill some trains three times over – managing director Kathryn Darbandi

Record sales for service linking Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Fort William and Inverness with London

The Caledonian Sleeper has enjoyed its “biggest and best” summer ever and expansion of the service is a possibility, its managing director has told The Scotsman.

Kathryn Darbandi said reservations had reached record levels, services were becoming fully booked earlier and the most popular trains could be sold three times over.

Speaking six months after the Scotland-London overnight service was taken back into public hands by the Scottish Government, Ms Darbandi said expanding the fleet could even be considered, such was the demand.

Eight in ten Caledonian Sleeper passengers are travelling on the service for the first time. (Photo by Derek Thompson)

She said: "The only way to increase capacity would be additional trains, which would be a really big decision. It would be very costly, but when you consider the broader economic benefit, it could be a consideration in the future.”

Ms Darbandi said the first new Sleeper fleet for decades, introduced in 2019 and featuring double beds and en-suite showers, was proving a strong attraction. Trains run between Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Fort William, Inverness and London.

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Ms Darbandi said: "A total of 80 per cent of our guests are first-time travellers – we’re quite shocked at that. It tends to be a lot of tourism and bucket list trips, and therefore we are bringing a lot of broader economic benefit to the tourism and hospitality industry in Scotland.

Caledonian Sleeper managing director Kathryn Darbandi in one of the trains' Club Cars. (Photo by Caledonian Sleeper)

“We’ve had an amazing summer – the biggest and best we’ve ever had – and more advance sales than before. We could sell Inverness and Fort William trains on a Friday night probably three times over quite easily."

A new record of 999 passengers were carried one night in August, while overall sales were 10 per cent up this year, having already largely recovered in 2022 from the Covid pandemic.

Some bank holiday and school holiday services next year are already full, which Ms Darbandi said was around two weeks earlier than before.

Ms Drabandi said the seated coach was also regularly sold out, even though some passengers had complained of not being able to sleep. She has yet to try it herself, despite regularly using the cabins.

The new fleet was introduced in 2019

She said: “It’s a very economic way of travelling – and a bit like an overnight flight, with at-seat service of food and drink.”

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Ms Darbandi said the Sleeper had also benefited from companies seeking to reduce the environmental impact of their travel. She said: "Taking the train is convenient and productive. Quite a lot of businesses are changing their staff travel policy and insisting people consider train before plane.”

The managing director said the Sleeper’s transfer to state hands in June, after Serco’s franchise was terminated early over a funding dispute, had gone “incredibly smoothly”, in large part because its entire workforce of around 250 had remained.

Ms Darbandi said staff were “so dedicated to their job and loved the brand and product that there was no question really – everybody said up front that it doesn’t really matter, we want to stay”.

Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Graham Simpson said: “It’s good news that sales are booming, but that was the case before the Scottish Government stepped in. If the staff have transferred and the service is running much as before, it’s difficult to see that nationalising it has made any difference.”

Alex Rowley, his Scottish Labour counterpart, “Public ownership needs to be made permanent and all parts of the Sleeper's operation should be directly employed by the new publicly-owned Sleeper.”

Much of the Sleeper operation remains outsourced to the private sector, including its locomotives, drivers, cleaners and maintenance.