When it comes to the provision of onboard amenities, the UK's sleeper trains lag behind their counterparts in mainland Europe.
The Franco-Spanish Elipsos trains, along with some of Deutsche Bahn's City Night Line services, provide passengers with en suite showers and toilets, as you will read in the "Platform" section in Business Traveller's September issue.
By comparison the UK's main overnight trains, which run between London Euston and Scotland, comprise of rolling stock dating back almost 40 years, when such facilities were unknown.
But there is some good news. According to The Scotsman, whoever takes over the Scotrail franchise (Scotrail is the operator of the Anglo-Scottish sleeper services) from 2015 must agree to invest in new and superior rolling stock.
To this end, a £100 million has been put forward by the Scottish and UK governments to upgrade the Caledonian Sleeper (the brand name for the Anglo-Scottish service) with amenities like those above plus the possibility of providing a dining car and wi-fi.
It is true that overnight trains have been in decline both in the UK and mainland Europe. But there is a demand, albeit a limited one, for more comfortable trains.
The great advantage of travelling overnight is that you save on hotel bills and the train is more reliable than the plane in bad weather, especially so during the season of winter fog.
However, don't get too excited just yet. The new trains have not yet been designed, let alone built, so travellers will have to put up with the existing trains for a while.
Alex McWhirter
