First train on new-look Caledonian Sleeper service after trouble-plagued £100m upgrade arrives over three hours late

‘Edinburgh to London – delay, delay and an absolute lack of any honest communication,’ tweeted passenger Paul Gilhooley

The saga of Scotland’s much-delayed flagship link with London, the new Caledonian Sleeper, continues.

The inaugural overnight rail journey from Edinburgh and Glasgow to London Euston arrived in the English capital three hours, 20 minutes late.

Passengers on the new train, which is part of a £100m-plus improvement package, were due to arrive at 7.07am. But they finally pulled into platform 1 at Euston at 10.27am, 80 minutes after the first daytime service from Glasgow.

Data provided by Real Time Trains show that the pioneering service left Glasgow Central 10 minutes behind schedule at 9.50pm, but arrived in Edinburgh over two hours late.

The train then departed from the Scottish capital at 2.48am, three-and-a-half hours behind schedule. It made up only a few minutes on the journey south.

One passenger, Paul Gilhooley, tweeted: “Edinburgh to London – delay, delay and an absolute lack of any honest communication.”

Serco, which runs the service on behalf of the Scottish government, replied: “Hi Paul – apologies for this. We are doing all we can to make up time. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

The cause of the delay does not involve the rolling stock itself, but is believed to have begun with signalling problems at Carstairs.

The northbound service arrived in Edinburgh at 7.40am, two-and-a-half hours behind schedule.

The delay is the latest embarrassment for the trouble-prone project to replace sleeper carriages from the 1980s and a buffet from the 1970s.

The Spanish-built trains were due to enter service a year ago. The launch was first deferred to October 2018, but then delayed by a further six months.

Mark Smith, the founder of the Seat61.com website, who was travelling on the first northbound train, reported that the experience was worth waiting for: “The new Caledonian Sleeper trains are fabulous.

“They’ve a hotel feel, great beds, good food and now en suites too.

“Bit more pressure in the shower would be ideal, and I missed the coat hangers. But details aside these new trains are superb.

Speaking to The Independent before boarding his train, Mr Smith called the launch: “The railway event of the year.”

While the new trains are now operating on the “Lowland” service linking London with Edinburgh and Glasgow, the “Highland” destinations of Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William are still served with the old trains.

The Sunday night Highland service northbound from London Euston was also heavily delayed, and is not expected to arrive in Fort William until Monday afternoon.

One passenger on the Aberdeen segment, Dallas King, complained: “The sleeper train to Aberdeen which is meant to arrive at 7.49 is currently sitting in [Edinburgh] Waverley and we have not received any real explanation why.”

He was told that the train would arrive two hours late. He tweeted back: “Thanks for the update but 9.45 seems unlikely as we still have not left Edinburgh and there appears to be a problem as the door to the carriage won’t open so we can’t access the toilets.”

Real Time Trains now shows the arrival time in Aberdeen as 10.37am, nearly three hours late.

Passengers on the West Highland portion to Fort William, were due in at 9.57am but are now likely to arrive at 1.17pm – three hours and 20 minutes late, like the London-bound train.