Ref the above post, it has already been mentioned on this Forum that day passengers could once again (from May 2022) travel on the Fort William and Inverness portions of the Highland Sleeper, subject to a reservation being obtained. The Q&A section of the Caledonian Sleeper website contains a statement which appears to confirm this.
“We have good news, we are running all normal daytime services and we can’t wait to have you back on board.
Day service tickets are only available to buy a maximum of 7 days before travel and require a reservation. Anyone who does not hold a reservation may not be permitted to travel.
Caledonian Sleeper does not sell tickets for these day services. However, they are available to book directly via train (sic) stations or other on-line ticket retailers.”
However, a note on the Fort William timetable page reads as follows -
“Due to Covid-19 restrictions we are not operating as a day train between Edinburgh and Fort William in both directions during the currency of this timetable. For details of alternative services visit www.scotrail.co.uk”
Apart from the fact that all Covid restrictions have been lifted in Scotland, this seems to contradict the statement above. Or does this just apply to anyone wishing to board in Edinburgh or Glasgow but not those just using the West Highland line itself? And what are these “alternative services”? The first Scotrail arrival at Fort William is not until 12.08!
There’s also no mention of day passengers on the Inverness timetable, although a morning departure time (rather than just an arrival) is shown for Aviemore and Carrbridge (but not for Kingussie).
On my only trip on the Fort William sleeper ten years ago, the morning train picked up around a dozen day passengers, half of whom were walkers from Rannoch and Corrour. Perhaps they made their decision to travel based on the previous day’s weather forecast, but of course there could have been others needing to get to Fort William on business. Any users of the Inverness portion are likely to be commuters, given the arrival time of 08.42. For all of these, the requirement to have a reservation is just an extra inconvenience and might deter some from travelling, unless they're prepared to risk being denied boarding. The seated portion of the train is surely unlikely to be full.
Am I being cynical in thinking that Caledonian Sleepers (and GWR, for that matter) just wants to get rid of day passengers, regardless of whether they have a reasonable alternative?
