Caledonian Sleeper

[JonathanH]

Looks like the Northbound Lowlander was cancelled due to a fault last night, so they took an operational decision to cancel the southbound Highlander from Edinburgh, presumably to ensure the sets are still balanced. As someone who doesn't pay attention to the sleeper operation nowadays on a regular basis, is this normal? It seems an odd operational decision to wake people up at 4:30am from a train that is working perfectly fine to put them on LNER vs trying to get a path the following day and cancelling a train with plenty of notice if they're unable to do so.

The challenge may well be that the drivers aren't in the right place to run the southbound train if the northbound one doesn't run.

 

[BillStampy]

Looks like the Northbound Lowlander was cancelled due to a fault last night, so they took an operational decision to cancel the southbound Highlander from Edinburgh, presumably to ensure the sets are still balanced. As someone who doesn't pay attention to the sleeper operation nowadays on a regular basis, is this normal? It seems an odd operational decision to wake people up at 4:30am from a train that is working perfectly fine to put them on LNER vs trying to get a path the following day and cancelling a train with plenty of notice if they're unable to do so.

I had noticed that. I am on the Northbound Highlander currently and was curious as to why it was cancelled. Suppose crewing issues could be a problem with the cancellations, but that probably depends on how the diagrams play out.

Can't imagine it would've been great to have been awoken to say your train has been cancelled as the outbound isn't working. I certainly wouldn't be happy.

 

[BRX]

Looks like the Northbound Lowlander was cancelled due to a fault last night, so they took an operational decision to cancel the southbound Highlander from Edinburgh, presumably to ensure the sets are still balanced. As someone who doesn't pay attention to the sleeper operation nowadays on a regular basis, is this normal? It seems an odd operational decision to wake people up at 4:30am from a train that is working perfectly fine to put them on LNER vs trying to get a path the following day and cancelling a train with plenty of notice if they're unable to do so.

It would have been rather earlier than 4.30 if they woke people up on arrival in Edinburgh.

 

[JonathanH]

It would have been rather earlier than 4.30 if they woke people up on arrival in Edinburgh.

Coaching stock went over to Polmadie at 0615. I doubt that the passengers are woken on arrival. It seems more likely that the carriages are used as a static 'hotel' until the first trains run south.

 

[Bill57p9]

So far all going near enough according to plan for tonight's southbound services, however northbound is not looking as positive:
Highlander empty stock arrived into Euston 89 late and still hasn't left Euston, 45 late and counting.
Lowlander empty stock has not left Wembley yet (probably due to Highlander still occupying Euston platform 1) but was due in at 2134

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Aug 2026 ==

Update: Northbound Highlander departed Euston 55 late and Lowlander stock has arrived in plenty of time for departure.

 

[InvHst]

Not long announced on Sleeper website but tonight's Inverness portion of the sleeper cancelled due to an issue with a coach

 

[JamieL]

Not long announced on Sleeper website but tonight's Inverness portion of the sleeper cancelled due to an issue with a coach

CS seem to be very poorly served by their maintenance teams given all the technical issues.

I wonder what the knock on effect of this breakdown will be? London to Inverness cancelled tomorrow presumably. Not great on peak tourist season!

 

[JonathanH]

CS seem to be very poorly served by their maintenance teams given all the technical issues.

I wonder what the knock on effect of this breakdown will be? London to Inverness cancelled tomorrow presumably. Not great on peak tourist season!

The coaching stock is going ECS to Edinburgh, so it is feasible that it runs down to London as usual, empty, with the Aberdeen and Fort William portions, and is repaired to go to Edinburgh tomorrow night.

Not obvious however what kind of coach fault would mean that the whole train can't carry passengers between Inverness and Edinburgh, but can form part of the stock south to Edinburgh. There have been times in the past with locomotive issues where Highland passengers go separately to Edinburgh to take up their berths there but all of the alternative arrangements seem to involve day trains (and not early ones at that).

 

[hexagon789]

CS seem to be very poorly served by their maintenance teams given all the technical issues.

I wonder what the knock on effect of this breakdown will be? London to Inverness cancelled tomorrow presumably. Not great on peak tourist season!

Unless there's a swap, usually the southbound Inverness portion forms the next day's northbound Edinburgh portion.

 

[31160]

All of this doesn't give a lot of confidence in making a booking

 

[JonathanH]

All of this doesn't give a lot of confidence in making a booking

Well it certainly highlights the number of separate points of failure that exist with the operation of the sleeper services.

 

[hexagon789]

The coaching stock is going ECS to Edinburgh, so it is feasible that it runs down to London as usual, empty, with the Aberdeen and Fort William portions, and is repaired to go to Edinburgh tomorrow night.

Unfortunately the Highland Main Line line is blocked now, so the Inverness portion ECS at least won't be joining the rest of the sleeper at Edinburgh tonight for Euston unless they delay it.

 

[styles]

Well it certainly highlights the number of separate points of failure that exist with the operation of the sleeper services.

83.33& of services arrived within 10 minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the last reporting period.

Obviously being late isn't good, but the majority of services arrive in a reasonable time. This thread is the sort of 1 star reviews on Trustpilot where you only hear when things go wrong. If we had a discussion every time the sleeper was on time this thread would be 5x as long.

I've taken the sleeper around 80 times by my reckoning and I've never actually had a delay as far as I can recall!

 

[Kite159]

83.33& of services arrived within 10 minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the last reporting period.

Is that based on the public timetable arrival or the working timetable arrival?

Considering for the Inverness portion there is a 10 minute difference in the two times to reduce delay repay

 

[styles]

Is that based on the public timetable arrival or the working timetable arrival?

Considering for the Inverness portion there is a 10 minute difference in the two times to reduce delay repay

I believe the PPM is in relation to the working timetable, but somebody more knowledgeable may correct me.

 

[Struner]

83.33& of services arrived within 10 minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the last reporting period.

Obviously being late isn't good, but the majority of services arrive in a reasonable time. This thread is the sort of 1 star reviews on Trustpilot where you only hear when things go wrong. If we had a discussion every time the sleeper was on time this thread would be 5x as long.

I've taken the sleeper around 80 times by my reckoning and I've never actually had a delay as far as I can recall!

Would that be the Highlander or the Lowlander?

 

[SuspectUsual]

Obviously being late isn't good, but the majority of services arrive in a reasonable time.

Because of the slackness of the timetable the CS very rarely arrives on time. They’re probably the most frequently early services and also the most frequently late / cancelled, if that makes sense. An odd statistical quirk

 

[styles]

Would that be the Highlander or the Lowlander?

It's an overall PPM measure. I'm not sure if they publish a breakdown. Same with other operators.

 

[Bald Rick]

I believe the PPM is in relation to the working timetable, but somebody more knowledgeable may correct me.

Public timetable.

 

[JonathanH]

Unfortunately the Highland Main Line line is blocked now, so the Inverness portion ECS at least won't be joining the rest of the sleeper at Edinburgh tonight for Euston unless they delay it.

So, I guess the Inverness portion stays in Inverness tonight, the northbound Inverness portion terminates Edinburgh in the morning, and the northbound Edinburgh portion tomorrow night can't run. Unfortunately three sets of disrupted passengers.

Given the signalling diagrams, looks like the southbound Highland Chieftain won't be running tomorrow either (indeed confirned by LNER on their website). Two northbound Scotrail trains stuck at Aviemore as well.

 

[Struner]

It's an overall PPM measure. I'm not sure if they publish a breakdown. Same with other operators.

Sorry, my bad, I meant your own experience of ~80 times

 

[capital12]

So, I guess the Inverness portion stays in Inverness tonight, the northbound Inverness portion terminates Edinburgh in the morning, and the northbound Edinburgh portion tomorrow night can't run. Unfortunately three sets of disrupted passengers.

Given the signalling diagrams, looks like the southbound Highland Chieftain won't be running tomorrow either (indeed confirned by LNER on their website). Two northbound Scotrail trains stuck at Aviemore as well.

And in theory the set still in Inverness is not able to be used in service (although they may get it fixed during the day) as it was going to run as ECS last night as they weren’t able to fix it yesterday - so possibly a fourth set of disrupted passengers tonight!

 

[Bill57p9]

It's worse: last night's southbound Aberdeen and Fort William portions were caped at Edinburgh, together with the northbound Inverness portion. They ran empty to Polmadie a couple of hours ago.

So I believe there are currently 3 portions out of position: 2 serviceable at Polmadie (with last night's northbound Lowlander due to arrive too) and a third, presumed unserviceable, stuck in Inverness though the Highland Main Line has now reopened.

 

[GordonT]

It's worse: last night's southbound Aberdeen and Fort William portions were caped at Edinburgh, together with the northbound Inverness portion. They ran empty to Polmadie a couple of hours ago.

So I believe there are currently 3 portions out of position: 2 serviceable at Polmadie (with last night's northbound Lowlander due to arrive too) and a third, presumed unserviceable, stuck in Inverness though the Highland Main Line has now reopened.

Huge challenges to get things back to a steady state.

 

[styles]

Sorry, my bad, I meant your own experience of ~80 times

Oh I see. Lowlander.

 

[theblackwatch]

It's worse: last night's southbound Aberdeen and Fort William portions were caped at Edinburgh, together with the northbound Inverness portion. They ran empty to Polmadie a couple of hours ago.

So I believe there are currently 3 portions out of position: 2 serviceable at Polmadie (with last night's northbound Lowlander due to arrive too) and a third, presumed unserviceable, stuck in Inverness though the Highland Main Line has now reopened.

According to RTT at https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C04565/2026-08-12/detailed#allox_id=1 , an 8 coach set ran south on 1M16 rather than being caped at Edinburgh.

 

[Tetragon213]

Well it certainly highlights the number of separate points of failure that exist with the operation of the sleeper services.

Indeed. I've only ever used the sleeper once, and even on that singular occasion I was almost an hour late into Birmingham Intl. I get the feeling that either I am genuinely obscenely unlucky, or the rail industry is heavily massaging its figures, Cally included.

 

[hexagon789]

Indeed. I've only ever used the sleeper once, and even on that singular occasion I was almost an hour late into Birmingham Intl. I get the feeling that either I am genuinely obscenely unlucky, or the rail industry is heavily massaging its figures, Cally included.

The southbound to Birmingham International from the Highlands has the following performance within the past 12 weeks:

On time - 16%
Within 5 - 54%
Within 10 - 67%
Within 15 - 70%
Cancelled - 4%

While absolute right time performance is very poor, in general an hour late does seem to be more the exception than the rule.

 

[Tormod]

It's worse: last night's southbound Aberdeen and Fort William portions were caped at Edinburgh, together with the northbound Inverness portion. They ran empty to Polmadie a couple of hours ago.

So I believe there are currently 3 portions out of position: 2 serviceable at Polmadie (with last night's northbound Lowlander due to arrive too) and a third, presumed unserviceable, stuck in Inverness though the Highland Main Line has now reopened.

It will be interesting to read the Caley website updates after 2 today.

 

[MotCO]

Because of the slackness of the timetable the CS very rarely arrives on time

Isn't the slackness built in in case the trains have to divert due to planned engineering works, which usually occurs over night. Without the slackness built in, you would have to almost have a daily timetable if you were looking for accuracy.