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Caledonian Sleeper

The overnight trains between London and Scotland, run by a company owned by the Scottish Government since June 2023. Two trains leave Euston each night except Saturday: the Lowland Sleeper for Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the Highland Sleeper, which divides at Edinburgh for Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William. Since 2019 they have been formed of CAF-built Mark 5 coaches with rooms, some en suite and some with double beds, hauled by GB Railfreight's Class 92 and Class 73/9 locomotives.

2023Current operator since
914 miles (1,471 km)Route miles operated
49Stations served
0.3 millionJourneys a year, ORR (2025–26)

Facts

Current operator since
25 June 2023
Main stations
London Euston
Type
Overnight sleeper train operator
Depots
Polmadie, Glasgow (Alstom's Glasgow Traincare Centre), the fleet's main base, Wembley, London (Alstom)
Main routes
Two trains each way every night except Saturday, both from London Euston. The Lowland Sleeper calls at Watford Junction and Carlisle and divides at Carstairs, one portion for Edinburgh and one for Glasgow Central via Motherwell. The Highland Sleeper calls at Birmingham International (since January 2026), Crewe and Preston and divides at Edinburgh into three: for Aberdeen via Kirkcaldy, Dundee and Stonehaven; for Inverness via Stirling, Perth, Pitlochry and Aviemore; and for Fort William over the West Highland line via Dalmuir, Crianlarich, Rannoch and Corrour. Southbound, the portions join in the same places.
Operating company
Caledonian Sleeper Limited, owned and overseen by Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd, which the Scottish Government wholly owns, with Transport Scotland as sponsor. It took over on 25 June 2023, when the franchise run by Serco Caledonian Sleepers Ltd since 1 April 2015 ended seven years early. GB Railfreight provides the locomotives and drivers under a contract to 2030, and Alstom maintains the coaches.

Routes 5 routes · 49 stations

London Euston – Inverness 19
London Euston – Inverness: schematic, not to scale London Euston — change for Northern, Victoria, Overground (Lioness)London Euston Birmingham InternationalBirmingham International CreweCrewe PrestonPreston EdinburghEdinburgh Falkirk GrahamstonFalkirk Grahamston StirlingStirling DunblaneDunblane GleneaglesGleneagles PerthPerth Dunkeld & BirnamDunkeld & Birnam PitlochryPitlochry Blair AthollBlair Atholl DalwhinnieDalwhinnie NewtonmoreNewtonmore KingussieKingussie AviemoreAviemore CarrbridgeCarrbridge InvernessInverness
London Euston – Aberdeen 14
London Euston – Aberdeen: schematic, not to scale London Euston — change for Northern, Victoria, Overground (Lioness)London Euston Birmingham InternationalBirmingham International CreweCrewe PrestonPreston EdinburghEdinburgh InverkeithingInverkeithing KirkcaldyKirkcaldy LeucharsLeuchars DundeeDundee CarnoustieCarnoustie ArbroathArbroath MontroseMontrose StonehavenStonehaven AberdeenAberdeen
London Euston – Fort William 21
London Euston – Fort William: schematic, not to scale London Euston — change for Northern, Victoria, Overground (Lioness)London Euston Birmingham InternationalBirmingham International CreweCrewe PrestonPreston EdinburghEdinburgh Glasgow Queen StreetGlasgow Queen Street DalmuirDalmuir Dumbarton CentralDumbarton Central Helensburgh UpperHelensburgh Upper GarelochheadGarelochhead Arrochar & TarbetArrochar & Tarbet ArdluiArdlui CrianlarichCrianlarich Upper TyndrumUpper Tyndrum Bridge of OrchyBridge of Orchy RannochRannoch CorrourCorrour TullochTulloch Roy BridgeRoy Bridge Spean BridgeSpean Bridge Fort WilliamFort William
London Euston – Glasgow Central 6
London Euston – Glasgow Central: schematic, not to scale London Euston — change for Northern, Victoria, Overground (Lioness)London Euston Watford Junction — change for Overground (Lioness)Watford Junction CarlisleCarlisle CarstairsCarstairs MotherwellMotherwell Glasgow CentralGlasgow Central
London Euston – Edinburgh 5
London Euston – Edinburgh: schematic, not to scale London Euston — change for Northern, Victoria, Overground (Lioness)London Euston Watford Junction — change for Overground (Lioness)Watford Junction CarlisleCarlisle CarstairsCarstairs EdinburghEdinburgh

Schematic, not to scale. Ringed stations are interchanges. Each strip is one service route with its stops in order. Where fast and stopping trains share a route, the strip shows the one with most stops, and a route whose stops all lie on a longer one is left out. Station order from TfL open data.

StationZoneInterchanges
London Euston1Northern, Victoria, Overground (Lioness)
Birmingham International
Crewe
Preston
Edinburgh
Falkirk Grahamston
Stirling
Dunblane
Gleneagles
Perth
Dunkeld & Birnam
Pitlochry
Blair Atholl
Dalwhinnie
Newtonmore
Kingussie
Aviemore
Carrbridge
Inverness
Inverkeithing
Kirkcaldy
Leuchars
Dundee
Carnoustie
Arbroath
Montrose
Stonehaven
Aberdeen
Glasgow Queen Street
Dalmuir
Dumbarton Central
Helensburgh Upper
Garelochhead
Arrochar & Tarbet
Ardlui
Crianlarich
Upper Tyndrum
Bridge of Orchy
Rannoch
Corrour
Tulloch
Roy Bridge
Spean Bridge
Fort William
Watford JunctionOverground (Lioness)
Carlisle
Carstairs
Motherwell
Glasgow Central

Stations, zones and interchanges from TfL open data (2026-10-07). National Rail interchanges are listed where TfL groups the stations together.

Fleet

ClassUnitsFormation and notes
Caledonian Sleeper (Mark 5 coaches, Class 92 and 73/9)475 Mark 5 coaches built by CAF (11 seated, 10 club cars, 40 sleepers and 14 accessible sleepers), formed into four trains of up to 16 coaches with 11 spare; hauled by GB Railfreight's 12 Class 92 electric locomotives and six Class 73/9 electro-diesels (73966 to 73971)

History 10

  1. Overnight trains with sleeping cars first run between London and Scotland, the beginning the Caledonian Sleeper counts its history from.
  2. British Rail threatens to withdraw the Scottish sleepers. They survive privatisation as part of the ScotRail franchise.
  3. Transport Scotland names Serco to run the sleepers as a franchise of their own for 15 years, with new trains to be built, backed by a £60m grant from the Scottish Government.
  4. Serco orders 75 coaches of five types from CAF, about €200m, financed by a Lombard leasing company with the Scottish Government's grant: four 16-coach trains and 11 spares.
  5. Serco Caledonian Sleepers takes over the trains, split off from the ScotRail franchise. GB Railfreight provides the locomotives and drivers, and Alstom maintains the coaches.
  6. The new Mark 5 coaches carry their first passengers, on the Lowland Sleeper from Euston to Edinburgh and Glasgow, after two delays. They replace coaches built for British Rail: Mark 3 sleeping cars and Mark 2 seated and lounge cars.
  7. Every Caledonian Sleeper train is formed of Mark 5 coaches for the first time, by 11 October; the first reach Fort William on 14 October.
  8. The Scottish Government says Serco's franchise will end on 25 June 2023, seven years early, after rejecting Serco's proposal to rebase its finances as poor value for money.
  9. Caledonian Sleeper Ltd, owned by the Scottish Government through Scottish Rail Holdings, takes over the trains and their staff. GB Railfreight agrees a seven-year deal to keep hauling them.
  10. The Highland Sleeper is rerouted through the West Midlands and calls at Birmingham International, its first new stop in more than 30 years; it had run via the Trent Valley, with Crewe its first stop.

Sources 26

How we source figures →

unverified coach types: Rail Engineer (2021) and the Platform 5 numbering cited by Wikipedia give 11 seated, 10 club, 40 sleeper and 14 accessible coaches (75, matching ORR's 75 vehicles); Caledonian Sleeper's own page says 11 club cars and 12 accessible coaches, which add up to 74, route strips: stations from Caledonian Sleeper's online timetables (read 7 October 2026), which are inconsistent: Edinburgh appears on the Inverness timetable only on Sundays, Falkirk Grahamston only southbound, Glasgow Queen Street on the Fort William timetable only northbound on weekdays and southbound on Sundays, and Inverkeithing, Kirkcaldy and Leuchars on the Aberdeen timetable southbound and on Sundays. Each strip shows every station the operator lists for that route in either direction; some calls may be to set down or pick up only, stations managed: ORR's 2025–26 statistics give none for Caledonian Sleeper; its Euston, Inverness and Fort William lounges are not stations, journeys: ORR rounds Caledonian Sleeper's 2025–26 figure to 0.3 million; Transport Scotland gave about 270,000 a year in 2014, depots: Polmadie as the fleet's main base (Railvolution, September 2025); Wembley is named only in Alstom's 2015 contract, which runs to 2030; servicing at the Scottish terminals is not described in the sources read, 1873: the sources give only the year, not which railway ran the first sleeping cars, the coaches' owner: Caledonian Sleepers Rail Leasing Ltd, formerly Lombard Corporate Finance (5) Ltd (Railway Pro, 2015; Companies House); Railway Gazette (2014) said the coaches would be leased through Beacon Rail, Class 99: GB Railfreight said in 2023 that its new bi-mode Class 99s could replace the 92s and 73/9s once approved; no source read says this has happened

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