Aboard the ‘Night Riviera’ sleeper train to Penzance

In the first of a two-part feature, David Clough samples the night and day ‘Riviera’ services to and from the South West, starting with an overnight journey from the capital to Cornwall.

In this article:

• The 'Night Riviera' is one of two remaining UK sleeper trains, operating between London and Penzance.
• Europe's resurgence in sleeper trains is driven by environmental concerns and the cost-effectiveness compared to flights and hotels.
• The train provides comfortable, well-maintained sleeper compartments, though lacking some modern amenities like en suite facilities, and offers a unique travel experience.

At the start of the 1960s, there were more night services linking London with Glasgow and Edinburgh than ran during the day, owing to the length of the journey time.

Long-established service patterns remained, such as Euston to Oban and St Pancras to Galashiels. And sleeping cars were conveyed on overnight trains between Paddington and Birkenhead (Merseyside), as well as Euston-Liverpool.

However, throughout the 1970s, shorter daytime journey times and service rationalisation killed off most of this traffic.

Today, the ‘Night Riviera’ is one of only two sleeping car services that survive in the UK. The other is the multi-portion ‘Lowlander’ and ‘Highlander’ service which comprises the Caledonian Sleeper between London and Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fort William, Inverness and Aberdeen. Both services only survive because of subsidies from the UK and Scottish governments.

By contrast, Europe is seeing a minor resurgence in such trains, led by Austrian Federal Railways.

Part of the reason for the renaissance is a desire to ‘green’ the journey by not flying.

Another is that the length of journey makes the cost of the rail journey comparable with that of flight plus hotel.

There may also be the allure of overnight train travel as an experience.

Is there scope in Britain for more Sleeper services?

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