~300,000
Caledonian Sleeper journeys a year
2023–24 (ORR, rounded)
2
sleeper services on the UK network
Caledonian Sleeper & Night Riviera
6 nights
a week each — no Saturday service
Sun–Fri
75
CAF Mark 5 carriages, Caledonian fleet
In service since 2019
69.2%
of Caledonian stops on time
2023–24 (ORR)
~7×
lower carbon than flying + a hotel
Operator/SNC-Lavalin study
Ridership
The Caledonian Sleeper carries roughly 300,000 passengers a year. GWR does not publish a standalone figure for the Night Riviera — it is reported inside GWR's whole-network total, so no reliable standalone number exists.
Caledonian Sleeper passenger journeys
2023–24
~300,000 (0.3m, rounded)
Caledonian Sleeper passenger kilometres
2023–24
204 million
Caledonian trains planned
2023–24
2,060
Night Riviera passenger journeys
2024–25
Not published separately — folded into GWR's ~89m network total
Fleet & Berths
The Caledonian Sleeper runs a modern CAF Mark 5 fleet introduced in 2019; the Night Riviera runs refurbished Mark 3 sleeping cars. A precise fleet-wide berth count is not published by either operator.
Caledonian Sleeper rolling stock
Ordered 2015, in service 2019
75 CAF Mark 5 vehicles (5 coach types), a £150m order
Caledonian cabin types
Current
Comfort seat · Classic Room · Club En-suite · Caledonian Double · Accessible Room
Night Riviera rolling stock
Refurbished 2017–18
Mark 3 sleeping cars, hauled by 4× Class 57 locomotives
Night Riviera sleeper car layout
Current
Typically 6 single + 6 double berths per car (demand-adjustable)
Punctuality & Reliability
Caledonian Sleeper performance is published by the Office of Rail and Road. The Night Riviera's punctuality is not broken out separately from GWR's network figures.
Caledonian 'On Time' (early or <1 min late at stops)
2023–24
69.2% (up from 68.1%)
Caledonian cancellations score
2023–24
3.0%
Delay-compensation claims closed
2023–24
6,512
Night Riviera punctuality
—
Not published separately (within GWR-wide figures)
Ownership & Subsidy
The Caledonian Sleeper passed from Serco to public control under Scottish Rail Holdings in June 2023. It is a subsidised public service — but headline grant figures cover ScotRail and the Sleeper together, so 'subsidy per passenger' claims (ranging from ~£95 to ~£250) are contested political estimates, not official figures, and are quoted here with that caveat.
Serco franchise began
2015
15-year franchise awarded
Transfer to public control
25 June 2023
Caledonian Sleeper Ltd, owned by Scottish Rail Holdings (Scottish Government)
Scottish Rail Holdings grant-in-aid
2023–24
£745.7m — but this covers ScotRail AND the Sleeper combined, not the Sleeper alone
Government support to the Sleeper (Serco era)
2022–23
~£29m
Fares
Both services price dynamically, so exact fares move with demand. These are indicative 2025–26 ranges, not fixed prices — always check live fares for your date.
Cheapest seated fare (dynamic)
2025–26
from ~£45–£59
Classic Room
2025–26
roughly £140–£250 depending on route & demand
Caledonian Double (top cabin, en-suite)
2025–26
up to ~£475–£500 for two, London–Fort William
Railcard discount
2025–26
up to a third off most fares (not the Caledonian Double)
Carbon
The most-cited green claim for the sleeper. The Caledonian Sleeper's own study (SNC-Lavalin / AtkinsRéalis, 2022) puts an Inverness–London journey at 33 kg CO₂ per person versus 288.9 kg for a flight plus a hotel night — roughly seven times lower, or about 90% less, on that route. We use the ~7× figure rather than higher numbers that circulate without a primary source.
The chart below applies the UK Government's 2024 greenhouse-gas conversion factors — 35.46 g CO₂e per passenger-km for national rail and ≈246 g for an average domestic flight — to each route's distance. Carbon per person, one way:
Network & Frequency
Britain has exactly two sleeper services, each running six nights a week. The Caledonian Sleeper splits into multiple portions; the Night Riviera is a single train each way.
Caledonian portions
Current
Highlander (Fort William / Inverness / Aberdeen) + Lowlander (Edinburgh / Glasgow)
New calling point
15 Jan 2026
Birmingham International added — first major timetable change in 30+ years
Night Riviera route
Current
London Paddington ⇄ Penzance, ~305 miles via Reading, Exeter, Plymouth
European context — ÖBB Nightjet fleet
end 2025
33 latest-generation trainsets in service
Methodology & Sources
Figures are drawn from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) data portal, Transport Scotland, Scottish Rail Holdings' annual accounts, the operators' own pages, and reputable rail press. Fares are dynamic and shown as dated ranges; contested subsidy estimates are attributed as such. Sources: ORR TOC key statistics, Transport Scotland, Caledonian Sleeper sustainability study, GWR Night Riviera, UK Government GHG conversion factors 2024.
This compiled dataset is released under a CC BY 4.0 licence — reuse the figures or the chart freely, with a credit link to this page. Download the full table as a .