Wherefore art thou Nightstar? Thou hast been a Ghost Train – The Nightstar Renaissance

What may this mean.
That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel,
Revisit’st thus the glimpses of the moon.

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4

To Sleeper Train, Perchance to Dream of Europe

In the late 1980s a sign appeared the planned Manchester service depot sported the sign « Le Eurostar habite ici » to advertise the coming Eurostar Regional and Nightstar trains. Similar signs appeared at Glasgow Central station. We last looked at sleepers in The (Caledonian) Sleeper Awakes; this time we investigate a bold wagon lit gambit that failed, and where and how the trains are operating now.

The UK entered Europe in 1973, and in the same year Parliament approved construction of the Channel Tunnel, so convenient one seat train trips to the Continent now appeared to be within reach. In preparation, British Rail (BR) and SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français) had since 1971 been studying options for rail service through the tunnel, and the rail links to their respective capitals. They had determined that eight daytime trains would suffice between London and Paris, complemented by one overnight service daily. Our interest is in the development of the latter.

BR initially planned to use Victoria as the London terminus for Channel Tunnel rail services, as its long platforms could accommodate the envisaged 15 car sleeper trains. Victoria had long styled itself as the ‘Gateway to the Continent’. At the time it was the departure point for the Night Ferry, a nightly train with sleepers to Paris and Brussels, conveyed by ferry between Dover and Dunkirk.

A separate 1973 study into cross-channel night trains additionally suggested overnight sleepers from Northern England, the Midlands, and London to over a dozen European cities, including Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Milan, Salzburg, and Toulouse. It further proposed winter ski services to Chur and Interlaken in the Swiss Alps.

However, high inflation and government budgetary problems ended the 1970s Channel Tunnel dream state indefinitely after just two years, much as they had for the plans to extend the Fleet Tube.

The Night Ferry train last ran on 31 October 1980, long before the Channel Tunnel opened. When the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) concept was born in 1984, the dream for direct night sleeper trains between Britain and the Continent re-awoke.

In anticipation of the Channel Tunnel Act in 1987, BR and SNCF had planned for the infrastructure for their expected rail services. Rolling stock specification and procurement was a joint effort by the UK, French, and Belgian railways. To complement the Eurostar, a parallel fleet of the Nightstar sleeper trains was devised for round the clock Channel Tunnel operation.

Proposed Sleeper Diagrams

The initial timetable proposed in 1989 had five trains a night departing from Waterloo International, by then the designated London terminal for continental trains, as follows:

1. 20.00 to Turin arriving at 07.30 and Milan at 09.00.
2. 21.00 to Narbonne arriving at 08.00 and Marseille at 07.00, and after a train split at Avignon, arriving in Nice at 09.30.
3. 22.00 to Hanover arriving at 06.55 and Hamburg at 08.05, with train a split at Cologne, arriving in Stuttgart at 06.25 and in Munich at 08.15.
4. 22.45 to Rotterdam arriving at 06.55 and Amsterdam arriving at 08.30.
5. 23.00 to Cologne arriving at 06.35 and Frankfurt arriving at 08.55.

However, having determined that this Channel Tunnel sleeper proposal was too expensive, the Government‎ disbanded the venture in 1990.

That November, European Passenger Services (EPS) was set up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Rail Board, to develop and establish passenger services through the Chunnel by its planned opening date of 15 May 1993.

EPS conceived of the Nightstar sleeper train service as a complement to the daytime Eurostar services, able to serve longer trips between a wider range of British and continental cities, and to get business travellers to their destinations before the morning flights landed.

EPS planned an entirely different overnight network from BR and SNCF’s proposal, comprising six trains, of which two would include portions to both France and Belgium:

This was only meant as the initial service provision – trains to many other countries, such as Switzerland, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia (as was) were also foreseen.

Services from London would consist of sixteen vehicles, comprising two rakes of eight semi-permanently coupled carriages. Each rake would contain five sleepers, two reclining seat coaches, and a galley car.

The provincial Nightstar services, in contrast, would be formed of semi-permanently coupled seven car rakes, containing three sleepers, three coaches and a service car for a more affordable mix of accommodations. For instance, the Plymouth to Brussels service would be coupled with the Edinburgh to Brussels set to continue on to the Chunnel and thence Belgium. On the return, most subsets would be split at Olympia accordingly, however the London to Dortmund/Frankfurt sleeper would be split at Cologne in each direction.

EPS in turn established European Night Services Ltd (ENS) as the Nightstar operator in 1992, of which it would be the majority shareholder. Other interest in the company were held by SNCF, Deutsche Bahn (DB), and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Netherlands Railways).

The contract for Overnight Stock (ONS) construction was signed in June 1992 with Metro-Cammell (having been bought in 1989 by Alsthom – as it was known, until 1998, when the ‘h’ was dropped) for 139 carriages for £120m. The order comprised 72 sleepers and 47 passenger coaches, with 20 service cars for catering, lounge, and train manager accommodation. Each sleeping car held ten sleeping compartments and twenty bunk beds, each with their own toilet and sink. Six of the compartments incorporated an en-suite shower.

The consists from Waterloo International and Kensington Olympia would be hauled by a brand new fleet of electric locomotives, Class 92s, capable of running off 25kV overhead wires and 750V DC Southern Region third rail, as well as interfacing with the BR and Chunnel signalling systems. Of the 46 units ordered from Brush Traction for £138m, seven were dedicated to Nightstar operation, nine to SNCF, with the rest to BR’s Railfreight Distribution unit. But lacking the SNCF signalling system, the Class 92s would hand over the Nightstar consists to SNCF traction at Calais.

For Nightstar services running on the non-electrified lines, twelve Class 37 locomotives were completely overhauled, re-geared for higher speeds and upgraded to provide Electric Train Supply (ETS) for the passenger stock. However, ETS would not be sourced primarily from the locomotives, but instead be provided by a pool of generator vans dedicated to the Nightstar service. Five BR Mk 3 ex-sleeper cars were selected for such conversion.

Operational Complications

In testing it became clear that actual operations would be considerably more complicated than foreseen. To allow Nightstar rakes to operate over the third rail Southern Region, Class 73 generator vans were planned based on converting redundant Mk3 sleeper cars. Belgium’s Société nationale des chemins de fer belges (SNCB) system required a locomotive that could both pull and provide ETS, from whence came the idea to modify British diesels and send them to the SNCB.

Another domestic traction exception was required for the later planned Manchester consist, which would be hauled by a Class 90. The same type of locomotive was required for the empty coach stock (ECS) journey from Glasgow Central to Polmadie Traction Depot, where trains would be serviced alongside Caledonian Sleeper sets.

To satisfy the requirement that all Chunnel trains have a locomotive at each end in case of breakdown, two Class 92s would haul the train between London and Calais Ville Yard, where both locomotives would be replaced by an SNCF electric locomotive to Bruxelles. There, SNCB electric traction would take over to pull the consist on to either Roosendaal (Netherlands) or Aachen.

The test engineers ha‎d spent many nights testing the initial Nightstar prototype carriage consists and locomotives between Washwood Heath Sidings and on to the Lichfield line. Some testing on the European side was also performed at Aachen. The chief locomotive engineer responsible for the locomotives believed that Nightstars would have been a nightmare operationally, given the logistics of keeping the correct traction and ETS vans at the appropriate locations for swapping in and out of the consists.

Internal Electrics were even more complicated

As complex as the traction and ETS supply situation was, the Nightstar’s electrical load shedding system was even worse. It had five levels of operation, each shutting down additional electrical sub-systems as available power decreased. For example, ‎load shed level 1 was to shut off half the lighting, and load shed level 2 would shut down the water pumps for the showers. Hence Nightstar passengers arriving into London during the morning peak might well have found their morning showers losing hot water without warning, as commuter trains competed for the limited third rail power available. The possibility of a “luxury sleeper” dumping passengers at Waterloo unwashed and unrinsed did not bode well for public relations.

As project management realised the magnitude of Nightstar locomotive and electrical problems, they proposed that the ONS reclining seat coaches be transferred to Eurostar to operate a daytime service from Waterloo to Amsterdam and Cologne. European Passenger Services did not accept this proposal, but did not publicly state the reason.

Regional Eurostar sets were also proposed to run from a number of regional UK cities. Glasgow, Manchester, and Leeds being seriously considered. At the time, it was thought possible to section off at least one platform at each of these stations for Customs purposes.

Bank financing was provided, from which ENS would then lease the stock – the same arrangement that was later adopted by privatised train operating companies. The goal was for the first Nightstar trains to start running in 1995, with the full network of day and night trains between the major regions of Britain and north west Europe rolling by the millennium.

Unfortunately, because of the resulting axle loadings, Nightstar trains would be unable to use many regional UK railway lines. This ended plans for through services from UK regions to the Continent, as well as on the LGV Nord line to Paris. Instead, Nightstar would have to be restricted to the slower, classic SNCF routes.

Reality Bites

EPS should have worked out sooner or later that there was no sustainable market for six nights a week services between smaller cities like Swansea and Cardiff, and Paris and Brussels.

This Nightstar venture was all part of the political deal made to get the tunnel built, along with the Regional Eurostar. It was an idealistic political concept of an integrated train service to demonstrate European rail unity, but as designed it was unworkable in practice.

Nightstar car specs

The trains were designed to a five star hotel experience, with the upscale sleeper bedrooms all having an en-suite toilet and basinette, and about half of those also having an en-suite shower. Therefore the carriages needed to carry heavy water tanks. and the whole design was centred around a premium experience, at a corresponding premium fare. However this also increased the electricity load.

Nonetheless, there were deeply reclining seats for economy travellers in the coach cars.

Nightstar Construction, and Eurostar Daytime Operation Starts

The cars were based on Metro-Cammell/Alsthom Mk 4 shells, but modified as follows:

• without the tilt equipment,
• modified for long distance operation,
• updated to meet the safety standards of the several countries the trains were proposed to run in, and
• strengthened to meet the additional sleeper car weight requirements.

Nightstar carriage stock began construction in 1992 and proceeded slowly.

Meanwhile Eurostar daytime London to Paris/Brussels services started on 14 November 1994, and EPS received the first overhauled Class 37/6 locomotive for Nightstar on 31 January 1995.

Transition to Privatisation

At BR privatisation in 1994, EPS was transferred to become a subsidiary of a holding company in the ownership of the Secretary of State (SoS). The state was still responsible for the Eurostar service, but the holding company lacked the financial stability and resources to fund what would have been a loss-making service like Nightstar.

Then on 11 November 1993 the Government announced its plans to privatise EPS by transferring it to the consortium which won the bidding process to build and operate the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) between Folkestone and London, thus forming part of the state’s financial contribution to this project. On 29th February 1996, it was formally announced that consortium London & Continental Railways (L&CR) was the preferred bidder to build and operate the CTRL – now known as HS1.

Platforms not cleared for Customs

Like the regional Eurostars, Nightstar services were directly affected by the security restrictions imposed by the UK government at the time of the Channel Tunnel opening, which had not signed the Schengen agreement.

Nightstar Realisations

London and Continental Railways (LCR) took over the CTRL project on 31st May 1996, Eurostar (UK). By early 1996, however, 18 months of Eurostar operation produced only a quarter of BR’s traffic projection of 15 million passengers per annum. Despite this, LCR was confident in their optimistic projections. But in 1997 it lost £140 million on a turnover of only £130 million. To attempt to alleviate cash shortfall, LCR scrapped Nightstar and postponed the Regional Eurostar train services. The company then advised the Government that it was unable to meet the terms of its “Development Agreement” Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract with them, who were left holding the bag to pay £109 million lease termination costs on the Nightstar carriages.

Design Problems Manifesting

In April 1997, the first Nightstar vehicles were tested on trial runs behind Class 92s on northern portions of the East and West Coast Mainlines (ECML and WCML). However the project was two years behind the original 1995 Nightstar service start date.

Operating trains from a number of stations in the UK to a number in Europe would have been an operational nightmare in any case, as splitting and joining Nightstar consists and different locomotives likely would have been unreliable across a number of countries.

Furthermore, the heavyweight cars ranged from 50 to 53.5 tonnes, were derived from the safety features required to operate in the Chunnel, and the on-board hotel services such as the en-suite showers. A fully loaded coach would come in at 60 tonnes, meaning a 16 coach train would weigh 900 tonnes – common for European trains, but very heavy for British rails.

This resulted in a train consist that would have drawn more current than could reasonably have been supplied by overhead power. The second locomotives or additional generator van required extra ‎cost and logistical bother.

Despite being based on the Metro-Cammell Mk 4, the carriages had extensive changes which were effectively a new design, and as such were untested and unproven.

Eurostar Troubles

Adding to the ‎sleeper troubles was the fact that the first daytime Eurostar services were carrying a lot fewer passengers than originally predicted, which started to cast doubt on the Nightstar project.

It also became apparent that European railways were not keen on investing in secure passenger areas nor secure sidings at their busy principal stations, given that the sleeper market was expected to be relatively small compared to Eurostar traffic.

Hammer Time

In the new transport market of low-cost airlines and the UK’s rejection of the Schengen agreement, the Nightstar trains suddenly found themselves to be over-specified – the wrong train and the wrong service, at the wrong time. As they would no longer be competitive, the UK government put the project on hold in May 1997. Ironically this was around the date that the Nightstar sets were initially scheduled to start service.

Having never turned a wheel in revenue service in the UK, the Nightstar fleet was now a major political embarrassment. Most of the Nightstar stock was stored away from public view at the Ministry of Defence base at Kineton, Warwickshire. Money down the toilet so far as the UK taxpayer was concerned, but possibly a decent and cost effective rail ‎fleet addition for another country.

A Knightstar train?

A London Reconnections commentator had led a team to review Royal Train operations in 1997-98. Palace officials were quite attracted to the idea of replacing at least some Royal sleeper car stock with Nightstar cars rather than a completely new build, as Nightstar carriages would have permitted travel through the Chunnel. The idea was to convert a number of ONS sleepers into part sleeping compartment and part drawing room.

This was the period when BR’s InterCity was going through its ‘hot orange’ phase of interior design. Accordingly, a new design for the Royal Train interior incorporating the colour du jour was submitted to the Palace, and was returned with the Monarchical Hand having drawn an arrow pointing to the curtains and written the words “V horrid”.

If Nightstar cars had been used for the Royal Train, additional electrical power would have been required for the hotel services at night and when travelling over non-electrified track. The engineers thought that this wouldn’t be a serious problem, however.

The high cost of security modifications to the trains was a problem – it was more than the available funding. The Nightstar stock would have been quite a good replacement, if expensive. Instead, as recommended by the commentator, a reduction of the Royal Train fleet was settled on, with refurbishment of the remaining stock, in more muted, and presumably regal, colours.

Breaking the Fare Barrier

When the EU deregulated European air travel in 1997, it led to the immediate creation of budget airlines, offering unheard of £50 return flights to Europe. Increased competition moved some carriers to offer early morning flights. The overnight sleeper market via the Channel Tunnel just evaporated. Given Nightstar’s myriad operational problems, it was just a matter of time before the plug was pulled.

In February 1999, the UK Government took over a large share of the L&CR. Five months hence, on 9 July 1999, the Nightstar service was formally cancelled.

EPS was then part sold to SNCF. The SoS subsequently sold their remaining shares to SNCF around 2000. So EPS had existed as a live subsidiary of BR for only a few months.

As such, they did not go through the thorough new railcar design testing and examination process.

Of the 139 Nightstar vehicles, 64 carriages had been completed, and the rest were partially built but lacked interiors. Some of the completed cars had started testing in Europe and Morocco, totaling 400,000km of test runs.

The Sale

There was some interest in the Nightstar fleet from European train operators, but the heavy weight, high electricity demand, and UK gauge meant that the cars were less than ideal, so there were no takers. The UK government agreed to pay back Alstom upon sale of the fleet, but the company was resigned to the fact that if they could not sell the cars, they would all be scrapped.

A possible buyer emerged in the from of Canada’s national passenger train operator VIA Rail, who were looking to replace 1955-vintage sleeper cars. In June 2000, three carriages were shipped to Canada for evaluation on test runs between Ottawa and Montreal. That December, VIA Rail approved the purchase of the entire 139 vehicle fleet for a total of $130m (approximately £58.5m), funded by the Canadian Government. This represented a considerable discount from what was estimated by industry observers to be a fair market value of £185-220m.

VIA Rail and the Canadian government were both happy to get their hands on this apparent bargain. The smaller UK gauge could be compensated for by easily adding carriages from the large fleet, which was more than sufficient for current and planned operations.

Sub-surface warning?

We now take a diversion under the sea, not under the English Channel, but somewhat deeper.

With the end of the Cold War and dealing with its own deficit issues, the British Ministry of Defence had decided to simplify naval operations by moving to an all-nuclear submarine fleet. It ended construction of its whisper quiet diesel-electric Type 2400 Upholder sub class, after four had been delivered and entered Royal Navy (RN) service. These submarines were mothballed and put up for sale in 1994.

At the time Canada was looking to replace their three obsolete ex-RN 1960s vintage Oberon class subs, which were expected to only last until 2000. With three coasts to protect, and other countries infringing on Canada’s Arctic sovereignty, acquiring a modern submarine fleet was made a priority.

The Upholders were considered be among the quietest boats in the world. In 1996, the Canadian government approved the acquisition of the four slightly used, state of the art submarines for only $750m CAD (approximately £307m). The Upholders had cost Britain more than double the sale amount to design and construct, so this purchase appeared at the time to be a bargain. The sale neatly satisfied all three partners as it allowed:

• the British government to recoup some of the submarines’ billion pound development and construction costs, or face the fury of the British media,
• the Canadian government to renew its submarine fleet much quicker and more cheaply than new build, to fulfil its sovereignty requirements and NATO commitments, and
• the Royal Canadian Navy to get submarine fleet upgrade without having to wait a decade or longer for new boats.

These were the only modern subs that were both affordable and available, a once in a generation opportunity.

In 1999 the reactivation process for the Upholder boats began. But it took longer than estimated to prepare the boats for safe diving, as the Royal Navy had stored the subs with sea water in the fuel tanks, which led to severe corrosion. The worst affected was the lead boat Upholder, which had sea water in the fuel tanks for nine years.

After these repairs, the boats were handed over to Canada and renamed:

• HMCS Victoria née Unseen SSK-876 in late 2000
• HMCS Windsor née Unicorn SSK-877 in August 2001
• HMCS Corner Brook née Ursula SSK-878 in February 2003
• HMCS Chicoutimi née Upholder SSK-879 in October 2004

Unfortunately, a day after setting sail from the UK, HMCS Chicoutimi suffered a serious fire which started when seawater contacted badly insulated wiring, killing one and injuring nine others. The submarine had to be lifted aboard a freighter to be delivered to Halifax. A serious blow to the start of the new submarine program.

It took the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) a decade of extensive and expensive repairs to make her operational. The tragic fire notwithstanding, there was a serious underestimation of the amount of work required to reactivate and modify the boats for Canadian operations, as they effectively needed a deep refit.

It took an estimate additional $1.5 billion (approximately £825m) to repair and make the four boats operational for the Royal Canadian Navy. Nonetheless, the subs have performed to expectations when at sea. But they are now aging and undergoing deep refits, so only one of the four Victoria-class submarines has been to sea since 2021.

Unfortunately the lessons of the unexpected delays and expensive modifications were conveniently forgotten when the same Canadian government approved the similar too-good-to-be-true Nightstar fleet purchase.

Fitting out the Nightstar Trains for Canada

Back on land, the Nightstar fleet was shipped to Bombardier’s factory in Thunder Bay, Canada in 2003, where the 75 incomplete carriages were fitted out with interiors, and all carriages were modified as follows:

• Fold down steps at doorways to access Canadian low-level platforms.
• Enhanced air-conditioning.
• End carriages were fitted with North American standard knuckle type couplers.

Over three years, Bombardier updated and completed 106 cars, with 33 cars remaining in storage in Thunder Bay.

Whilst these cars were designed to reach speeds of 200 km/h, they never come close to this speed in VIA service, as almost all VIA routes are on much slower freight railway trackage.

From Sea to Sea to Sea

The Nightstar cars were re-christened the Renaissance fleet, signifying rebirth, as they were the first new rolling stock for VIA Rail in twenty years. Once the completed cars entered service at the end of 2003, they expanded VIA’s rail fleet by one-third.

Renaissance Trains’ Canadian Debut

The new trains were first introduced on the new Enterprise business sleeper trains in summer 2002, which connected Canada’s two largest cities of Montreal and Toronto. In both directions, the service departed one city at 11.30 pm and arrived in the other at 8am. As daytime trains make this journey in five hours, the Enterprise trains pulled into a siding for two hours at the mid-way point of the trip.

A few months later Renaissance passenger coaches started operation on the regular, all-stations day trains between Montréal and Québec City. In 2003-04, the Renaissance sleeper consists debuted on the Ocean Maritimes route between Montréal and Halifax.

The Enterprise service was not as popular as predicted, facing competition from peak hour flights every 20 minutes between Montréal and Toronto, taking only an hour. This sleeper was discontinued in September 2005 due to low ridership,‎ another victim of competition from the airlines.

In April 2010, Renaissance passenger cars were also added to the daytime Ottawa-Toronto and Toronto-Niagara Falls runs.

Whilst the original Ocean service operated six days a week, the recent recession and declining VIA Rail ridership outside of the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor forced the national passenger railway to make cutbacks in 2012. One consequence was to reduce the Ocean to thrice weekly. But the Ocean route name still survives, keeping alive the name from whence the Ocean Limited started service on July 3, 1904, when it took over from the Intercolonial Railway.‎

Renaissance Coach (Voyageur cars)

Each of the 33 cars in this class has 48 seats that recline deeply for sleeping, in a spacious 2 plus 1 configuration. The seats are on a slightly raised platform, which has space for luggage underneath. There is also a luggage rack above.

Renaissance Dining cars

Each of these three cars has eight tables of four, and eight tables of two. These cars were originally designed as sleepers and were converted by VIA Rail.

Renaissance Lounge cars

The Nightstar purchase included 20 Renaissance service cars which contained the galley, a lounge, a take-out snack counter, and large luggage area. Originally there was small office for the service manager, and the accessible sleeping compartment hasn’t been used for that purpose for many years, as there were accessibility issues with it. Now these areas are just used for storage. Most of the galley equipment in these cars bore the original British Rail double arrow logo for many years before being replaced.

Renaissance Sleeper cars

The two single beds fold up, and the lower becomes comfortable chesterfield seating.

Renaissance Baggage Transition cars

Three Renaissance baggage cars were constructed to connect to the Park car at the rear because of the coupler connection issue. In case of accident, the baggage car also provides a buffer between the heavy stainless steel Park car and the lighter Renaissance cars.

These cars were modified to allow passengers to access the Park car and its 270° panoramic lounge at the rear of the train. As an empty carriage it sometimes is used as an informal yoga, meditation, or children’s play space.

The difference between North American and smaller UK gauge is noticeable here – the former look like they could swallow the British carriages.‎

Park Cars (non-Renaissance)

These were originally built by the Budd Car Company and AMF in 1954 as train end units, with a rounded, tapered stern and an upper level observation dome. VIA Rail acquired 14 such cars in 1978 and named them after Canadian National Parks. Each contains a triple bed and 3 double bed compartments, 24 seats in the vista dome, washroom, the Mural Lounge with snacks and beverages, and a 12 seat panoramic ‘bullet’ shaped lounge at the rear.

‎In the summer peak season, a route guide narrates the towns and territory traversed, Celtic music is played, or a talk on wines from the Maritimes in the rear Park panorama car.

VIA Rail is expert at keeping these old carriages in operation – one of the Park cars is placed at the end of the Ocean in summer months. However, Park cars were only connected to the Ocean until the beginning of 2020, when the pandemic halted service on this route for several months. VIA had lost access its turning loop at the Port of Halifax in late 2020, which required bidirectional trains, preventing Park cars from being used unfortunately.

Halifax

Since being established for the Royal Navy in 1749 due to its deep natural harbour, Halifax had been the capital of the Nova Scotia Colony. The Intercolonial Railway was opened in 1876 to link the area to the other British colonies of New Brunswick and Lower Canada (later renamed Québec).

Moncton

This town features tidal bores from the Bay of Fundy, and was planned as an alternative site for Britain’s Imperial Airship Service in the 1930s.

Problems soon Surfaced

Problems soon appeared in the fleet, as the Renaissance cars were not designed for Canada’s cold, snowy winter – the doors and toilets often froze up. The original European winter test runs did not simulate Canadian weather conditions. Québec passengers quickly nicknamed the cars << Déplaisance >>, a made up French word for the displeasure that passengers found themselves experiencing.

At the high platforms of Montréal’s Gare Centrale, the narrow British loading caused a considerable gap, requiring staff to deploy a ramp at every doorway before passengers could board and alight.

Renaissance cars were not Sufficiently Accessible

Furthermore, despite being designed to be accessible by persons with disabilities, a Canadian disability rights organisation launched a civil rights complaint, stating that there wasn’t sufficient space in many Renaissance car locations for wheelchair access due to turning restrictions.

After years of litigation, VIA Rail relented and modified 21 Renaissance cars to make them more accessible. Now one coach on every Renaissance train has a large washroom with curved sliding door (similar to those on Virgin Trains’ West Coast Pendolinos), and one sleeper per consist has a large accessible bedroom with a wider entrance and larger bathroom. Some of these accessible coaches were also added to some Corridor routes to provide persons with disabilities equal travel access.

Renaissance Service Evaluation

After 20 years in Canadian service, the Renaissance cars have been far from reliable, despite having undergone numerous modifications, and they still require constant maintenance to keep them in service. The sleeper cars’ HVAC systems have already been replaced.

Moquette fans will appreciate the above photo, and might know if it is original.

Road salt is liberally used in Canada to melt the ubiquitous road ice and snow, which is caught up in the train bogies at the many level crossings. The Renaissance carriages were never designed for such conditions, so as a result the fleet has serious corrosion problems, with two thirds of the original fleet not having been upgraded and in storage, being cannibalised for spare parts.

The original 29 incomplete Renaissance cars in the fleet were stored in Thunder Bay. However, the cost of upgrading them for Canadian winters was deemed not to be cost-effective, so they and cars removed from service were eventually sold for scrap.

As a result, Renaissance cars are thus the most expensive type for VIA to operate. Recently, VIA Rail has started putting a new fleet of Siemens Venture passenger cars for the Québec – Windsor Corridor, and to rebuild the long distance carriages yet again. Despite the Renaissance sleeper train fleet purchase, VIA Rail will soon be issuing a Request for Proposals for a brand new long distance fleet, including sleeper cars. They are communicating with the US passenger train railway, Amtrak, about a potential joint long distance fleet order to reduce costs.

Exception to the UK Import Experience

Scottish bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis has successfully exported double decker buses to Toronto, Victoria, British Columbia, and other Canadian cities, with few acclimatisation problems. The only factor restricting more such bus exports are the traditionally low North American bridge clearances in most cities.

Class 92s go Full Circle

Having never hauled a Nightstar sleeper train, the UK Class 92s have been an underused locomotive, mainly operating Intermodal Freight services in the UK and France. However since Serco secured a 15 year operating franchise for the Caledonian Sleeper in 2015, an agreement with GB Railfreight has seen these engines, following a refresh, hauling these sleeper services. They have been since replaced by CAF locomotives in 2018.

Lessons Learnt

The root causes of the Renaissance fleet problems in Canada are that they were designed for quite a different operating environment. The lesson is that using equipment in a different context is almost always more complex than it initially appears. Not only does the equipment itself require a bedding in period, but supplier support, maintenance, and operations aspects are also crucial.

Thanks to Tim Hayman for the photos and the Renaissance car use updates.