A FRENCH company is looking to rollout a sleeper train service between Edinburgh and Paris.
Midnight Trains says its night trains will deliver a “combination of modern sustainability and glorious Roaring 20’s charm” when its first service from Paris to Milan and Venice launches next year.
However, the company has long-term plans to create a network of more than 10 destinations between 800 and 1000 kilometres from Paris – including Copenhagen, Berlin and Edinburgh.
Co-founder Romain Payet told The National that the idea for the company was borne out of a desire to create an sustainable alternative to air travel.
He said: “We think that travellers are more and more conscious about the ecological impact of air travel and they need an alternative. But when travelling to and from most major European cities, they do not have this alternative.
“Furthermore, transport operators (air or rail) have been focused on reducing prices for the last two decades, totally forgetting the customer experience and associated services.
“We want to create a new standard or sleeper trains. We believe that basic sleeper trains face three major issues: lack of privacy when you share a compartment with strangers, poor catering services while most travellers plan to have dinner onboard, and few digital services to enhance the experience.
“With our ‘hotel on rails’ we want to solve those problems on our fully electric trains.”
Sadly, the first trains the company will rollout are incompatible with the rail infrastructure between London and Edinburgh, meaning the route between the capital and Paris has been postponed.
However, Payet said the route was still within the company’s plans and that they would be ordering a different specification of train to solve the problem – although no precise date was available.
The sleeper trains are set to include private single, double or family-sized rooms complete with on-demand films as well as a dining car restaurant with table service and a cocktail bar.
