Caledonian Sleeper has announced that its future met its present on Saturday morning as testing continues on its new fleet of trains.
Six of the new carriages were out for winter testing over the weekend. They ran between Polmadie in Glasgow and Fort William on the West Highland Line.
And for two fleeting minutes at Tulloch Station, the new carriages, on their way back to Glasgow, passed the current train as it neared the end of its overnight journey from London.
It comes as trial operations enter the final phase, with preparations being made for the new fleet to begin operating by the end of May 2019.
The fleet, built at a cost of over £100m and partly funded by a capital grant from the Scottish Ministers of £60m.
What did the officials say?
Ryan Flaherty, Serco's Managing Director at Caledonian Sleeper, said:
“We only have a few weeks of testing left so it feels fitting that our current trains were able to sit alongside our new trains in the wild.
“It's particularly symbolic because ‘old meets new' is something we really want to capture when we debut our new carriages. We aim to offer a timeless experience and magical journey for guests, combining the nostalgic feeling of railway travel with modern facilities that travellers expect.”
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The new Mk5 carriages will transform Caledonian Sleeper once it’s introduced in service from end of May. CAF have done a good job on building new carriages not just for Caledonian Sleeper. But also new Mk5A carriages for Transpennine Express that will work with the Class 68 locomotives “Nova 3”.