Highlands & Islands MSP says nationalisation of Caledonian Sleeper is a welcome opportunity to make service work for Highlanders

Highlands MSP Emma Roddick has welcomed the news that the Caledonian Sleeper is to come into public ownership in June this year.

Following the announcement in the Scottish Parliament yesterday [Thursday 2nd March], Ms Roddick said that it was an opportunity for the sleeper service to be made more attractive to people living in the Highlands and pressed the Minister for Transport, Jenny Gilruth, to consider how the Scottish Government could achieve this.

Ms Roddick said:

“I’m really pleased to see the Caley Sleeper brought into public ownership, as part of the Scottish Government’s continued nationalisation of Scotland’s railway.  I hope that we can now take a look at how it can better work for Scotland, offering an alternative to flights for long journeys.

“There’s no reason to have near-empty trains run on the southbound journey of the sleeper service and public ownership is an opportunity to look carefully at the current service, its reliability and affordability, and how it can work for folk from across the Highlands looking to travel south, not just Londoners.”