THE Caledonian Sleeper is facing safety questions after a seat reportedly caught on fire.
The incident came to light when The National noticed last week that seated carriages on the publicly owned train service were operating without functional sockets or lamps.
A staff member then told the newspaper that this was after one of the seats spontaneously “went on fire”.
A spokesperson for the Caledonian Sleeper – when approached – has since confirmed that a “small thermal event” took place in one of the train’s empty seated coaches while it was being moved from its Polmadie Depot to Edinburgh.
“The incident was isolated to electrical sockets associated with the at seat power mechanism and was contained within the coach,” the statement added.
The spokesperson went on to claim that all the train’s safety systems “performed as they should”, although the incident is still likely to fuel passenger safety concerns.
“As a precaution, we are carrying out additional safety checks across our seated coach fleet,” the spokesperson said.
“While these checks, and any remediations, take place access to at seat personal reading lights and charging sockets will be temporarily unavailable.”
The statement concluded: “We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to our seated coach guests, but the safety of everyone onboard remains our highest priority.”
The £150 million fleet of 75 Mk 5 coaches for the Caledonian Sleeper service were ordered from Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) in 2015 and entered into service in 2019.
The Spanish train company has recently been criticised over its links to illegal Israeli settlements.
According to a UN database of businesses allegedly complicit in the occupation of Palestine, CAF is involved in the supply of "associated infrastructure" to illegal settlements and the provision of transport to support "the maintenance and existence of settlements" – notably the expansion of the Jerusalem Light Rail system.
CAF have been approached for comment.
