Nightstar (train)

The Nightstar was a proposed overnight sleeper service from various parts of United Kingdom to continental Europe, via the Channel Tunnel. To run alongside the Eurostar and north of London day-time Regional Eurostar services, the Nightstar was the last part in a round-the-clock passenger train utilisation of the Channel Tunnel.

After rejection of various British ideas for the service that was to become the British Rail Class 373 Eurostar train—which eventually was created from the existing French TGV scaled for a British loading gauge—the Nightstar concept emerged as an individual locomotive-hauled passenger train. While some carriages were built, the project was cancelled in 1997 for lack of commercial viability. Some of the stock was eventually sold to Canada, where it became Via Rail's Renaissance train fleet.

The trains were to use equipment based on the British Rail Mark 4 coaches modified for long distance service. All the cars were air-conditioned with power operated doors and designed to meet the safety standards of each country they would run through, the most stringent of these requirements being for the Channel Tunnel. A fleet of 139 cars were originally ordered, broken down as 47 seated cars, 72 sleeper cars and 20 service vehicles. The cars would have normally been configured as 9 seven-car and 9 eight-car sub-sets, with four spares (two seated cars and two service vehicles). The trains would have run as either individual sub-sets (for beyond London services and to some European destinations), or as two sets coupled together (from London and through the Tunnel). As the trains were designed to run as fixed formation sub-sets, only the two outer ends of each sub-set had buffers and draw gear. The sub-sets would have been configured as follows:

Seven-car sub-sets, for services beyond London:

Eight-car sub-sets, for London services:

Each seated car had 50 reclining seats in a 2+1 configuration across the aisle, with room for luggage underneath. Each sleeper car had 20 beds, split over 10 cabins (two per cabin). All cabins had an en-suite toilet and basinette, while six cabins had an en-suite shower. The beds could be folded into the wall to provide seating. The service vehicle had bench style seating for 15 passengers in a lounge area, a catering area, large luggage area and staff accommodation in the centre, and a large cabin with two beds, designed to be accessible to wheel chair users, at the other end. The seated area would have been coupled to the seated cars and the cabin end to the sleeper cars.

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