First Great Western has announced that as part of a £200 million package of investment, it is updating its Night Riviera Sleeper Service, which runs between Penzance and London Paddington.  

The contract to carry out the work, which is worth £2,000,000 has been awarded to Railcare in Wolverton.  Michael Rodber, who has worked for Porsche and Eurostar and was responsible for designing First Great Western's new look High Speed Trains (HSTs) that were introduced earlier this year, has been tasked with creating a refreshed interior that is more akin to a hotel room than a train carriage.

Work has already started on upgrading the 17 carriages and is expected to be completed by March 2008.  The colour scheme and lighting will be updated to give the carriages a more relaxed feel, reupholstered First Class style seating will be introduced and the toilets redesigned.  The exterior of the carriages will also be re-liveried to reflect the new corporate branding that is being introduced on First Great Western's fleet of High Speed Trains.  

In addition to replacing fixtures such as carpets, taps and blinds, First Great Western will also be investing in better quality bed linen and towels.  

First Great Western has worked closely with a number of focus groups formed of regular sleeper customers and staff to discuss what changes passengers would like to see.  A number of these suggestions including the new bed linen and the availability of a range of toiletries, including eye masks and earplugs, at the buffet, will be incorporated into the service.  It is hoped that online booking of berths will be available by Spring 2008.

Julian Crow, First Great Western's Regional Manager for the South West, said: "First Great Western has always had a strong commitment to the Sleeper Service and recognises the convenience of being able to make an overnight journey to those who live in and visit the far South West, with the valuable time saving that is achieved.  We have consulted fully with our regular Sleeper users, and those who don't use it so often, and, where possible, have tried to incorporate their suggested changes.  Overall, people are very positive about the service and I'm pleased that we have been able to involve them and improve things for the better."

FGW make no mention about some form of long term rectification to the continuing problems with the Class 57 fleet - TRC