The Railway Board has approved the resumption of overnight passenger service between Bobington and Caldwell, the first in twenty years.

The 11:45 PM departure from Ashwick Central will arrive at Caldwell Union Station at 6:15 AM, carrying up to 120 passengers in three carriages — including a 24-berth sleeper car refurbished from stock that last ran the Caldwell Sleeper in 2006. The first service will operate on the night of 1 June. Standard fare: 3 florins. Sleeper berth: 7 florins. Bookings open 1 May.

Felix Ashton-Cross, 52, the railway superintendent who has overseen the Ashwick-to-Caldwell corridor since 2019, presented the proposal to the Board last Thursday. The vote was 5-1.

“The demand is there,” Ashton-Cross said. “The academic and medical traffic between the two cities runs late and starts early. We lose passengers to the 5:30 AM express because people would rather sleep at home than wake at four. Give them a bed on a train and they will come.”

The sole dissenting vote was cast by Board member Cornelius Pratt, 71, who expressed concern about the cost of refurbishing the sleeper stock, which has been in the Thornhill carriage sheds since 2006. The refurbishment — new upholstery, electrical fittings, and braking system — is estimated at 18,000 florins for the 24-berth car and 9,200 florins for the two standard carriages.

Pratt noted that the old Caldwell Sleeper was discontinued because it ran at 40 per cent capacity in its final years. Ashton-Cross argued that the intercity corridor has grown substantially since then — Caldwell University has nearly doubled its student population, and the Caldwell Medical College now sends registrars to Bobington General on monthly rotations.

The route follows the existing 285-kilometre mainline via Dunvale, Thornhill, and Ashford Junction, with a 45-minute stop at Fernwich — the only intermediate station — at approximately 3:30 AM. The train will be hauled by one of the three 4-6-2 locomotives recently overhauled at the Edgeminster works.

Winifred Hale, 44, a Caldwell-based physician who commutes to Bobington twice monthly for consulting work at the General Hospital, said the night train was “long overdue.” She currently takes the 5:30 AM express and arrives “too tired to be useful before ten.”

“A sleeper berth for seven florins is cheaper than a hotel room and better for my patients,” she said.

Ashton-Cross, who began his railway career as a signal operator at Fernwich Junction in 1992, said the sleeper carriages had been maintained in dry storage and were in better condition than expected. “The bones are good,” he said. “They built them to last.”

The first night train from Caldwell to Bobington will depart the same evening, arriving at Ashwick Central at 6:20 AM on 2 June.