To be fair, some fresh ideas might not go amiss at this point in time, especially as CS needs to work very hard to win back custom once restrictions ease significantly (as they probably will do) at some point in 2021. There were some nights in August 2020 when the Fort William and Inverness trains were fully booked so even without the foreign tourists, it’s not impossible to achieve.
The industrial dispute needs settled as soon as possible, I agree. To be honest, I am less worried about the club car; most TOCs have had reduced or non-existent catering since March, and I doubt many passengers will be confident about sitting in a cramped club car next to total strangers for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t do that without a vaccine, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that view. Even with vaccines, it may take a long while for people to regain confidence in using such facilities. I used the sleeper a couple of times in the late summer 2020 and honestly didn’t miss it. It’s a nice-to-have but not an essential, and most passengers probably want (as long as Covid is out there) to stay isolated in their berths anyway. It might be nice, though, for CS at least to consider offering some evening room service (at least cups of coffee/tea, juice and snacks) or even operating the club car as a takeaway buffet car, just to make passengers feel a wee bit more looked after.
They did manage to fill the Highlander on some nights in August, which in the middle of Covid is not bad going. They must be doing something right. I’m actually more confident in CS’ ability to deliver a robust and reliable service now than I have been in three years or more.
I notice that most complaints about the sleeper arise because a) the train is hideously late, ruining the passengers’ plans, which may include funerals or urgent meetings, and b) the train has not reached its destination and passengers have been turfed off somewhere random to catch a bus, or left in the freezing cold and rain to wait for a day train. Incidents of this kind have been remarkably rare in 2020 (compared with 2018/19!) and I think what passengers I did see this year are a lot happier now than they were a year ago. Whatever CS claims to be, at the end of the day, if it gets folk from A to B safely, on time and in reasonable comfort, most passengers will be satisfied and would probably consider using it again.