The jinx afflicting Britain’s newest luxury train has struck again with news that its most recent voyage – a three-day trip to the Lake District – had to be terminated after just four hours as a result of a faulty door mechanism.
All passengers – who paid a minimum of £11,000 per couple – had to disembark and accept that a trip they had been looking forward to for months had to be abandoned. They were provided with transport back to London and a full refund.
This latest issue follows a string of setbacks surrounding the Britannic Explorer, the newest train to be launched by Belmond, the company behind the legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE).
Issues to date have included the postponement – twice – of the inaugural voyage, a spate of mechanical and technical problems, hefty criticism of a culinary offering that failed to deliver on its promise of Michelin-star quality, and problems with the water supply to the en-suite bathrooms in the cabins.
The journey currently in the spotlight was the planned three-day jaunt to the Lake District departing from London Victoria just before 4pm last Friday. The first day’s travel was meant to see the train going deep into Yorkshire while passengers enjoyed convivial getting-to-know you drinks in the observation car and a sumptuous meal in one of the two dining cars. Instead, it only got as far as Fenny Stratford, just outside Milton Keynes, where just before 8pm the journey was aborted following the discovery of malfunctioning doors.
A spokesman for Belmond confirmed that the train had been taken out of service pending resolution of the latest problem.
“Due to an isolated new issue related to a door mechanism on board the Britannic Explorer on Friday evening, the remainder of the trip was cancelled and all passengers were transferred to London hotels,” the spokesman said. “An investigation into the door mechanism will be conducted by an independent body.
“Every affected guest was offered a full refund, along with a complimentary future journey aboard the Britannic Explorer. In addition, we are covering any related expenses incurred as a result of the cancellation. The train is currently out of service while our teams work with urgency and care to resolve the issue and enable a timely return to service.”
It’s all a far cry from the sense of joyous anticipation that greeted the announcement last year of the planned addition to the Belmond fleet of the Britannic Explorer, heralded as a fresh take on this increasingly popular form of top-end sleeper train travel and the first ever to operate on routes in England and Wales.
In upbeat mode, the company said it would debut the “unapologetically British, effortlessly elegant” service in mid-2025, with three routes showcasing “the spectacular natural landscapes of Cornwall, the Lake District and Wales”.
The Britannic Explorer is a totally repurposed version of the Grand Hibernian train that Belmond ran in Ireland between 2016 and 2019. Those lucky enough to get a sneak preview of its interiors last November hailed the deft handiwork of London-based Albion Nord designers who, in a break with the classic old-world luxury train style, had sought to combine a modern feel with vintage elements drawing on the natural world.
The euphoric mood carried through to 2025 and a lavish eve of inaugural journey party in early July, which saw a platform at London Euston station transformed into a playful garden space with a star-studded crowd including the actress Keira Knightley and Simon Rogan, the superstar chef credited with being the creative force behind the Britannic Explorer’s menus.
Though the party-goers did not know it, all was not well, and just one day later it was announced that the maiden voyage to Cornwall, due to depart on July 4, had been cancelled due to “maintenance issues”.
A rescheduled maiden voyage – to Wales – set for July 21 then also had to be cancelled due to “technical issues relating to door mechanisms”.
The train did finally embark on its first proper voyage on August 29 with a trip to Cornwall, immediately followed by another to Wales. As The Telegraph’s reviewer on board that second journey, I reported on a slew of problems, including a culinary service that fell far short of the Michelin-starred level promised and persistent failures in the water supply to the train’s 15 suites and three grand suites.
Now, less than one month since that maiden voyage, and with just a handful of journeys under its belt, the train has suffered further indignity.
Belmond said the current door issue was “new” rather than a recurrence of those that resulted in the earlier setbacks, and the company spokesman insisted that, ahead of launch, the necessary testing had been carried out.
“Prior to entering service, the Britannic Explorer underwent extensive testing, was signed off by an independent body, and was formally entered into the UK’s Rolling Stock Library,” the spokesman said. “In line with industry standards, the train undergoes rigorous ‘fitness to run’ examinations,” he added.
That said, it doesn’t look good, and industry insiders are baffled that a company with so much experience of running luxury trains – in addition to the VSOE, Belmond operates the Eastern & Oriental Express in Malaysia, the Hiram Bingham and Andean Explorer in Peru and the Royal Scotsman in Scotland – could have presided over such a chaotic launch.
“The challenges facing the Britannic Explorer are unexpected from a Belmond product, and I am sure Belmond is shocked to the core by the performance of the train to date,” said Simon Pielow of The Luxury Train Consultancy.
Andrew Gillespie, the chief executive of Planet Rail and the Luxury Train Club, said: “A series of delays is not good for anyone and is clearly not good for reputation. But Belmond is a very good operator and I am confident that they will be able to turn this around.”
With fresh testing on the Britannic Explorer’s latest mechanical issue now underway, the company, which is owned by the French luxury goods giant LVMH, is confident that there will be a “timely return to service”, though it is unable to say when.