Luxury train carriages designed to speed passengers through the Channel Tunnel are languishing in sidings near Bicester.

About 70 Nightstar carriages have been parked at the Ministry of Defence base at Arncott for more than 12 months.

The sleeper carriages, which feature air conditioning, showers, lounges and dining cars, cost £1m each. Another 69 carriages are gathering dust in sidings at Kineton, near Banbury.

They were designed to take Midlands passengers to the Continent but were returned to manufacturers Alstom Ltd, in Birmingham, when Eurostar decided a regional service was not profitable. An MoD employee from Bicester, who asked not to be named, said: "They have been there at least 12 months and take up a fair amount of space in the sidings.

"I've got no idea what they plan to do with them. It seems like a waste of money to me, but at the end of the day it's their choice."

The carriages were ordered by British Rail in 1992 and were paid for with the help of more than £100m of taxpayers' money. They were hailed as "hotels on wheels" to take people under the Channel in luxury.

But two years ago, London and Continental Railways, which managed the Eurostar service, decided it was not financially viable and returned the carriages to Alstom. A spokesman for Alstom said: "They are in storage at the moment and we are trying to find customers to sell them to. We are searching to find a buyer, including overseas, but it is too early to say whether they will be sold soon.

"Until then they will stay where they are."

Eurostar is now managed by Inter Capital and Regional Rail Ltd, whose spokesman, Richard Brown, said: "The original forecast for Eurostar grossly over-estimated the numbers of passengers who were actually travelling." A spokesman for the MoD said: "We have a lot of sidings which are used by train companies to store their carriages.

"We charge them a reasonable rent and it makes good financial sense for us."

Story date: Tuesday 26 October

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