At the beginning of February the board of HITRANS agreed to begin work on a business case for the 'Midnight Train to Georgemas', the project to make use of some of the soon-to-be-redundant Mk3 sleeper carriages to provide a sleeper and overnight service from Thurso to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

HITRANS believes that the proposal would be especially beneficial to Caithness and Orkney enabling the saving of overnight stays on business and leisure trips to the Central Belt.

HITRANS has already held exploratory talks with Serco, the franchise holder of the Caledonian Sleeper service.

One of FoFNL's vice-presidents, Caithness MSP Gail Ross, commented, "I have been involved in the plans to create a sleeper train from Caithness since its inception. I'm delighted that this is now progressing to the business case and will give all my support to it."