Three years later than planned, the first of East Midlands Railway’s new fleet of bi-mode trains arrived at St Pancras station last week.
Aurora train leaving Sheffield Station (c) EMR
The bi-mode trains were ordered from Hitachi in 2019 after a previous plan to electrify the Midland Main Line north of Bedford was cancelled by Chris Grayling, forcing East Midlands Railway to look for an alternative.
Due to enter service in December 2022, the Class 810 Aurora trains were starting to seem as elusive as the rumoured spy plane of the same name.
However, at long last, the first of the £400 million fleet of 33 bi-mode trains carried passengers into St Pancras station last week.
The Aurora fleet will provide customers nearly a quarter more seats and over 19% more legroom in a typical five-carriage formation, compared to the Meridian trains it is replacing.
Once the full fleet of 33 trains is in service, it will deliver a 46% increase in the total number of seats available for customers travelling on the Midland Main Line.
Having travelled up and down the line on the older trains a fair bit recently, one benefit of the new trains will be enhanced Wi-Fi inside the trains, as it was woeful on the older ones, and the windows are made from glass engineered to allow mobile signals to pass through more effectively.
–
Update: 16:30 – corrected Bradford to Bedford
