East Midlands Railway has agreed £60 million plans with Angel Trains, Siemens, Porterbrook and Eversholt to refurbish three of its fleets.
An upgrade of the Class 360 EMU fleet used on the London to Corby ‘Connect’ service will take place, with work to be undertaken by Siemens Mobility, They will have 2+2 seating throughout in a mixture of airline and bay seats, luggage racks, charging points and new passenger information systems.
The Class 158 DMUs used on regional services will receive less extensive attention to seat covers, the interior and CCTV as they are older and likely to be replaced sooner. EMR’s Class 170 DMUs will reveive new seat foams and covers, an extensive refresh, and new passenger information systems and CCTV. With Turbostars having come from different operators to EMR, a new consistent interior look is planned. The work is being co-ordinated with a parallel planned refurbishment of CrossCountry’s ‘170’ fleet and is expected to take place at Arriva TrainCare’s Crewe site.
Meanwhile, EMR has released a video unveiling the interiors of its new Aurora bi-mode fleet for Midland main line services. It has ordered 33x5-car Class 810s from Hitachi, financed by Rock Rail. Features showcased include the custom-designed seats, the product of work by EMR with Derby-based DGDESIGN and seat provider FISA, as well as power and USB points, generous legroom, coat hooks, seatback tables for airline seats and space to stow a cabin bag under each seat. Other features of the new trains include air conditioning, free Wi-Fi, better mobile phone signal access, more luggage space and better passenger information screens.
However, the timescale for the introduction of the ‘810s’ has slipped again: EMR now aims to accept its first units towards the end of this year, with entry into service planned in early 2025 and the full fleet due in service during that year.
