Thursday 8th January 2026
I took a ride on East Midlands Railway’s new Aurora branded Hitachi Class 810 bi-mode trains yesterday. They’re obviously a major step up from the Meridians they’re replacing but I was particularly interested to see how they compare to similar Hitachi trains operated by GWR/LNER/Avanti/Hull Trains.
The first thing to note is what a treat it is to leave St Pancras bound for Sheffield with a pantograph up and under electric propulsion. The quiet and speedy departure made for such a welcome contrast with previous journeys on the aging Meridians (and HSTs before that) diesel powered fleet with their loud smelly engines ticking over in platforms 1-4 long before departure time, audible even in Midland Road below, to say nothing of the roar of the engine as it left the platform.
Now it’s just a silent departure with impressive acceleration under the wires.
The shame of it is the five coach train has to carry four diesel engines to use once the wires run out just south of Leicester (at Wigston South Junction) where the diesel engines kick in for the next 70 miles of the journey to Sheffield.
The Midland Mainline electrification project has been a long tale of woe suffering from previous Governments euphorically announcing the investment in a blaze of glory only to later pause it followed by inevitable prevarication and abandonment. I understand the current official line is there’s no ‘business case’ now £400 million has been spent on these 33 sparkly new five coach trains with their bi-mode functionality. A classic victim of its own success.
Being brand new trains they’re bound to incorporate many welcome improvements over the original Hitachi trains introduced by GWR as long ago as 2017, although it needs to be recorded these trains which began entering service last month (well, three have been delivered and commissioned so far) were ordered as long ago as 2019 with an original debut into service planned for 2022.
During that prolonged manufacturing process the opportunity was thankfully taken to identify a decent passenger seat and learn from mistakes of the GWR and LNER fleets which these days are increasingly and excruciatingly uncomfortable to sit on, especially in Standard Class with the cushion unable to mask the supporting strut underneath.
By contrast seats in these new EMR’s class 810 trains really are comfortable. I understand they’ve been custom designed by the FISA company and a great big thanks to whoever sanctioned their purchase.
I found both Standard and First Class seats really good albeit the former are still a bit upright for my taste but probably good for posture on a long journey.
Another welcome improvement is the seat back tray which in Standard Class is extra long which will be welcomed by the many passengers who use the train to tap away on their laptops or just gaze at the screen.
First Class mini tables are also to a decent size as illustrated in the above photograph.
Plugs and usb sockets are pretty standard with one of each under the seat in Standard Class (albeit with the plug being the ‘right way up’ whereas some companies place them ‘upside down’ to help with leads) and both plug and usb sockets are provided in First Class in between the seat pairs for both seats.
Another improvement is the design of the accessible toilet.
Once again there are two on each five coach train (in coaches one and five) and I can see much thought has gone into the provision and location of guide poles and signage…
… although I was a bit puzzled by the toilet doors having two green lights on the outside…
… one opened the door and the other closed it but they didn’t seem to be marked. I believe it’s something to do with making provision for a carer.
The two non accessible toilets on the train – at either end of the middle coach – have the usual manual operated sliding door (those pads on the left of the door aren’t push pads) …
… and have a definitive lock arrangement inside including a red light to show it’s locked but I found the door quite stiff to push open and shut.
One of the two toilets on the train I travelled on yesterday was out of order and that’s what those two ‘pads’ are for.
Because of the diesel engines under coaches one, two, four and five (not the middle coach) there are some changes in floor levels most noticeably into the end coaches but these are marked with yellow markings.
The vestibules between the coaches are bright…
… and the connecting doors easily open with sensors although on my journey two of the doors were permanently open.
The passageway around the accessible toilet leading into the end Standard Class coach…
… seemed a bit more tortuous than on other fleets.
An open cycle store looked to be an improvement on other arrangements and could presumably be used as a luggage overflow area.
The perennial problem of space for luggage will never be completely solved…
… but each coach has got a substantial rack at each end…
…and the First Class ‘shared coach has one…
… together with a small space by the connecting door to the Standard section which I guess might be a handy place where the refreshment trolley could be stored but I reckon will soon find itself being used for suitcases…
… while the ‘end First Class coach’ has gained a substantial rack towards the middle of the seating area…
… hopefully meaning passengers will refrain from using the space for wheelchair users.
This coach has more space than in previous fleets thanks to a smaller kitchen area. As with the five coach sets already in service with other train companies these class 810s are configured with First Class in an end coach and half of the adjoining coach.
One major difference though is the Aurora coaches are 24 metres long instead of the previous Hitachi standard of 26 metres. This is so two five coach trains joined together will fit into platforms 1-4 at St Pancras.
Despite this EMR say the trains “will offer a 46% increase in seat capacity compared to Class 222s when in full service and ‘up to’ 132% more luggage space and more legroom for passengers”.
I can certainly vouch for the legroom. It was very acceptable in Standard Class and up to First Class standards in First Class.
The additional capacity has been achieved by installing more ‘airline style’ seats with only two pairs of tables in the Standard Class coaches (as photographed above). First Class has tables as standard for pairs of seats…
… with one pair facing a bench style table at the end of the coach.
The latest technology has been incorporated into the monitor displays at the ends of each coach and in the vestibules…
… although I was puzzled by the display showing seat availability as coach D kept switching from all red…
…to mostly green.
One major noticeable caparison with EMR’s Meridian fleet is how clean the new Aurora’s look…
… and I only hope EMR has got its train wash at Derby fixed so they can be kept clean. Something very much lacking on the Meridian fleet.
Overall I was very impressed with this new train and enjoyed my journey, being particularly pleased with the comfortable seats and a feeling of spaciousness never experienced on the Meridians which the trains will slowly but surely replace in the coming months.
In fact I’d go as far as to say Aurora is now the best ‘InterCity’ trains on the network (although there’s not much to compete with).
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
BusAndTrainUser 
You didn’t comment on whether the seats line up with Windows Roger ? Looking at your photos it looks like most of them do. And what about ride quality ? I have always found the LNER ones a bit rough to travel on.
Martin W
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The Standard Class arrangement, all in airline seats, is a retrograde step. Airline seats are of no use to groups and families travelling together. It’s also painful to look out of the window from the aisle seats for any length of time as your neck is permanently twisted sideways. Avanti have managed to get 12 tables in most cars on their 807 units, so I don’t see why EMR couldn’t have managed with 10. You don’t need luggage stacks with table seating as cases just go between seats, so the seating capacity argument is a weak one.
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EMRs fleet of IETs are SHORTER than the rest of the IET fleet in the network and thus the an thus on a route where services of already busier airline allows more seats – EMR also only have 5-car units unlike the 222s which were arranged in 7-car and 5-Car and thus can not be matched like for like with other IET fleets on the network given the are also second Generation IET
Which leads into the luggage, EMR actually fix a chronic fault over the previous IETS by removing the ‘dead Windowless seat’ customers are not always aware of the gap between two seats back to back and the space the offered would not allow for the amount of luggage that is usually carried onboard these days with these monster hard shell bags
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That dead seat is great in GWR First Class if you are working or gaming! You get a bench table power supply and no screen reflection!
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I don’t know why we have to have such high seat backs these days either. They restrict visibility in an airline configuration, make trains really claustrophobic and also make it difficult to see which seats are vacant when you board.
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isn’t it to do with crash whiplash, JBC Prestatyn
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whiplash for giants! I’m currently on an SWR class 444, which has high seatbacks, but not as high as those on the classes 800 etc. I’m 6ft tall and these seats would more than adequately protect me from whiplash in the event of a collision.
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agree with above comments about lack of tables. Most people much prefer a table of travelling as a family and the balance looks really out here.
it’s also a great shame that somehow 5 cars seems to have become the standard for inter-City services. Knowing EMR they will run the bare minimum of double sets and as a regular on the Nottingham route, where 7 car HSTs were standard until a few years ago, this is still a retrograde step, welcome as electric traction.
on your final point Roger – impressed that you’d choose this ahead of a MK 4 on LNER or a pendolino in first at least?
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I may be a bit cynical, but offering tables in first but not in standard does result in a positive “benefits” upsell to first, which is missing in some other regional fleets (especially if there isn’t a “catering” benefit to upsell)
I can foresee a day where there is widespread deployment of 3 train classes:
milesT.
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Many train companies have announcements advising passengers to keep their luggage in view but then, as here, have seats facing away from the racks. Is there any reason why the seating isn’t reversed to enable luggage to be seen? Perhaps people prefer to face away from the doors rather than be “on display” to boarding passengers.
John
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does the electric mean speeded up journey times particularly on the overlap with thameslink?
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electrify the full route to Sheffield and cascade trains to a part electric marylebone
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Roger, are you sure the seats on the GWR and LNER trains are uncomfortable? After my first trip on one, thankfully only an hour or so from Reading to Bath (I eventually restored the feeling to my nether regions after walking around Bath for an hour or two), I emailed GWR about the hard seats. They were very surprised and assured me I was the only person ever to have complained about it, and that they had had plenty of complimentary comments about the comfort of the then-new trains.
I don’t find them quite so bad since I moved into Thameslink territory and have got used to trains that are slightly less comfortable than a Utility Guy Arab. Great for a two and three-quarter-hour trip from Cambridge to Brighton.
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Shades of the (perhaps apocryphal) reply sent many years ago to someone who wrote to complain of fleas in the bedding of a sleeper train. This assured the writer that it was the first such incident reported. However, attached to it was a post-it note on which was written “Sandra, please send standard flea letter”.
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I like the last comment Stephen. Slatted wooden seats, now I know you’re not old enough to remember those, although you’ve obviously tried them out whilst travelling on a preserved Guy Arab by the sounds of it.
I appreciate today’s topic concerns trains but modern bus seats can be very uncomfortable too, particularly on long journeys.
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Slatted wooden seats much loved of the school rugby minibus, easy to clean in the Bedford CF era. Banned after a number of crashes with no seat belt anchorage
if you want a ride on one back from Easter on Middleton Railway, Leeds
JBC Prestatyn
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i can back that comment up. I did a journey with my brother on Christmas Eve on one of the trains from Sheffield to Nottingham… There is no luggage space in standard and the seats are extremely uncomfortable.. Compare this journey to the one on the X17 from Matlock to Sheffield on a new electric E400 and it’s pleasure compared to pain (on the EMR train and it was £24 quid cheaper)… Bring back Stagecoach on this route…
As for the next time I go to London, I’ll take a punt on Nat Ex or Flix, they’ll have better legroom 😄
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Agree with Anonymous (09:56). Having procured bi-mode stock is not reason enough not to proceed with electrification to Sheffield (plus Leeds & Doncaster). These trains could be usefully cascaded to Cross Country. Presumably such moves would be simpler with the upcoming of GBR.
Lorenzo
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Note that it was only the dithering over full electrification by a certain Secretary of State for Transport that caused the purchase of bi-mode stock. Had the full project gone ahead earlier, these trains would not now be carting around unnecessary propulsion for a significant part of each journey.
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But they’re not diesel engines! They are “generator units”. As explained by Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less”.
As for the seats they are designed to be fire retardant and offer protection in the event of a crash. Fortunately both are rare occurrences on the railway. Unfortunately it means that the seat is totally unsuited for the one thing that happens to it multiple times every day – that of a backside expecting some comfort during its owner’s journey.
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I love the fire-retardant seat comment above, I wonder where EMR resourced the fire-retardant diesel slung under four of the five cars. RC
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Currently on the 10.32 DBY-STP (a Merdian) in First. I’m looking forward to the better trains. Can we also have better staff behaviours and catering? As is very common, two uniformed members of staff nipped on sharpish and bagged the best seats while those of us who paid get whatever is left. I normally pull them up about this but they are shameless. Not to mention being shouted out down the PA with excruciating nonsense. Blue seats, grey seats, blah, blah, blah. The catering is dreadful. Undrinkable coffee in paper cups and the most awful sandwiches imaginable. (I buy before boarding now). Time for a reset?
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Forget catering on trains – more focus needs to be given to delivering the actual service. If you want food and drink, buy before you board or bring your own. A buffet car is wasted space and a trolley is cringe worthy with wedged trains. The days of the Master Cutlery, and such like, are long gone!
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I much preferred the very old carriages with compartments and the corridor down one side
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Women travelling alone did not. I’ll leave readers to work out why.
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I visit Switzerland every now and then and it always pleases me when a loco hauled train pulls in with older carriage stock. Unfortunately double deck stock is now more often the case. These are to my mind dreadful especially if boarding with luggage on a busy service. Thank goodness our loading gauge precludes their use here.
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Forget all the hype and spin, five car trains on a corridor like the MML are inadequate from the word go. There’s zero long-term strategy or vision with the railway / DfT now, which is sad given the DfT constantly bangs on about the need for the railway to be less reliant on subsidy.
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Airline seats mean more people can be crammed in but less luggage space and claustrophobic ambience. IMO things went wrong from Mk3 carriages onwards. The Mk2s had all table bays aligned with windows.
I suspect multiple unit operation as 10 car sets won’t be often enough leading to overcrowded 5 car sets. Coupling units with long pointy ends also waists a huge amount of space in the middle of a train, maybe universal operation of 7 or 8 car sets would be better.
Peter Brown
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10 car should happen, but better a 5 to run than lose and entire train .
could also allow 10 coach to Lecister then split Sheffield via Nottingham and Sheffield via Derby
JBC Prestatyn
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Didn’t GWR abandon splitting/combining 5 car sets in service due to software issues when coupling?
Peter Brown
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The (later) Mk2s also had different window spacings in 1st and 2nd class, so that seats could line up properly. The Mk3s didn’t.
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Strongly disagree with the consensus here about tables, as a regular user of the intercity MML services. While true, families prefer tables, the majority of passengers on this line are solo or couples. Unless there are exactly four or you (the minority of groups), tables are uncomfortable.
Of course, sometimes you need to sit next to strangers, but I’d rather not have to be making eye contact the whole time too. A couple tables makes sense, but seat pairs are a better choice for most passengers. I think EMR have made the better choice here
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Airline seats also help to stop the opposite seats (in a foursome) being used as footrests.
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I agree that the airline seating layout is better. How many times have you boarded a train with 10 tables and found virtually all bays of 4 occupied by a selfish solo traveller who has spread their belongings out and glares at anyone who deigns to sit near them? I see it every day on my commute.
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It is not necessarily “selfish”. On my route the airline type seats fill first, so a single traveller may be stuck with a bay of 4. For someone travelling alone (at least for myself) it feels socially awkward if two, or worse still, three people travelling together join you and carry on a “private” conversation. I would rather stand than be in that situation.
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The seat occupancy that kept changing between red and green was most likely the composite coach that has both first and standard class compartments so needs to reflect occupancy in both.
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It’s good that the ceiling contour of these new trains permits people to actually make efficient use of the luggage racks. The convex shape on Meridians allows only a thin briefcase to be stored. However, it’s about time that toilet door locks were standardized. All they need is a hook over a loop but each variety of trains goes to the extreme to outdo the unnecessary technology of another in buttons, flashing lights, etc.
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Interesting, thank you, look forward to trying these out soon. Did you notice if the seat reservation system was working? It’s been ‘sporadic’ (putting it politely) on the Meridians for years now.
Ricky
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No reservations are available as the seat configuration is different to Meridians so to avoid confusion if train sets are swapped around they’re not issuing any but there is the standard green/orange/red light arrangement.
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to be a pedant, the trains feature only sockets, both USB and mains. The plug is the property of the user.
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Can EMR use the old stock on their Liverpool to Norwich service …. it needs something bigger .
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I understand the OHE stops just short of Leicester station. Is there a blocker to OHE in/just north of Leicester as a lower cost upgrade (“launch” the train on OHE out of station for the North and then turn the diesel gens on)?
As battery packs improve (beyond what was available in 2017 when the train was specified), I hope the diesel gens could be swapped out for batteries or a “battery carriage” added into the consist (third length carriage, or replace a couple of coaches with longer ones to include battery). 70 miles feels “doable” with batteries, especially if some short bursts of OHE could be added for in motion topup, and OHE in terminal stations on the route for topup and “launch” .
milest
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The big constraint is the road bridge immediately south of Leicester station that carries London Road past. It is apparently low but the road across the top is one of the busiest in the city so doing anything about it is expensive and disruptive.
Dwarfer
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is it absolutely too low for OLE or could you run a wire as a neutral section to guide the pantograph and either coast or use battery to cover the short section?
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I prefer the upright type of seat. As one with long legs, they are far easier to enter and leave than raked seats (as on SWR class 159) are. As long as there is decent lumber support, they are going to be better for long term back health anyway.
I concur with the comment about GWR seats failed cushions. They are an absolute disgrace and should be replaced immediately. Appallingly uncomfortable.
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