Delay in East Midlands Railway Class 810 delivery could affect other operators

East Midlands Railway has confirmed industry speculation that the entry into traffic of its new Hitachi AT300 Class 810 Aurora five-car bi-mode units could be delayed.

This would have an impact on other operators waiting to take the Class 222 Meridians that would be released by the introduction of the ‘810s’.

EMR has 33 Class 810 units on order (810001-033). The plan is for them to replace the company’s 27 Class 222 diesel units (four seven-cars and 23 four-cars), which would then return to Eversholt.

Already 32 vehicles (all four seven-car sets and one four-car set) are confirmed as heading to FirstGroup for its new Stirling-London Euston open access service operated under Lumo branding.

An EMR spokesperson said: “The five-car type testing for our new Class 810 Aurora trains has been completed, and the Office of Rail and Road had granted authorisation to place them into service in May 2025 - a key programme milestone.

“However, testing and the transfer of units to EMR and Rock Rail are currently paused while Hitachi Rail investigates functional issues identified in early units. Full testing, including for ten-car operation, is expected to resume in summer 2025.”

It has been suggested that the units have been experiencing overheating issues - thought to be as a result of them being made up of slightly shorter 24-metre-long vehicles, rather than the 25.35-metre vehicles used in LNER, Great Western Railway and other Class 80x AT300 units.

EMR did not confirm if that was indeed the issue, merely adding: “We remain committed to introducing the Aurora fleet in 2025, with phased rollout continuing into 2026.

“In parallel, we’re actively assessing the potential impact on our timetable due to the fixed return dates of our Class 222 trains from October 2025, and exploring mitigation strategies to ensure service continuity.”

While the fleet, financed by Rock Rail, is now built and some main line testing has been undertaken, there is no confirmed date as to entry into passenger service.

They will run off the 25kV AC electrification of the Midland Main Line, which now extends as far north as the Kettering-Wigston section electrified in 2024, and then use their four 985hp MTU engines on non-electrified lines.

The first ‘222s’ are due to return to Eversholt between October 2025 and February 2026, prior to their introduction on Lumo services later next year.