East Midlands Railway shows off first refurbished '158' and makes replacement admission

East Midlands Railways has formally launched its first refurbished Class 158 as part of its £60 million upgrade of its regional fleet as it admits there's "no replacement in sight" for the DMUs.

158847 was shown off at Nottingham on July 24. The unit has new seat foams and covers, tabletops, carpets, vestibule flooring, and a deep clean of all passenger areas.

All 26 of the two-car BREL built DMUs, which date from 1990-92, will be refreshed at a cost of £5.2m. EMR’s also refurbishing its Class 170 DMUs and ‘360’ electric units.

They feature updated branding, decals, and labelling, along with newly painted exteriors, and will be fitted with new CCTV and forward-facing camera systems, with remote download capabilities to enhance safety and security.

All units will benefit from upgraded on-board Passenger Information Systems to ensure more accurate real-time updates. The refurbished units don't have WiFi or three-pin plug sockets due to cost and the fact these draw too much power.

EMR Managing Director Will Rogers said: “This investment will breathe new life into our Class 158s, significantly improving comfort, safety and the overall travel experience for customers across our regional network. It’s a clear demonstration of our ongoing commitment to enhancing the quality of our trains and delivering better journeys for all.

“Although these trains are getting closer to the end of their service life, investing in them was absolutely the right decision. We will learn lessons from the first unit refurbished for the rest of the fleet.”

Of the fleet, 16 are owned by Angel Trains (158780/783/785/788, 158846/847/852/854/856-858/862-866) and will be refurbished by Arriva Traincare at Bristol Barton Hill, with the other ten owned by Porterbrook (158770/773/774/777/799, 158806/810/812/813/889), and will have the work done at Nottingham Eastcroft depot.

Because, unlike Barton Hill, the latter does not have a paint shop facility, they will be painted elsewhere. A contract for that work has yet to be tendered.

Although 158847 was stopped way back in October, because it had other work that needed to be done on it, plus was the first to be refreshed, it has taken longer, but EMR is hopeful the lead time for each upgrade will rapidly reduce to just five weeks. The last of the units should be upgraded by October 2026.

Two units will be stopped at any one time, along with a Class 170 being refurbished at Derby Etches Park.

Added Rogers: “We had to pitch this refurbishment carefully. These are old trains, but there is no replacement in sight.”

There is not much mechanical work being done, although any corrosion issues will be delay with although that is not expected to be a serious issue for the fleet.

EMR also confirmed the refurbishment of the Class 360 Siemens Desiro EMUs is set to start at the end of August.