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Class 810 Aurora
Hitachi's AT300 intercity train built for the Midland Main Line, with shorter cars than the Class 800s and four diesel engines. They replace EMR's Class 222 Meridians (27 in November 2025, when the first was shown; five have since gone to Lumo) on the Midland Main Line, with 24% more seats in a five-car train. On 19 June 2026 810015, working the 15:50 Nottingham to St Pancras, had come to an unexpected stop near Elstow, south of Bedford, after an automatic emergency brake application, when a Class 360 passed a signal at danger and ran into its back. The 360's driver was killed, more than 160 people were injured and both trains derailed. RAIB is investigating (interim report, October 2026).
Scale
394 ft (119.99 m) (the cars’ lengths added)
Class 810 Aurora · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/810/ · CC BY 4.0
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- Type
- Bi-mode multiple unit (electric and diesel)
- Builder
- Hitachi Rail, Newton Aycliffe
- Family
- Class 800 series, with Class 800, Class 801 Azuma, Class 802, Class 803, Class 805 Evero, Class 807 Evero
- Built
- 2021 onwards
- In service
- since 2025
- Operators
- EMR
- Formation
- 5 cars, each 79 ft (24 m) long (shorter than other Hitachi intercity cars, so two trains fit St Pancras's platforms)
- Fleets
- East Midlands Railway: 13 of 33
- Top speed
- 125 mph (201 km/h)
- Power
- 25 kV AC overhead, or four 735 kW diesel engines; eight 290 kW traction motors on cars 2 and 4 · how it works
- Bogies
- Hitachi bogies
- Train length
- 394 ft (119.99 m) (the cars’ lengths added)
- Profile
- main-line
- Seats per train
- 301
- Status
- Being introduced after a three-year delay and reliability problems: 13 of 33 accepted by September 2026, one of them in long-term store since the Elstow collision.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DPT | Driving pantograph trailer (cars 1 and 5; first class at one end) | 79 ft 8 in24.28 m | 2 single |
| M | Motor (cars 2 and 4) | 78 ft 1 in23.81 m | 2 single |
| TS | Trailer, standard class (car 3) | 78 ft 1 in23.81 m | 2 single |
Sources
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Show the 21 sources from Rail Accident Investigation Branch, Kyle Barnard, Rail Engineer and 7 more
- Abellio invests £400 million in new Hitachi trains for East Midlands Railway Hitachi Rail, 30 July 201933 five-car trains, £400 million, Rock Rail, maintained at Derby Etches Park; ordered July 2019, entry into service planned for 2022 (unverified)
- Aurora: a new dawn for the East Midlands Rail Engineer, 13 February 2025car bodies welded and painted at Newton Aycliffe; four 735 kW engines; motored bogies on cars 2 and 4, eight 290 kW traction motors (power)
- East Midlands Railway finally launches 810 fleet Rail, 24 November 202579 ft (24 m) cars to fit two units at St Pancras; 301 seats; four engines; to replace 27 Class 222s, as at November 2025 (summary)
- Beacon Rail takes on more than 2,700 vehicles as it acquires rival ROSCO Eversholt RAIL, 30 January 2026five Class 222s transferring from EMR to Lumo (222001-005); EMR keeping 222006-023 and 222101-104, 22 (summary)
- 'Unprecedented' faults hit Lumo's Class 222s on Stirling-Euston route RAIL (David Stubbings), 12 August 2026Lumo's West Coast service from 25 May 2026 run with former East Midlands Railway Class 222s (summary)
- Aurora fleet enters into service as first customers travel on EMR East Midlands Railway, 3 December 2025first passenger service 3 December 2025; 24% more seats than the Meridians in a five-car train (summary)
- EMR looking to Voyagers and extending Class 222 lease as more services are restored Rail, 30 September 202613 of 33 accepted; one in long-term store following the Bedford collision (status)
- Interim report IR1/2026: collision between two passenger trains at Elstow, near Bedford Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2026125 mph (201 km/h)
- Interim report IR1/2026: collision between two passenger trains at Elstow, near Bedford Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2026, pp. 4-7 (paras 1-6, 12)the Elstow collision of 19 June 2026: 810015 forming 1B67, stopped after an automatic emergency brake application, struck from behind by 360115 (1H46), which had passed signal WH154 at danger; the 360's driver killed, more than 160 injured, both trains derailed (summary)
- Interim report IR1/2026: collision between two passenger trains at Elstow, near Bedford Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2026, p. 7 (Figure 3)side elevation of all five cars (measured)
- 810015 at Sheffield, 9 April 2026 (photograph) Wikimedia Commons, 2026colours of the drawing
- Interim report IR1/2026: collision between two passenger trains at Elstow, near Bedford Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2026, p. 7 (Figure 3)layout of the underframe equipment (fairing joints and fittings)
- Aurora: a new dawn for the East Midlands Rail Engineer, 13 February 2025shading of the underframe fairings (EMR's render in the article)
- Interim report IR1/2026: collision between two passenger trains at Elstow, near Bedford Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2026, p. 7 (figure 3)the drawing's pantograph: car (DPT, both ends), its end, length, folded height and the lowered roof under it (measured)
- Interim report IR1/2026: collision between two passenger trains at Elstow, near Bedford Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2026, p. 7 (Figure 3)the cab front laid on the body shell, the wiper masked; the lower nose's joint line and the deflector's front (set CA, ca-at300; measured)
- 810005 at Hitachi Newton Aycliffe - geograph.org.uk - 8174820.jpg (photograph: a five-car Class 810 at the works, three-quarter; CC BY-SA 2.0) Geograph Britain and Ireland, via Wikimedia Commons (DS Pugh), 4 October 2025the joins between cars (layout only)
- 810006 at a platform, side on (photograph sent by Kyle, 13 October 2026) Kyle Barnard (private reference, not published), 2026the cab side's window, joints, hatch, headlamp, coachline and doors (set C810C)
- 810008, side on (photograph sent by Kyle, 13 October 2026) Kyle Barnard (private reference, not published), 2026the same, checked (set C810C)
- Interim report IR1/2026: collision between two passenger trains at Elstow, near Bedford Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2026the cab side's window, cab door and grab rails (Figure 7, the laser scan; set C810C)
- 810006 at a platform, side on (photograph sent by Kyle, 13 October 2026) Kyle Barnard (private reference, not published), 2026the passenger door-leaf windows: their size, height and corners, scaled on the 2 ft 10 in (870 mm) leaf (set T13; layout only)
- A Guide to Overhead Electrification (132787-ALB-GUN-EOH-000001, rev 10) Network Rail (prepared by Alan Baxter), February 2015, p. 39the contact wire in the In operation drawing: 15 ft 5 in (4.7 m) above rail, Network Rail's normal height
unverified
- The drawing: RAIB's figure prints no dimensions; scaled to the 394 ft (120 m) train (if the middle cars are exactly 78 ft 9 in (24.0 m), every length is 0.8% longer)
- Roof height: drawn 12 ft 11 in (3.94 m) above rail, against 12 ft 3 in (3.73 m) measured for the Class 800; RAIB's figure may exaggerate the roof
- Colours: sampled from photographs; no paint reference has been published
- Drawing: the bogies (style at300_810, set ENG15) are drawn from two side views of a driving trailer's cab-end bogie (810006 and 810008, Kyle's), an open frame unlike the Class 800's; no Hitachi drawing or dimension has been found for them; the motor cars' (2 and 4) motored bogies and the inner bogies take the same drawing, not checked on a photograph
- The cab front: laid on the body shell of RAIB's Figure 3 (the wiper masked); its side details (set C810C) placed from side-on photographs of 810006 and 810008 and RAIB's laser scan, which agree within 25 mm on the bodyside; on the curving nose (headlamp, hatch, joints) within about 50 mm of each other, a close photograph being no test of a nose's outline
- The build start year (2021): not found in the sources read; ordered in July 2019, the first were due in service in 2022
- The passenger door-leaf windows (set T13): read off one photograph of a driving trailer's door 1 (810006), about +/-30 mm across and +/-40 mm up; the intermediate cars' doors are drawn alike, not yet checked on a level photograph of an M or TS
- Underframe: the skirts' grilles are drawn on the right-hand side only (cars 4 and 5 as drawn), from one photograph; the left-hand side (cars 1-3) keeps RAIB's panels, as no photograph of it was found
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