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Fewer East Midlands Railway intercity services are running from today, because of problems with the operator’s new Hitachi Class 810 Aurora trains, as well as holdups in maintaining the long-standing Class 222 Meridian fleet, for which Hitachi is now responsible.

The Class 810s should have replaced the 222s, but the transition has not gone smoothly, partly because the 810s started to arrive three years later than planned.

Eleven down trains have been cancelled from today, deleting some services from London to Nottingham or Sheffield from the timetable, as well as one from Kettering to Melton Mowbray.

There are also nine cancellations in the up direction, and some services which are running will have fewer coaches. It is the second round of cutbacks, because some regional services have already been cancelled.

EMR has apologised, saying it is continuing to ‘experience performance and reliability issues with the Class 810 Aurora fleet’.

EMR managing director Will Rogers said: ‘The performance of the Class 810 fleet has fallen below the levels we and our customers expect, and it is necessary to introduce a temporary reduced timetable while we work with the manufacturer, Hitachi Rail, to improve consistency in service.

‘We recognise that this will be disappointing for customers, and we understand the frustration caused when our Intercity services do not consistently meet the standards they rightly expect, which in turn puts our frontline staff in an unenviable position of trying to deliver excellent customer service amidst ongoing reliability challenges.

‘We are sorry for the significant disruption and inconvenience these issues have caused our customers, and we are committed to restoring the reliable service they rightly expect.’

EMR added that the 810s will continue to be introduced in a ‘controlled manner’

Hitachi said: ‘The Class 810 fleet has been in passenger service with East Midlands Railway since December 2025 and more than a third of the fleet has now been delivered.

‘Hitachi Rail continues to work closely with all industry partners during the entry-into-service phase of the Class 810 fleet, implementing improvements and supporting the transition from the existing fleet to new Aurora trains.

‘We remain focused on delivering the remainder of the fleet and supporting East Midlands Railway as more new trains enter passenger service. As part of this commitment, we are investing in additional testing activity at Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre to improve fleet introduction and delivery of the remaining trains.’

Readers’ comments

I am feeling an increasing concern about these 800-series trains, with various design problems. Was the idea to make substandard trains in return for helping the local employment situation? David C. Smith, Bletchley

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