‘Much-needed’ seating refurbishment underway
East Midlands Railway embarks upon £3million project to replace standard class seat covers and padding on its Class 222 fleet.
PASSENGERS in the East Midlands are set to enjoy a little more comfort thanks to a £3million refurbishment plan.
More than 5,000 seats are being refurbished on East Midlands Railway’s Class
222 ‘Meridian’ intercity diesel multiple unit fleet.
The programme will lead to a total of 5,272 standard class and 243 tip-up seats receiving new foam padding and being recovered in grey fabric. The old seat foam will be recycled into material for rubberised safety matting for children’s play areas.
Maintenance
Replacement work will be carried out during routine maintenance, avoiding the need to take units out of service.
The current red seat fabric on the Class 222s was fitted as part of a £30million fleet refurbishment over 12 years ago and the worn state of the seats has prompted complaints from passengers, some of whom have posted photographs on social media.
On November 28, Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “not a single seat” in standard class on the train she was travelling on was in an acceptable condition. She accompanied this with images of worn and stained seat cushions.
Benefit
All 27 of the Class 222s are due to be replaced by EMR. The first of 33 Hitachi-built Class 810 ‘Aurora’ bi-mode sets which will supersede them are expected to enter service later this year, but EMR says passengers will notice the benefit of the improvements in the meantime.
“This much-needed refresh represents a significant investment for the fleet and future-proofs them, enabling them to continue serving UK customers wherever they go after they leave us,” said EMR fleet director Ian Hyde.