East Midlands Railway invited RailAdvent to Nottingham today (24th July) to see inside the first newly refurbished Class 158 train.
The Class 158 fleet is undergoing a £5.2 million project which will see its interiors refreshed.
It was also confirmed by Will Rogers, MD of East Midlands Railway, that 158847 will be appearing at The Greatest Gathering in Derby, set to take place in August 2025.
The fleet operates on the Liverpool to Norwich route via Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield, and all Class 158s should be refurbished by the end of 2026.
The improvements include new seating, tables, carpeting and lighting as well as charge points, though these are slower USB A ports rather than Type C, and there are no power plugs.
Will Rogers says that there are no 3-pin plugs due to them taking more current than USB A, and that WiFi does not feature in the refurbishment programme.
Also among the improvements are better CCTV systems as well as improvements to the Passenger Information Systems (PIS).
The refurbishments did make the train feel a lot brighter and cleaner, as well as comfier seats for passengers.
The refurbishments are taking place at Arriva TrainCare Depot in Bristol, but Will Rogers did say that some of the refurbishments are going to be completed at Nottingham Eastcroft Depot.
As well as the interior refresh, trains will get a new EMR Purple livery, which is painted, not vinyl, and looks superb!
The first refurbished train is Class 158 158847, and the train was joined by members of staff from East Midlands Railway and Angel Trains.
East Midlands Railways operates Class 158 trains that are owned by two leasing companies, Porterbrook and Angel Trains. EMR say that all 158s, regardless of owner, are being refurbished as part of the project.
The first 158, 158847, has taken since October 2024 to complete, but it is hoped that as each train passes through the refurbishment process, each train will be quicker than the last.
It is hoped that the refurbishment programme will allow the 158 fleet to operate for the foreseeable future, with no current plans for East Midlands Railway to withdraw the fleet.
No changes to the cab are being made, apart from a new seat for the train driver, which should mean they can enter service as soon as they return to their home base.
However, East Midlands Railway staff did confirm that 158847 will NOT be in service before The Greatest Gathering event in August.
A big thank you to East Midlands Railway for inviting us to the event today. What do you think to the new look Class 158? Let us know in the comments below.
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Responses
Not being in service didn’t last very long, I was on it today! 1L13 from Lime Street. It is nice inside but the aircon in the rear coach had packed up by Sheffield.
Looks a lot better than the Northern refurbs.
I’ve noticed that all rail passenger vehicles from Class 158 onwards have sides that slope quite steeply inwards towards the roof. This limits passenger space and feels quite claustrophobic. The very old class 156s (which are still used on my local line) don’t have this slope and consequently feel much roomier inside – like the old Mk 1 and 2 BR carriages.
Does anyone know why this design change was made? I can understand it being necessary on the Pendolino tilting trains but not on ordinary stock.
The 158’s are now 35 years old so it’s no wonder that they are being refurbished, a lot of these DMU’s replaced the Craven Class DMU’s and where a vast improvement over them. The 158’s are not a bad rail vehicle and have proved to be a good design, with the only problem being that they where designed a commuter/mid distance DMU and as such lack the easy access of the purely commuter focused Class 150’s.