The final episode of an award-winning series of documentaries about the rollout of East Midlands Railway’s Aurora fleet and the training of frontline staff has now been released.

In this episode, the focus is on how East Midlands Railway staff are being trained to work on and operate the new £400 million fleet. The video includes drivers, train managers, and senior management undergoing training on the new trains, explaining their benefits to passengers, and staff getting ready to work on them.

Five Aurora trains are currently operating on the Midland Main Line, with the first having entered service last December; when complete, the full fleet will comprise 33 trains.

Built by Hitachi Rail at its state-of-the-art factory at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, the new Aurora trains have 24 per cent more seats than their Meridian predecessors, improved air conditioning, better WiFi, plug sockets at every seat, and improved customer information displays; carriage windows have special features that facilitate the transmission of mobile signals to provide better connectivity.

The trains are bi-mode, enabling them to work on both electrified and non-electrified lines; when running on electric power, carbon emissions are 66 per cent lower.

Great attention was given to the design of the new seats, with East Midlands Railway working closely with DG DESIGN of Derby to adapt and refine the existing FISA Lean seat, and refine it to make it more comfortable and to provide better support than existing seats. Improvements were also made so that all seats now have power and USB points, more legroom, coat hooks, and seat-back tables, as well as ensuring there is a sufficient space under each seat for stowing cabin bags.