The arrival of East Midlands Railway’s Aurora bi-modes is not the only driving factor behind upgrades to the Derby depot, reports PHILIP SHERRATT
Electrification has reached Derby! Sadly, this is not a sudden acceleration of the full Midland main line scheme, but travellers approaching Derby from the south will probably have noticed the erection of overhead line equipment at Etches Park depot alongside the extension to the North Shed.
The OLE is for a short test facility for East Midlands Railway’s new Class 810 Aurora bi-modes from Hitachi, which are due to start arriving next year. Aside from Alstom’s test track at its Litchurch Lane factory, Derby has been a diesel stronghold – the bi-modes will change that, and the test facility will be a useful addition for maintenance purposes.
While these visible aspects of the improvements at Etches Park are driven by the Aurora project, EMR is on a mission to deliver a wholesale upgrade of the depot site. The North Shed was built to maintain the current Meridian fleet and is run by Alstom (formerly Bombardier) for this purpose – it is to transfer to Hitachi for‘810’maintenance during the transition between EMR’s outgoing and incoming inter-city fleets.
The So…
