British Rail Class 222

The British Rail Class 222 Meridian is a group of 5- or 7- car diesel-electric multiple-unit high-speed passenger train capable of 125 mph (200 km/h). Twenty-seven sets were built by Bombardier Transportation in Bruges, Belgium.
The Class 222 is part of the Bombardier Voyager family, so it is very similar to the Class 220 Voyager and Class 221 Super Voyager trains used by CrossCountry and Grand Central. In comparison, the Class 222s have a different interior and also have more components fitted under the floors to free up space within the body. Built for Midland Mainline and Hull Trains, today all are operated by East Midlands Railway and are branded as the Meridians.
All 5- and 7-car sets were converted to their present state from cars from the past 4- and 9-car sets.
All are equipped with a Cummins QSK19 diesel engine of 559 kW (750 hp) at 1,800 rpm. This powers a generator, which supplies current to motors driving two axles per coach. Approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km) can be travelled between each refuelling.
Class 222 have rheostatic braking using the motors in reverse to generate electricity which is dissipated as heat through resistors situated on the roof of each coach; this saves on brake pad wear.
In common with the Class 220s, B5000 lightweight bogies are used - these are easily recognisable since the entire outer surface of the wheel is visible, with inboard axle bearings.
The Class 222 are fitted with Dellner couplers, as on Class 220 Voyager and Class 221 Super Voyager trains, though these units cannot work together in service because the Class 222 electrical connections are incompatible with the Class 220 and Class 221 trains.
All Class 222 units are maintained at the dedicated Derby Etches Park depot, just south of Derby railway station.
Class 222 units are currently running in the following formations:
East Midlands Railway: seven cars with 236 standard seats and 106 first-class seats.
East Midlands Railway: five cars with 192 standard seats and 50 first-class seats
The five-car units can be coupled to form ten-car services at peak times. When coupled together, coaches A-G are found in the front unit and the rear coaches become labelled J, K, L, M, N, but in reverse order, meaning Coach J is usually at the London end, and First Class is in Coaches J and K.
Initially, the 23 units ordered for Midland Mainline were four-car and nine-car. Over time these have been gradually modified to the current formations. The four-car units ordered by Hull Trains had an option when constructed to be extended to five cars if required.
With the exception of EMR Connect services, no route operated by East Midlands Railway is fully electrified. As a result, the majority of its fleet is composed of diesel trains such as the Class 222.
Midland Mainline introduced the first of 23 Class 222 units on 31 May 2004, branding them Meridian. These replaced all the Class 170 Turbostars and some of the High Speed Trains, having better acceleration than both of them.
Seven of the sets were nine-car Class 222 Meridians intended for an enhanced London St Pancras to Leeds service, but after the trains had been ordered, the Strategic Rail Authority decided not to allow them to run the service. The nine-car Meridians were used on London-Nottingham and some London-Sheffield services.
When the trains were ordered, Midland Mainline overestimated the number of first-class passengers, and the four-car Meridians had less standard-class seating than the three-car Turbostars they replaced. Coach D subsequently had a section of first-class seating declassified for use by standard-class passengers.
At the end of 2006, Midland Mainline removed a carriage from each of the nine-car sets and extended seven of the four-car sets, using the removed carriages.
Following the formation of the new East Midlands rail franchise in November 2007, the entire fleet of Class 222 Meridians was inherited by East Midlands Trains, which operated the expanded East Midlands rail franchise, including all routes previously run by Midland Mainline.
In 2008 further rearrangements were made to the sets: another carriage was removed from the eight-car Meridians, except for unit 222007, which was reduced to five cars with two of the first-class coaches converted to part standard and part first class. The surplus coaches were then added to the four-car Meridians. These changes, which took place from March to October 2008, resulted in six seven-car sets (222001–222006) and 17 five-car sets (222007–222023).
The seven-car trains are almost exclusively used on the fast services between London St Pancras and Sheffield. Since the retirement of the HSTs, they have commenced working London St Pancras to Leeds via Sheffield. The five-car trains are mainly used between London St Pancras and Sheffield, Nottingham or Corby on semi-fast services, and at off-peak times. The four-car trains supplement the five-car trains on these services, or can alternatively form standalone services.
In December 2008, the Class 222 Meridians started work on the hourly London St Pancras to Sheffield services, because they have faster acceleration than the High Speed Trains and so were able to reduce the Sheffield to London journey time by 12 minutes. The hourly Nottingham service was then transferred to High Speed Train running to cover for the Meridians now working the hourly Sheffield fast service.
In February 2009, units 222101 and 222102 transferred from Hull Trains to East Midlands Trains, and were quickly repainted in the East Midlands Trains white livery. Unit 222104 followed later in the year, and unit 222103 a further few months later after repairs had been completed: unit 222103 had been out of service for two years since early 2007, when the unit fell from jacks at Bombardier's Crofton works.
In August 2019, following the Department for Transport's awarding of the East Midlands franchise to Abellio, all of the 222 fleet transferred to new operator East Midlands Railway.
Hull Trains introduced Class 222 Pioneer units, to replace its Class 170 Turbostars in May 2005. The units reduced journey times between Hull and London King's Cross by up to 20 minutes. The Pioneers had a different interior colour scheme and less first-class seating than the Meridians.
First Hull Trains' fleet consisted of four four-car Pioneers.
First Hull Trains decided to use only Class 180 units from 2009 onwards. The Class 222s were transferred to East Midlands Trains in 2008/09 and are now branded Meridian.
East Midlands Trains refurbished its entire Class 222 fleet. The refurbishment included new seat covers and carpets in standard class. First class received new leather seat covers along with a new colour scheme and carpets. The refurbishment started in February 2011 and was complete by spring 2012.
In 2024, East Midlands Railway began a refurbishment program on its entire Class 222 fleet, the program involves the refurbishment of the seating in standard class.
All are scheduled to be returned to Eversholt Rail Group in the future once Class 810s replace them on EMR Intercity services.
In 2005, HSBC Rail took delivery of the seven nine-car trains planned for use by Midland Mainline on its London-Leeds service, but the trains were left idle when the Strategic Rail Authority prevented Midland Mainline from operating this service. HSBC Rail made contact with Northern Ireland Railways and Iarnród Éireann, with a view to their leasing these units for use by Enterprise. Using these trains on the Belfast-Dublin line was one of a number of options, which also included the purchase of additional 22000 Class railcars or cascaded coaching stock. In the event, the trains entered service with MML providing the fast services from London to Nottingham, thus releasing High Speed Trains. The trains would have required significant modification to be used by Northern Ireland Railways, including reducing each train from nine to eight cars (the maximum length of stations on the Belfast-Dublin line), and converting them from standard gauge to Irish gauge (5 ft 3 inches).
Grand Central, on the announcement of its open-access operation to Sunderland in the summer of 2006, planned to run its services using five Class 222 units, with the intention of starting by the end of that year. However, this never happened, pushing back the planned start date while the company looked for alternatives. Grand Central finally started operating in December 2007 using three High Speed Trains.
The following Meridians have been named: