You raise some good points, but from some special rail magazine related ' books' from the series modern locomotives illustrated, and also the UK and NI Rolling stock review books, since the Aurora first appeared in the latter, when you compare the length of each ' coach ' on the 810 to a mark3 or 4 coach I believe they are slightly longer .
So in a way nearer a HST 6 car set.
Also regards the seats a d interior, I had read a special magazine article on the EMR fleet current and upcoming , and it detailed the extension consultation with the public and the operator alike, a lot of work has gone into a seat design that is said to mimic the much loved HST/Mark3 and other coach designs using the ' IC7' design, so the ones on. The 810 are supposed to have been modled on that design, although mainly in appearance.
However much work has gone into seat comfort , padding and a covering that will stand up to the heavy usage , where especially the GWR sets had to have all their seats recovered already and even that is still not working as it again is wearing out with cushions collapsing , interiors falling apart , plastics getting very dirty no matter how much cleaning is done , also the garish lighting on both GWR and Lner sets , and the latter having the same issues as her with wear and tear. To the point it said that there is a plan already to totally refurbish those units and hopefully introduce a buffet car on GWR sets.
Anyway the 810's they learnt from the failings of the others , and so much work has also gone Into 810 interiors , better softer lighting , toned down colours , more like older style intercity which was loved by those using the trains , probably similar from one photomontage, if how they will look, to the ex grand central sets ( Mark4's ) that TFW have now got
So yes the 810's will be a lot different and yes they will have buffet cars and a trolley as well.
Although quite how they will squeeze this into a 5 car unit remains to be seen.
But the images I saw, it's like chalk and cheese between the older sets . They also have a redesigned front end , not too disimilar to the HS2, javelin class 395's .
A lot of work has gone on to give people a better travel experience.
Although they would have been better to do as a anti did and buy 7 car sets .
And yes it may be prudent at least for a while until any bugs are ironed out , to keep some class 222's, which for all their issues are still better than the 220/221 voyagers .
Although clearly those units must be pretty ropey for them to be replacing units that are half the age of the HST sets that served long distance running .
Also the new operator ' grand Union is already slated to take the class 222's for their London - Camarthen route , starting later this year or early next, also their Stirling to London services too.
But both have shown photo montages of what look to be a Hitachi IET type set .
So I'd guess the 222's are a stop gap which was pretty much what that operator stated , until they can get new Bimode or Tri mode sets.
As for the 222's they are still fairly recent so afwte the new operator is done with them , they may be rescued anywhere from Chiltern to Scotrail , maybe even Northern rail, where plans to amalgamate with TPE which has already put in orders or tenders for a fleet of bimodes to replace the 185's .
Although that is a strange situation, that they had brand new trains but instead of changing locos have just abandoned sets that cost a huge amount of money .
So let's hope the these new class 810's are being built as per their photo montage and the mockup which as I said was similar in terms of lighting. And colour palette to the Grand central mark4's.
And the 810's look very smart in the purple livery and seeing them on test they look fantastic..much better than the 222's .
So really we will just have to wait and see when they come into service , if they live up to all the hype over all the modifications made to them compared to the other 800 series units .
