17th October 2016 – for immediate release

New Greater Anglia rail franchise launched around East Anglia

Major improvements planned, plus special ticket offer to herald the new era

A new era for the railway in East Anglia will be launched across the region today.

Abellio subisidiary company Greater Anglia is starting a new nine-year franchise to provide passenger rail services to and from London across Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

People in East Anglia can now look forward to a £2 billion package of improvements to transform rail travel in the region.

Highlights include a complete fleet of brand new trains (replacing every single train in the current fleet with a larger fleet of new trains during 2019/2020 - up from 933 carriages to 1043 carriages); more services; faster journey times; 55 per cent more seats into London in the morning peak period; initiatives to improve punctuality from 89% to almost 93%; £60 million of improvements in stations and new ticket options offering even better value for money.

The majority of major upgrades, linked to the new trains, will be delivered in 2019/2020, but there are a number of other improvements delivered over the first three years of the franchise including 72 additional carriages to provide more seats from summer 2017; free wi-fi; automatic delay repay compensation for season ticket holders and advance ticket holders from early in 2017; ticket vending machines at every station; new customer information screens and help points at every station; at least 1800 additional car parking spaces and 4000 extra cycle parking places at stations around the network; a refresh and deep clean for all stations; significant investment in reliability modifications and interior refreshes for the existing fleet of trains and more investment in customer service and the Community Rail Partnerships.

More details of the plans are included at the end of this release and in the Abellio Group press release sent out in conjunction with this press release.

To mark the start of the new franchise, Greater Anglia is running a “Wake up to Weekdays” offer with special adult return fares - £10, £15 or £20 for off-peak travel. Children can travel for just £2 return. Tickets are available to purchase until 30 October for travel up to 30 November, including the autumn half-term period. Book online at

Staff at key stations across the East Anglian network are to also due to hand out cupcakes and gifts to passengers.

After attending a special franchise launch event at Liverpool Street station, London, with Rail Minister Paul Maynard, there will be events at Chelmsford, Ipswich, Norwich and Cambridge to mark the start of the franchise with regional stakeholders.

Jamie Burles, Managing Director for Greater Anglia said: “This is an exciting time for the railway in our region. This is the first franchise renewal to see a train operator replace its entire fleet with brand new trains. I’m looking forward to leading Greater Anglia as we transform the railway.

“We have a huge programme of improvements planned for trains, stations, timetables, journey times, ticketing, performance and wider customer service standards. Today really is the start of a period of major investment and improvement to upgrade services for customers and communities across the region.”

Stakeholders across the region have welcomed the new franchise and the planned upgrades:

At Chelmsford station, Cllr John Aldridge, the Chairman of Essex County Council, is formally opening the new ticket office – part of £5 million of improvements to the station including a new concourse, entrance, staircase and ticket vending machines.

Cllr Aldridge said:“I am delighted to be here today to open the new ticket office. As someone who has spent 40 years of my life as a commuter, I understand the importance of Chelmsford Railway Station as a vital part of the transport network for residents and commuters heading to and from this great city.

“Thanks to welcome investment, the public will now benefit from these state-of-the-art facilities for years to come.”

Cllr Guy McGregor, of Suffolk County Council, is a special guest at Ipswich.

He said: “This is a great day for railway travellers in Suffolk with the introduction of the new 9 year franchise operated by Greater Angliato provide passenger services to our County and to East Anglia.

We are due to get totally new rolling stock for all our services and in addition:

  • New hourly services from Colchester via Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds to Peterborough;
  • Direct services to London Liverpool Street from Lowestoft on the East Suffolk Line and, the great prize….
  • Faster timesand more capacity with brand new rolling stock (within 4 years) on the Great Eastern Main Line (Norwich, Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich and Manningtree to London Liverpool Street).

After the disappointment of the previous franchise process in 2011, Suffolk County Council was determined to lobby for an improved franchise the next time. Abellio’s Managing Director at the time gave us sound advice and based on this, the lobbying started and the results are here in the new franchise plans for us all to appreciate today.”

At Cambridge Station, Cllr Ian Bates, Chairman of the Cambridgeshire County Council’s Economy and Environment Committee is a guest speaker.

He said: “Rail plays an integral role in delivering sustainable transport to Cambridgeshire. We welcome the new franchise agreement and look forward to seeing the improvements in journey times, better rolling stock and performance.”

At Norwich station, Andrew Goodrum, Greater Anglia Customer Services Director, and Michelle Smart, Human Resources Director, marked the new franchise with Ted Gadsden, Chairman of the Bittern Line Community Rail Partnership (CRP) and Ian Dinmore, Chairman of the Wherry Lines CRP and James Mason, Board member for Norfolk Chamber of Commerce.

Ian Dinmore said: "The Bittern and Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnerships recognise the good work done so far by Abellio. We now look forward to helping all Community Rail stakeholders take forward the Community Rail principle,through the new longer franchise, to deliver improvements to the Sheringham, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth railways, which attain national recognition, raise awareness of the work which we do, to exceed passengers’ expectations. By setting this high aspiration we aim to increase the popularity of rural rail travel attracting new custom to protect the future of the rural routes in East Anglia."

Andrew Cowan, Chief Executive, London Stansted Airport said: “Stansted is one of the fastest growing airport’s in the UK and it’s important we have a rail service that caters for future growth at the airport and along the burgeoning London-Cambridge corridor. We are confident that in Greater Anglia we have a strong and committed partner determined to drive forward improvements and look forward to working together to deliver a faster, more reliable and frequent service for our passengers up and down the West Anglia Mainline.”

Ends

Notes to editors

  1. Timings for events in East Anglia are as follows:

Chelmsford station, 12.15.

Essex County Council Chairman Cllr John Aldridge officially opens new ticket office at Chelmsford Rail Station.

Opportunity to interview Dominic Booth, MD Abellio, and Jamie Burles, MD Greater Anglia.

Norwich Station, 12.00.

Media opportunity with stakeholders and Greater Anglia directors, Andrew Goodrum and Michelle Smart. (Please note neither Dominic Booth nor Jamie Burles will be at Norwich.)

Ipswich Station, from 14.00.

Media opportunity with stakeholders, Jamie Burles, MD of Greater Anglia, and Julian Edwards, Finance Director of Abellio at the Station Hotel, opposite the station, at 14.00, followed by a 14.30 Photo call at Ipswich station.

Cambridge Station, 17.00.

Media opportunity with stakeholders, Jamie Burles, MD of Greater Anglia, and Julian Edwards, Finance Director of Abellio at Brookgate’s Offices, 2 Station Place, Cambridge, followed by a 17.20 Photo call at Cambridge station.

  1. Photos from Jamie Burles’ visits are available from
  2. Photos from some other stations across all five counties are also available from
  3. Follow the event on twitter #GreaterAngliaLaunch

Summary of main service improvements

The main improvements over the course of the franchise are as follows:

  • Replacement of the entire fleet of trains with 1,043 brand new carriages by the end of 2020. Built by Bombardier in Derby (665 carriages) and Stadler in Switzerland (378 carriages,) they will all have air conditioning, free high speed WiFi and power sockets.
  • More services and faster journeys, with journey times falling on average 10%. Headline improvements include two ‘Norwich in 90’ trains each way to/from London every day. Faster services from Ipswich and Colchester to London and faster journey times from London to Southend - falling to 47 minutes and to Cambridge in 61 minutes.
  • Better connectivity across the wider region with direct services from Lowestoft to London, Norwich to Cambridge services extended to Stansted Airport, and an hourly service from Ipswich to Peterborough.
  • 55% more seats into London in the morning peak period (an extra 32,000 seats), increased capacity on many regional services, and more than 1,000 extra services per week.
  • Better ticketing options including more journey opportunities on smartcards, a new flexible ‘carnet’ to give people who travel regularly but not every day a discount, and lower fares on Stansted Express.
  • Investment of £60 million, in stations including the redevelopment of Broxbourne, Cambridge, Cheshunt, Harlow Town and Southend Victoria stations.

Initial improvements over the first phase of the new franchise include:

  • From early 2017,72 additional carriages will arrive on the network to enable more seats to be provided on the West Anglia and Great Eastern Main Line routes from next summer.
  • Investment by Greater Anglia of £23 million on modifications to the existing fleet to increase reliability, enhance the customer environment and reduce our environmental impact.
  • All stations will be refreshed or refurbished and receive a deep clean.
  • Ticket machines, as well as the latest digital customer information screens (combining passenger information, CCTV and help points) will be introduced at every station.
  • The introduction early next year of automatic ‘Delay-Repay’ compensation for holders of season and advance purchase tickets when train services are delayed.
  • At least 1,800 additional car parking spaces and 4,000 additional cycling spaces will be installed at stations around the network.
  • Multi-modal customer information screens at 30 ‘interchange’ stations.
  • By 2020 free, high speed WiFi will be available at every station and on every train with seamless connectivity throughout the journey. In the meantime wherever there is WiFi it will be offered free, and we will continue to upgrade our offering - all trains which operate out of London Liverpool Street will be fitted with WiFi, and those trains currently with WiFi will have their system upgraded.
  • Enhanced support for the region’s highly-successful Community Rail Partnerships.
  • £750k each year to spend on further schemes to enhance the customer experience, with an additional £2m a year from 2020 to fund improvements for customers and the communities we serve.
  • A focus on innovation with a dedicated innovation fund and the establishment of an Innovation Academy.

For further information about this press release, please ring the Greater Anglia Press Office on 01206 363955. For urgent or out-of-office hours calls, please leave a message by calling 07798 857385. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can. All recent press releases can be found on the Greater Anglia website at:

About Greater Anglia

The new Greater Anglia franchise began operating on 16 October 2016. It provides intercity, commuter and rural services throughout the region including the Stansted Express service. Greater Anglia is responsible for almost 2,800 employees, operates 1,300 train services per day and serves 132 stations.

About Abellio UK

Abellio UK is a UK-based company with offices in London and Glasgow. In the UK, we operate the ScotRail franchise, and the Merseyrail rail concession in a joint venture with Serco, as well as the Greater Anglia franchise. We also run several bus routes in Greater London and Surrey. Our role in transport extends beyond the journey from a-to-b. Our approach of sharing best practice, not just amongst ourselves, but across the wider transport industry enables us to provide thought leadership and innovation that makes a positive contribution to the communities we serve. Abellio is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dutch Railways (NS - Nederlandse Spoorwegen).