Greater Anglia is introducing more Stansted Express services from May 2023, as it continues to increase timetables to meet recovering customer demand after the pandemic and the airport sees a strong recovery in air traveller numbers.

Weekday peak-time Stansted Express services will return to a four-trains-per-hour frequency from Monday 22 May, as trains will run every 15 minutes during the following periods on Mondays to Fridays :

• London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport 05.10 to 08.10 and 16.10 to 19.40
• Stansted Airport to London Liverpool Street 06.00 to 09.15 and 16.45 to 20.15

The service will continue to run every half hour at off-peak times but, with new twelve-carriage trains operating, and the service will offering over 80% more seats than the eight-carriage trains they replaced, there is plenty of seating capacity during those periods.

Other improvements from the May timetable change will include:

• Additional weekday morning peak services from Southend, Southminster, Colchester, Braintree, Witham and Chelmsford into London.
• Additional weekday morning and evening peak services on the West Anglia route between Ely/Cambridge/Stansted Airport and London (including the additional Stansted Express services)
• Optimising weekday peak train services to/from Kings Lynn and Ely with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), so GTR provides a consistent peak time pattern to/from Kings Lynn (with a half hourly pattern to/from Cambridge and London Kings Cross) and Greater Anglia concentrates its London Liverpool Street peak services to/from Ely
• All Hertford East to London Liverpool Street weekday peak services to operate via the Lea Valley
  Normal summer season additional services on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays between Norwich and Great Yarmouth
• Normal summer season additional Sunday morning services between Ipswich and Peterborough

The service improvements are designed to both support the ongoing recovery in passenger numbers and reflect the emerging travel patterns across the Greater Anglia (GA) network, as well as take advantage of the new trains rolling out on GA services, with the full transition to new trains expected to be completed this summer.

Jamie Burles, Managing Director of Greater Anglia, said: “We’re pleased to be providing four trains per hour to Stansted Airport at peak times on weekdays from our May timetable change, benefitting air travellers and commuters alike, as well as other peak time and summer season improvements aimed at encouraging even more customers to take the train.

“With new trains already on most of our services, we are transforming rail travel in our region, offering an excellent travel experience, more seats, and a more punctual and reliable service. We’ll continue to adjust our timetable in line with emerging demand and look to make further improvements whenever practical, working with regional partners (such as the Stansted Airport team) on the case for additional services wherever appropriate.”

Gareth Powell, Managing Director, Stansted Airport said: “The re-introduction of a four trains per hour service between London and the airport during the morning and evening peaks is a positive step in the right direction. Now we need to build on that and secure the return of the full service across the whole day, which was in place before the pandemic.

“We are very proud to be the number one airport in the UK for public transport use by passengers, and we look forward to working with Greater Anglia to maintain that impressive record, towards the return of an all day, four train per hour service at the earliest opportunity.”