Greater Anglia (GA) has celebrated the fifth anniversary of its new trains entering passenger service.

On Monday, 29th July 2019, the first of GA’s new Stadler-built bi-mode trains commenced operation with the 07:47 journey from Lowestoft to Norwich.

This event signified the dawn of a new age for rail travel in East Anglia and initiated a significant improvement in the services offered to customers and communities throughout the GA network, which now boasts entirely new trains for all its services in the region.

Passengers are enjoying enhanced comfort, more seats, improved accessibility, and additional amenities like plug/USB points and fast, complimentary Wi-Fi.

These upgrades have aided Greater Anglia in achieving unprecedented punctuality and reliability, making it the top-performing train operator in the UK, along with timetable enhancements across several routes.

To commemorate the anniversary of the significant upgrade to Greater Anglia services, an event for stakeholders and media representatives was held commencing at Norwich station.

It featured a special round trip to Lowestoft on a bi-mode train.

The unit chosen was a 4-carriage set, a Class 755 bi-mode train, number 755410, which was the first train to operate this service five years ago.

The event at Lowestoft featured speeches by representatives from Greater Anglia, Stadler—the builders and maintainers of the bi-mode trains—and Rock Rail, the owners.

Attendees enjoyed refreshments and a photo session, before the special journey made its way back from Lowestoft to Norwich.

Over those five years, more trains built by Stadler are now in operation across Greater Anglia’s Network.

The new trains have brought many key achievements to the region and its customers. These include:

• Every Greater Anglia service is now operated by the new trains.
• Greater Anglia ranks as one of the most consistent and top-performing train operators in the UK, boasting an annual performance exceeding 94.3% for both the Public Performance Measure (arrival at the destination within 5 minutes) and the Time to 3 (arrival at every station served within 3 minutes), along with an 86% rating on the On Time measure, marking the best results of any UK operator in each category.
• Over 96.5% of services that run on the lines from Norwich to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft and Marks Tey to Sudbury run to time throughout the year.
• Customer numbers are rebounding across the region, with passengers appreciating the advantages of new trains. Significant accessibility enhancements, particularly on regional, Intercity, and Stansted Express routes, have been noted. The “level boarding” feature of Stadler-built trains, which includes low floors and retractable steps, has established a new standard for accessible rail travel in the UK.
• Journeys have become more comfortable, featuring pleasant seating, brightly lit air-conditioned interiors, and convenient plug/USB points, along with speedy Wi-Fi.
• Seating capacity has been increased across all routes, with 3 and 4 carriage trains now operating on regional routes that previously mostly ran with 1 or 2 carriages.
• Journey times have been reduced on certain routes, particularly intercity services, which are now generally 6 to 7 minutes faster.
• Timetable enhancements include direct services from Norwich to Stansted Airport, along with increased frequency of Sunday services across various regional routes, and extended operations for some late evening trains.
• All of Greater Anglia’s New trains have collectively travelled over 33-million miles performing services to the region’s customers.

“Five years on from our first bi-mode train entering passenger service, train services in East Anglia have been successfully and positively transformed, with state-of-the-art, comfortable trains, excellent performance, better services, and new journey opportunities. Passengers and stakeholders alike have welcomed the step change in service quality and customer numbers are rising as a result.

“Looking ahead, we can reassure customers and communities across our network that our plans are not just to maintain the high standards of rail travel and performance we have now set, but to keep on improving services in line with local needs, as rail plays an ever more crucial role in the region’s sustainable development.”

Jamie Burles, Managing Director, Greater Anglia

“The fifth anniversary of the first bi-mode entering commercial service is a highly significant landmark and cause for celebration. Designed with the 21st century passenger in mind, these trains have taken rail travel in East Anglia to a new level. They have transformed the customer experience, improved performance, increased seating capacity, delivered ground-breaking accessibility benefits and enabled the delivery of other service improvements. Industry surveys and performance measures show Greater Anglia excelling in a range of measures, including reliability and punctuality as well as passenger satisfaction. We are thrilled to have been part of this journey with partners Greater Anglia and Rock Rail and look forward to working with them in future, as we continue to enhance the services we provide.”

Urs Bikle, Business Development Director at Stadler

“We are delighted to see first-hand the transformation of rail services in East Anglia which has been achieved as a direct result of the Stadler FLIRT trains introduced by Greater Anglia and Rock Rail. We look forward to working with Stadler and Greater Anglia to build on the successful introduction of these trains, continuing to grow the industry leading performance, and further enhancing the customer experience throughout the life of the fleet.

“These fantastic state-of-the-art trains for Greater Anglia are financed through public sector and private sector pension funds and insurance companies. This long term investment has already delivered significant benefits for passengers and the environment over the first 5 years of the trains being in operation.”

Matthew Allen, Chief Investment Officer at Rock Rail,