Greater Anglia’s new regional trains drive continued improvement in punctuality

October 19, 2020

Over 95% of Greater Anglia’s trains ran on time last month, new figures reveal.

Greater Anglia’s latest performance results show that the routes where the company’s new Stadler regional bi-mode trains and intercity electric trains are running saw the biggest improvements in punctuality.

For the four weeks ending 19 September, the Marks Tey – Sudbury line recorded the highest punctuality on the network, with 98.7 per cent of trains running on time, closely followed by the Ipswich – Felixstowe line at 98.3 per cent – one of its best-ever results.

Other top performing routes included the London – Harwich route at 97.8 per cent, the Norwich – Sheringham line at 97.6 per cent and the Norwich – Great Yarmouth line at 97.2 per cent.

95.4 per cent of Greater Anglia’s Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester – London Intercity services ran on time.

Greater Anglia’s West Anglia services also continued to improve with punctuality of 94.5 per cent, with 93.6 per cent of Stansted Express services running on time, whilst the other route results across the GA network were Norwich to Lowestoft, 96.3 per cent, London to Colchester/Clacton, 96.1 per cent, Ipswich to Lowestoft, 95.9 per cent, London to Southend Victoria and Norwich to Cambridge both on 95.7 per cent and Ipswich to Cambridge/Peterborough at 91.0 per cent.

Managing Director, Jamie Burles, said: “I’m really pleased that, thanks to the continued hard work of our teams during this difficult time, performance continues to improve across the network, but particularly in areas where our brand-new trains are in operation.

“After a full year of operation, these results demonstrate that our new Stadler trains are delivering the improvements in punctuality and reliability that we hoped they would and are helping to transform journeys for people in the region.”

The train operator also cited effective partnership working with Network Rail, Stadler, Siemens, the Department for Transport and the Rail Delivery Group as a key factor in the network-wide improvement in performance.

Over the last six months, very good punctuality has been consistently delivered across the Greater Anglia network with Great Eastern Mainline and Southend line services averaging 97.0 per cent, Norwich – London intercity services and regional services (across Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire) averaging 95.4 per cent, West Anglia services 94.2 per cent and Stansted Express services 93.9 per cent.

Greater Anglia continues to ensure that rail travel is safe for staff and passengers with an enhanced cleaning regime, on stations and trains, concentrating on high-touch areas such as push buttons, grab rails and door handles.

The train operator has also introduced a wide range of measures to make it easier for customers to maintain social distancing at stations and on trains – including floor markings, one-way systems, new signs and queuing systems.

It is now mandatory for customers to wear a face covering when using public transport, to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. Children under the age of 11 and people with a disability or illness which means they cannot wear a face covering are exempt from wearing them.