Greater Anglia to Reinstate More Services from 7 February
Note: the uplift in services does not affect East Suffolk Lines services which have been operating to the normal timetable but does affect connecting services at Ipswich.
Greater Anglia is adding back more weekday services that had been cancelled due to a drop in passenger numbers whilst Plan B restrictions were in place. Some services were added 17 January with additional trains to run from 7 February.
Plan B restrictions, including Government advice to work from home where possible, were lifted 27 January; Greater Anglia has already seen an increase in passenger numbers and is anticipating more people travelling to work. As a result, the company will increase a number of services.
The intercity service between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London Liverpool Street will become half hourly for most of the day, only operating hourly for parts of the evening.
Four additional peak services on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth line will be reinstated.
More trains will run on all the main routes into London Liverpool Street from Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford, Southend Victoria, Cambridge, Bishop’s Stortford and Hertford East.
The Stansted Express service between London and Stansted Airport will continue with mostly two trains an hour but with three trains an hour at certain times.
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We’re pleased to be welcoming customers back, whether they’re travelling to work or school and college, or for a fun leisure trip. We’re aiming to match the number of services we run to the number of passengers using them.
“We want to provide a safe, reliable and punctual service for our customers, but we also want to provide the best possible value for taxpayers as we are now funded entirely by the government and so ultimately taxpayers.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have altered our services depending on passenger numbers and government guidance.
“Although like everyone we hope the pandemic is nearing an end and that we are approaching a more normal period, we will continue to monitor passenger numbers and make any further adjustments to our services if necessary.
“It’s safe to travel on our trains, even when it’s busy, as we have good ventilation on board and we will continue with our enhanced cleaning and sanitisation.
“We’re asking passengers to continue to wear face coverings on our trains and stations, following government advice to wear them in busy places.
“We look forward to seeing more and more people travelling by train again over the months ahead and to providing the best possible service for them.”
Greater Anglia’s weekend timetable remains unchanged.
The updated train service frequencies and train times are available on the Greater Anglia website and the mobile apps.
Tickets for trains not running
Passengers who bought tickets for a train that is no longer running as a result of these timetable changes can catch the service either immediately before or after their nominated train or can apply for a refund free of charge.