New Greater Anglia franchise operator outlines plans

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Abellio is to take over the Greater Anglia franchise from National Express on 5 February.

The Group will be responsible intercity, commuter and rural services throughout the region including the Stansted Express service.

The duration of the contract is 29 months (32 railway periods).

Upon taking over the contract Abellio will be responsible for ‘ensuring priority is given to delivering a seamless transition and provision is in place for the Olympics in 2012’, Abellio said at a press conference.

Preparation to deliver the ‘improvements in customer service, station condition and operational performance will also be undertaken with implementation throughout the contract period’.

New additions to stations are planned within the short franchise term ‘including the development of a new CyclePoint at Chelmsford, additional car parking spaces and electrical charge points and the trial of a shuttle bus service between Saffron Walden and Audley End making towns without stations accessible to more travellers’.

Refurbishment will be undertaken at stations across the network with a ‘focus on higher footfall stations’.

Abellio said they will also be ‘heavily involved’ in the development of plans at Cambridge station in partnership with Network Rail.

Passengers ‘will see more travel safety officers on the network to provide a visible and reassuring presence in and around stations’.

In addition trains will be deep cleaned to ‘enhance the passenger journey experience’.

New ticketing solutions including a mobile app and print at home service will be introduced to make booking travel quicker and easier wherever a passenger maybe. There will be additional ticket machines for those who wish to collect tickets on departure too.

Access to information will be improved for those registered on the new Greater Anglia website (www.greateranglia.co.uk) with SMS and email alerts and service statuses.

The extension of Oyster Pay as You Go to 10 additional stations on the Shenfield and Hertford East lines will be introduced as will information kiosks which will be added to help customers at the larger stations.

Other plans include a colour-coded timetable, outlining busy services and more training for staff in customer services.

Ruud Haket, Mobilisation and Transition Director for Abellio Greater Anglia Ltd said:

“We are delighted to have won the Greater Anglia franchise at such an exciting time.

“The challenge to ensure we are resourced and ready to deliver for London 2012 is key, but we are working now to be ready with implementable plans to deliver the improvements to the service and travel experience for residents of the region.”

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