Greater Anglia has announced that they plan to end first-class accommodation on all their regional services January 2020.
Greater Anglia is set to replace their fleet with a brand new, standardised fleet from the middle of next year, only their intercity services running from London Liverpool Street to Colchester, Ipswich, and Norwich will have a first-class accommodation. All their other commuter and regional services will only have standard class seating.
New trains with USB and plug sockets, air conditioning, and free Wi-Fi are set to enter service on the Greater Anglia network next year, with the rollout complete by the end of 2020. First-class accommodation on their existing fleet of class 317, 321, 360, and 379 commuter trains will become declassified on the 2nd January 2020.
Greater Anglia has announced this change now to allow passengers to have over a year notice prior to buying any season tickets.
The company has also written to its first-class season ticket holders informing them of the policy change, along with details on how to change their tickets.
As of January 2020, only standard class seating will be available on the following services:
- London to Clacton,
- Stopping services from London to Manningtree and Colchester,
- London to Braintree and Witham,
- Stopping services from London to Chelmsford,
- London to Southend Victoria,
- London to Cambridge via Bishops Stortford,
- London to Stanstead Airport,
- London to Harlow,
- London to Hertford East
What did the officials say?
Commercial and Customer Service Director for Greater Anglia, Martin Moran said:
“with the combination of withdrawing first-class and the addition of new trains, we will be able to provide approximately 20% more standard class seats across our network. Reducing overcrowding and improving customer experiences.
“By 2020, the phasing in of our new trains will be well underway, so it's a sensible time for us to withdraw first-class from our suburban stopping services. Our new trains will offer a higher quality of travelling environment, making rail travel an excellent option right across our network.”
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I think it’s silly that they’re replacing the 379’s already when they are only 7-8 years old, and the new trains can only reach 100mph; I’m sure the the 379’s could be rated to 110mph like the 387’s on the
Great Western Mainline. Also, from my limited experience travelling on british trains, the class 379 is a very
high quality train – you can hardly hear the motor noise at all, and no ironing board seats – it seems that the
class 387 is actually of a lower quality, from videos the motor noise seems louder and they have the new
cheap seats.
As a regular commuter who lives in Essex and uses Greater Anglia. I think its a brilliant idea to get rid of 1st Class seats and to introduce more Standard Class seats on Commuter and Rural trains (including Standard Class seats on Stansted Express trains). Except 1st Class seats will be retained on London-Norwich Intercity trains.