Greater Anglia has announced that it will be keeping its on-train catering service on its Norwich to London trains on Sundays.
Additionally, an at-seat trolley service will also be provided.
This announcement follows a review of the operator's on-train catering arrangement.
In December, Greater Anglia announced that it would no longer provide catering on some early morning Intercity services on Monday to Saturdays and all day on Sundays.
However, the operator has decided to provide an at-seat service on all Norwich – London Sunday services from 15 March (except on those Sundays where engineering works are taking place on the Norwich – London line).
Due to low demand, catering services will be discontinued on the following services: the 05.00 and 05.30 from Norwich to London and the return services from London to Norwich at 07.30 and 07.55 on Monday to Fridays; and the 05.00, 05.30 and 06.00 Norwich to London and return 07.30, 08.00 and 08.30 trains from London to Norwich on Saturdays.
What did the officials say?
A Greater Anglia spokesperson said:
“Following a review, we are pleased to be able to confirm that we will continue to provide on-train catering on our intercity services on Sundays. We hope that customers will enjoy the excellent range of refreshments available from the at-seat trolley service and that the opportunity to have a drink and a snack during their journey adds to their experience of travelling by train.
“We continue to provide catering on the majority of our intercity services throughout the week. Our new intercity trains have been built with a café bar, so we can provide a café bar service or an at-seat trolley service or both.
“We have invested heavily to improve the quality and choice of food and drink outlets at our stations, giving customers even more choice about where and what they choose to buy.”
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I was told by a Bombardier engineer that GA will keep the 379s, and they will be used on West Anglia (maybe replacing 317s as the 321s are going)
No week-day catering on the 1130 Liv.St-Norwich and 1400 return: Why? Because GA persist in using a pair of superannuated 321 suburban units on these services. Please explain!
They often don’t have enough stadler units to cover the full service yet, as some are still in the final stages of testing. They are often using 321s to cover them which I agree is very annoying when you are expecting a Class 90 on one of its last days of service and a dusty bin turns up!
About time that Greater Anglia should bring back the Catering services on Sunday’s. But what is happening to the Class 90 locomotives and Mk3 coaches as the Class 745/0s is replacing these ageing stocks on the London Liverpool Street-Norwich intercity route.
And later this year Class 745/1s are expected to enter service and to replace the Class 379 Electrostar units operating on the Stansted Express (Liverpool Street-Stansted Airport) route. Which could get cascaded to other train operators who may want the Class 379 Electrostars.
Or will Greater Anglia keep the Class 379s and to use them on Essex branch lines including Crouch Valley Line (Wickford-Southminster, Mayflower Line (Manningtree-Harwich International & Harwich Town) & Essex Sunshine Lines (Colchester-Walton-on-the-Naze & Colchester-Colchester Town) and Stratford-Hertford East & Stratford-Meridian Water shuttle.
With the Class 379 Electrostars that Greater Anglia are replacing. I think that the Class 379s could be cascaded to Great Western Railway to work alongside the Class 387 on London Paddington-Reading, Didcot Parkway, Newbury, Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford stopper services & some of the Class 379s to be modified for Heathrow Express and to work alongside with the Class 387 which are to replace the Class 332. Or cascaded to Great Northern to work alongside the Class 387 and Class 365 operating on London Kings Cross-Peterborough, Cambridge North, Cambridge, Kings Lynn and Ely services. Or West Midlands Trains could inherit the Class 379s and to use them on newly electrified West Midlands Railway routes and London Northwestern Railway services including on London Euston-Milton Keynes Central, Northampton, Birmingham New Street and Coventry stopper & semi-fast services and Watford Junction-St. Albans Abbey branch line service.
Or maybe the Class 379s to be stored and sent back to Bombardier so that they can convert them into Battery-Electric MU Electrostar “Batterystar” units or Hydrogen MU “Hydrostar”.
Since Bombardier built 30 Class 379 Electrostar units in 2010-2011. And are nearly 10 years old. Or maybe cascade them to Gautrain so that they can have them and to work with their own Electrostar trains as extra units for rush hour services.