Greater Anglia has confirmed that two routes in Essex have seen new trains introduced.
The brand new trains were introduced on Monday the 13th of September and are out and about running services on the Harwich and Walton-on-the-Naze branch lines.
At the same time, Greater Anglia also introduced extra services for the route as demand had grown, especially as commuters began returning back to the office.
The Derby-made commuter trains were manufactured by Bombardier (now part of the Alstom Group) and are part of a huge order of 133 five carriage trains, which can also be paired to make ten carriage trains.
The new Alstom Aventra Class 720 train features longer carriages and can accommodate more seats than Greater Anglia's older trains. They will also feature passenger benefits such as USB plug points, fast free Wi-Fi, air conditioning, better accessibility facilities and will also include an accessible toilet on every train. Passengers will also appreciate information screens and dedicated cycle spaces.
The trains also include state-of-the-art regenerative braking with gives energy back to the electrical supply and means there is no wasted energy due to heating.
Some of the new Alstom Aventra Class 720's are already operating passenger routes from London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria, Southminster, Braintree, Clacton, Ipswich, Colchester Town, Cambridge and Hertford East. The new trains are also out on services between Norwich to London intercity, Great Yarmouth and Sheringham, Ipswich and Cambridge, Peterborough Felixstowe and Lowestoft, and Marks Tey-Sudbury routes.
Greater Anglia has also added other extra services to their timetable from the 13th of September, including 12 extra services each weekday and 8 through weekends for the Norwich to London Liverpool Street intercity service and two express Norwich in 90 services have come back into action. The Great Eastern mainline service between London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria, Braintree, Colchester, Colchester Town, Clacton/Walton, Harwich and Ipswich has now been reintroduced with a full timetable.
The West Anglia mainline which runs between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge, then on to Kings Lynn has also had 5 extra services added, although not all of the five services go on to Kings Lynn.
Andrew Goodrum, Greater Anglia client and programme director said: “We're very pleased that customers on more routes are now able to enjoy new trains.
“We know from customer feedback that customers enjoy the added comfort, the plug and USB sockets and other improved features these new trains have.
Piers Wood, Alstom Customer Director, Rolling Stock said: “It's really great news that more Greater Anglia passengers will now benefit from these advanced British electric trains, delivering capacity, comfort and the latest features as passengers return to rail.”
There are already new trains operating all services on the Norwich–London intercity, Stansted Airport–London Stansted Express, Norwich–Cambridge, Stansted Airport, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and Sheringham, Ipswich–Cambridge, Peterborough, Felixstowe and Lowestoft, and Marks Tey–Sudbury routes.
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Not sure where you got the information that these trains are running out to Cambridge or Hertford East now? They’re still being served by the 317s and 379s. The only part of that route being served by new stock is the Stansted Express that is now using class 745 units.
With 89 Class 720/5 still to be built. Greater Anglia have ordered a extra 44 Class 720/1 which will also be 5-Car and to work with the Class 720/5. That Greater Anglia will have all 133 Class 720 rolling stocks that have replaced the Class 317, Class 321, Class 360 and Class 379 EMU rolling stocks on the West Anglia and Great Eastern main lines. And c2c have placed a order of 12 Class 720/6 5-Car to replace the 6 Class 387/3 4-Car.
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