Greater Anglia is now running new state-of-the-art trains on every route across the whole of its network after new Alstom Aventra Class 720 trains entered service between Ely and King's Lynn on Monday, 7 February.
Some of the new trains are already in passenger service on routes between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge, Hertford East, Southend Victoria, Southminster, Braintree, Clacton, Ipswich and Colchester Town.
Ely to King's Lynn is the final route on the network to see the new trains with them running on the 06.18 King's Lynn to Liverpool Street and 19.07 Liverpool Street to King's Lynn, both via Cambridge and Ely.
The new trains operate all services on the Norwich to London Intercity, Stansted Airport to London Stansted Express, Norwich to Cambridge/Stansted Airport, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, and Sheringham, Ipswich to Cambridge, Peterborough, Felixstowe and Lowestoft, and Marks Tey to Sudbury routes.
The new trains were deployed to coincide with Greater Anglia running extra services as commuters carry on returning to the office. In the new timetable, two services every weekday are running to King's Lynn.
All of the new were made in the UK by Alstom, who are supplying 133 five-carriage trains, which can be coupled to run as ten-carriage trains. Each carriage is longer and has more seats than the trains they replaced.
They have USB and plug points, fast free Wi-Fi, air conditioning, accessible toilets, passenger information screens, and dedicated cycle spaces.
The trains are the first in the UK to have underfloor heating, which works with an overhead heating and ventilation system to improve passenger comfort and increase foot room for passengers sitting in window seats.
They feature regenerative braking, which delivers energy back into the electrical supply network, rather than wasting the energy through heat, as is the case with conventional systems.
Andrew Goodrum, Greater Anglia client and programme director said: “We're very pleased that customers between Ely and King's Lynn are now able to enjoy our 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.
“We'll continue rolling out new trains in the coming months as part of our plan to replace all our old trains with brand new trains.”
Greater Anglia should put these trains into storage and put the Class 317s, Class 321s and Class 379s back into service until the current seating layout on the Class 720s is changed as the current seating configuration is cramped!
How comes that Greater Anglia decided to change their minds from ordering 22 Class 720/1 10-Car to 44 Class 720/1 5-Car. And South Western Railway have ordered 60 Class 701/0 10-Car along with 30 Class 701/5 5-Car. And also c2c would of ordered 6 Class 720/6 10-Car but instead just like Greater Anglia. They too changed their minds and opted for 12 Class 720/6 5-Car that is replacing the Class 387/3 4-Car.
Good to see the Class 720s that have now reached Kings Lynn. Maybe Greater Anglia should allow the Class 720s to work on the London-Norwich service (as 10-Car service). And c2c to receive the Class 720s later this year.