The Stansted Express, which is largely run and operated by Greater Anglia’s 12-car Class 745/1 electric units, have now been fully refurbished and fitted with larger fixed tables.
Working alongside the manufacturing company that designed, built and maintains the trains, Stadler, all the 745/1s now have tables in the four seating bays, allowing passengers to have ready access to the tables for using laptops, books, papers, food, drinks, etc.
The smaller fold-down tables on the rear of the seats of the two bay seats have been retained.
When the trains were originally built, they were designed for long-distance commuter work on outer London services on the Great Eastern Main Line. Since then, the 745/1s have found themselves on regular services on the Stansted Express.
Regular passengers will have noticed that the tables have been slowly appearing on board these trains as they were phased in. At times, this led to most of the trains going out with tables in some coaches and not in others.
The programme to install larger tables began in July 2024, and completion has been finished two months earlier than planned. Gradually, after 16 months, all 10 members of the class are fitted with the larger fixed tables through the 12-car formations.
The trains are in service much of the week and provide an excellent reliable service to Stansted Airport. Passengers on Liverpool Street to Norwich services will also benefit from the installation of these tables, as the occasional 745/1 does run on such services.
“We are pleased to have delivered this significant upgrade, which means we are providing a better service for our customers, and which directly addresses feedback from passengers on the need for tables on all of our intercity services.
We always seek to address our customers’ priorities for high service standards and ongoing improvements. Our high-quality new trains have been very well received, but this was a further enhancement which had been highlighted by many customers, so we’re glad to confirm that we have completed it ahead of time, with benefits for both our Stansted Express and intercity customers.”
Martin Moran, Greater Anglia’s Commercial and Customer Service Director
Responses
Given these units have to ‘help out’ on the Norwich / London service why has a 1st class section not been created as part of this refurbishment .. The Norwich / London has clearly been downgraded by Transport UK when holding the franchise as prior to new trains every Norwich / London conveyed a 1st class carriage