Greater Anglia has announced its Stansted Express service is to run overnight on Fridays on a trial basis.

The operator hopes that the extra services will give passengers more options for travelling after disembarking from late flight arrivals or travelling to the airport for departures early on Saturday mornings.

The extra Stansted Express services will run on Friday nights (into Saturday morning) from Friday 3 July until Friday 25 September 2026.

Most of the rail services will operate between Stansted Airport and Tottenham Hale, which will enable passengers to connect with London Underground’s Victoria line Night Tube – which will then allow for further travel on other Night Tube lines, Night Overground services and night buses.

Some of the early morning services will continue to, or start from, London Liverpool Street station, where passengers can connect with the Central line Night Tube.

During the trial, the extra trains will run approximately every half hour between around 23:50 and 05:00. The journey between Stansted Airport and Tottenham Hale will take around 36 minutes, which will provide a quick connection into central London.

This move by Greater Anglia forms part of planned improvements by the group of train operating companies that have returned to public ownership.

Greater Anglia joined this group last autumn. It is now part of ‘GBR Anglia’, which also includes c2c and Network Rail Anglia.

This arrangement is in preparation for the official establishment of Great British Railways (GBR) which is scheduled to be finalised by the end of next year.

The closer relationship between Greater Anglia and Network Rail Anglia has allowed engineering plans to be adjusted, which has enabled the additional overnight services to run this summer.

Stansted Express will assess the level of passenger use of the trial train services when deciding whether to run the services in the longer term.

The airport introduced pay-as-you-go earlier this year, which made travelling between Stansted and London easier.

Last month, Greater Anglia announced significant investment in its stations.

“This is exactly what public ownership of our railways makes possible. As we build Great British Railways, we’re bringing train operators and Network Rail together under one roof so we can plan smarter, work faster and deliver more for passengers.

“These overnight Stansted Express services will make a real difference to people arriving late or travelling for early flights – connecting them straight into London via the Night Tube. Alongside contactless ticketing at every London airport, we’re building a railway that works for passengers and drives growth across the country.”

Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy