Anglia Railways

Bringing passengers back onto the trains
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date 7 December 2000
source Anglia Railways
type Press release

Anglia Railways has today announced more details of a number of initiatives the company has been developing to encourage passengers back to the trains, and to ensure regular and loyal customers continue to receive the best possible service under the present circumstances.

Despite the continued need to operate a temporary revised timetable because of speed restrictions imposed by Railtrack on the Norwich to London mainline, Anglia Railways has been working positively to ensure the temporary timetable operates as reliably as possible. In addition, the company has already stepped-up their marketing activity to win back passengers who have not been making train journeys over recent weeks.

The positive initiatives include:

o Providing a robust and consistent delivery of the temporary revised timetable between Norwich, Ipswich and London – over recent weeks the mainline service has been operating reliably and to the revised timetable.

o Anglia Railways has recruited extra cleaners and maintenance staff to ensure the presentation and on-train quality of the trains improves, as the provision of a revised timetable actually requires more trains and staff to operate what is in effect a less-intensive service. In the early weeks of operating a revised timetable, this resulted in some deterioration of on-train quality such as cleaning and some non-essential maintenance. Recruiting extra staff is helping to ease this problem.

o Senior managers from Anglia Railways’ team have been available at key stations during busy travel periods to offer reassurance and listen to customer feedback. This programme of higher “visibility” will continue in the run-up to Christmas.

o Marketing and promotional work has already been stepped-up to help win back passengers who have not travelled over recent weeks. Activity includes a new TV commercial currently being aired on regional television and press advertisements for 2 for 1 Christmas shopping travel offers.

o Additional seat quotas of reduced price advance purchase tickets (specifically for leisure travel, such as the Christmas Shopping offer) have been provided on trains in the pre-Christmas period, to assist leisure travellers making journeys before Christmas.

o The £8m refurbishment programme for Anglia Railways eleven mainline InterCity type train sets has now been completed with all vehicles in service. The only exception is a small number of spare vehicles - these will be refurbished as soon as possible.

o Because of the changes to the Norwich, Ipswich – London mainline service, some of the usual connections for Anglia Railways’ local services have altered. Wherever possible, alternative arrangements are being made for customers, including additional special bus services from Ipswich to the East Suffolk line stations of Woodbridge, Melton and Saxmundham during the evening peak travel period.

o Anglia Railways has already announced a generous package of compensation for season ticket, Commuter Club and other ticket-holders.

o Details of changes to services over the Christmas / New Year period have been announced, and a special leaflet will be available at stations during w/c 11 December. Although track work will mean that journeys on Christmas Eve (24 December) and the following weekend (30 December – 1 January) will include a replacement coach service between Ingatestone (near Chelmsford) and London Liverpool Street, Anglia Railways is working with Railtrack to minimise any disruption to passengers’ journeys over this period.

o Anglia Railways’ London Crosslink service between Chelmsford and Basingstoke has also been affected by speed restrictions, but this popular new service (introduced in May 2000, providing links across London, including to Heathrow Airport) is continuing to operate, albeit to a temporary timetable between Stratford and Basingstoke. Connections are available at Stratford for passengers travelling to / from East Anglia.

o All Anglia Railways local train services in the region are operating to the full timetable and are not affected by speed restrictions.

o Anglia Railways’ popular restaurant service on mainline services is still being provided, and this service is available on 14 trains each day. Buffet and trolley catering services are also available on other mainline trains.

o A new information line is available for customers to obtain current details of the temporary timetable. The number to call for the timetable hotline is: 08456 50 21 60. Information can also be obtained from a special timetable leaflet at stations, and on this site (click here).

Anglia Railways expects to operate the current revised temporary timetable between Norwich, Ipswich and London until 14 January 2001. A further temporary timetable will be published from 15 January – that timetable is expected to offer significant improvements in journey times and an increase in the frequency of trains. Details will be made available as soon as possible.

In the meantime, there are clear timetables in place, with information readily available on the details. These schedules do work and enable passengers to plan their journeys in confidence. Although mainline journey times are 30 minutes longer than normal (until 14 January), 80% of mainline services are running (which still offers passengers 25 trains on weekdays from Norwich to London). It is hoped that this positive approach, combined with the measures outlined within this press release, will start to bring passengers - who have not been travelling recently - back to the trains.

Railhub Archive ::: 2000-12-07 ANG-001