EADT head of news ANDREW PAPWORTH was on board the first of the new Greater Anglia trains to run on the East Suffolk Line from Lowestoft to Ipswich. Here are his thoughts.

It might take a lot to make me happy at 5.25am, but seeing a brand new Greater Anglia train waiting to depart at Lowestoft railway station on Monday morning certainly brought a smile to my face.

As a regular, long-time commuter on the East Suffolk Line - and the Norwich to Lowestoft route before that - I, like thousands of others, had put up with ageing, creaking trains for what felt like an eternity.

Often you would board those services to discover heating not working, cramped seats where you couldn't fit your legs in and an irritating rickety noise as you travelled along.

Lately, people have also found themselves a little too close for comfort to other passengers - with one-carriage trains often in service on the busy route, meaning passengers have had to stand all the way down the aisle.

Hopefully, that is now - or at least will shortly be - a thing of the past.

The new trains are a total transformation from what passengers have experienced before. Although the 5.25am service I boarded was not a busy one, you can tell there is more space.

No longer am I just restricted to a table seat in order to fit in my 6ft 5in frame - all seats have plenty of space to sit in.

And the free wi-fi is a huge benefit - I was even able to write and publish the story about the new trains going into the service on the East Suffolk Line before we had arrived at Ipswich.

The old trains have frustrated passengers for far too long, but these new trains are undoubtedly a major step forward.