Greater Anglia’s fleet of new Stadler trains can now be seen on regional and Intercity lines across the region after taking over services from diesel units and traditional electric trains.
Although few people are using the trains for essential journeys only, they have been operating on special timetables during lockdown – and the number of services have been increased this month.
The Stadler trains used on regional routes are all maintained at Greater Anglia’s Crown Point Depot, Norwich, and run on both diesel and electric power and a new picture has been released by the company showing a line-up of these.
Intercity trains have now become a familiar sight on the main line to London through Suffolk and Essex across the River Stour at Cattawade just north of Manningtree station.
While the new trains are now operating around the region, Network Rail is carrying on with maintenance work. Over the bank holiday it carried out repair work on the line between Colchester and Clacton and Walton on the Naze.
Network Rail’s engineers replaced hundreds of components on the overhead wires on the Clacton-on-Sea branch line as part of a package of work to increase reliability, reducing delays and cancellations. Track maintenance was also completed along with the installation of bridge track supports between Thorpe-le-Soken and Clacton-on-Sea. New rails were installed at Weeley.
Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “This work is vital to keep our network running safely and smoothly while reducing the risk of delays and cancellations for those who need to travel. The benefits of this work will remain for years to come, ready for when we welcome back more passengers in the future.”
New signs and queuing areas have been created at stations since more people were encouraged to return to work this month – but statistics show that most people have continued to listen to government advice to stay away from public transport and most trains are operating with less than 5% of normal passenger capacity.
The government is giving financial support to train companies to ensure that there are enough services to provide transport to workers needing to head to work and for people needing to travel to work for vital reasons like medical treatment.
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