New trains are set to take over some services on rural routes out of Ipswich by Christmas, Greater Anglia has confirmed.
All the rural routes out of Norwich have new Stadler bimode (diesel and electric) trains on some services - and now the new trains are set to be introduced on some Suffolk-based lines.
Bosses from Greater Anglia have said there will be new trains introduced on the routes from Ipswich to Cambridge and Peterborough before Christmas - but before they start running there they will be seen on the East Suffolk Line from Ipswich to Lowestoft.
A spokeswoman for Greater Anglia said: "We are hoping to introduce them soon, but we aren't going to make an announcement in advance because we want to make sure everything is ready.
"We'll have an official launch once they have been running on the route for a few weeks to make sure everything is operating well."
And there was a warning that the introduction of the new trains would not herald an overnight change in services.
"The new trains will operate on some services, but won't immediately take over every train - they are still being delivered and tested.
"So even once they have started to appear, passengers are likely to sometimes find the older trains are being used for their service. But more of the new trains will be coming in all the time and eventually they will operate every service."
The new bimodes are due to have taken over every rural and cross-country service in the region by the end of next year.
There are still no firm plans to introduce the new InterCity trains on passenger services. They are still being tested. Greater Anglia would like to get some into service by the end of the year, but they are not able to make any promises.
The company is still waiting to take delivery of its first Bombardier Aventra electric trains for commuter services from London to Ipswich, Essex and Cambridge.
Passengers have been complaining about short trains, cancellations, and serious delays to services over recent weeks - but Greater Anglia says this is because some of their trains have suffered accidents or breakdowns and it is not because they have started handing back some carriages to the leasing company to be transferred to Wales.
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