Greater Anglia makes further changes to its weekday timetable (from 10th January 2022)

[iphone76]

Greater Anglia makes further changes to its weekday timetable

www.greateranglia.co.uk

"Greater Anglia is making further temporary changes to its weekday timetable from Monday 10 January, in response to fewer passengers travelling.

The company is going to replace the current temporary weekday timetable which was implemented just before Christmas with a Sunday-style timetable on most routes – but with earlier first trains mostly consistent with a normal weekday timetable and more trains at peak times.

The busiest services will be operated with eight- or ten-carriage trains.

No changes will be made to regional route service frequency apart from removing four additional peak services on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth route, meaning an hourly service on most routes or two-hourly on the Ipswich to Peterborough route, as normal.

The Norwich to London Liverpool Street intercity service, which operates with 12 carriage trains, will become hourly.

The weekend timetable will remain unchanged.

Passenger numbers at Greater Anglia have fallen again in recent weeks - and are currently at 40-50 per cent of pre pandemic levels, having increased to around 65–70 per cent in the autumn. Peak-time passenger numbers are currently around 30 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.”

They fell after the Government advised people in December to work from home whenever possible – which remains current guidance until at least the end of January – and as fewer people have been travelling, given the recent significant increases in coronavirus cases across the region.

However, the new timetable allows for some growth in passenger numbers, with about 74 per cent of pre-pandemic services continuing to run.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “The pandemic has changed our railway over the past 21 months. Working patterns have altered, so we currently have fewer commuters and business travellers and we are now entirely funded by the Government – and ultimately taxpayers.

“We are accountable to our customers and to taxpayers. We want to provide a reliable and punctual service for our customers, which also represents the best possible value to taxpayers.

“We’ve been closely monitoring and reviewing our passenger numbers and have designed a timetable which more accurately represents the level of customers who are using the trains.

“We’ll continue to monitor passenger numbers and make adjustments if necessary, by either increasing the length of trains or adding extra services.

“We are determined to continue running a reliable and punctual service for all our customers, as we have done throughout the pandemic.”

Customers are reminded to check before they travel using the Greater Anglia website or app, which will include revised train times.

Greater Anglia has a range of measures in place to keep people safe while travelling including good ventilation with either air conditioning which sucks in fresh air every six to nine minutes or opening windows, as well as doors which open at stations.

The company is continuing with enhanced cleaning and sanitisation paying particular attention to high touch areas such as push buttons and grab handles.

Anyone who wants to travel on a less busy train can check which trains have fewest passengers using the less busy trains tool on the Greater Anglia website.

The company is thanking the high number of customers who are wearing face coverings on trains and stations, which is once again mandatory.

Greater Anglia will continue to monitor the situation and adjust the timetable as necessary.

If you have booked a ticket for one of the cancelled services you can catch either the train before or after the service that has been cancelled. Alternatively, if it is no longer convenient for you to travel, you can request a refund from wherever you originally purchased your ticket from.

Intercity​

Routes	Frequency
Intercity (Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester – London Liverpool Street)	1 train per hour

Great Eastern Mainline​

Routes	Frequency
Ipswich – Liverpool Street, Clacton – Liverpool Street, Walton-on-the-Naze – Thorpe-le-Soken, Manningtree – Harwich, Braintree – Witham, Southminster – Wickford, Colchester – Colchester Town.	1 train per hour
Southend – London Liverpool Street,	2 trains per hour
Colchester – London Liverpool Street	3 trains per hour

West Anglia​

Routes	Frequency
Cambridge-London Liverpool Street, Hertford East – Stratford, Stratford – Meridian Water,	2 trains per hour
Bishop’s Stortford – Liverpool Street	4 trains per hour

Regional Routes​

Routes	Frequency
Norwich – Cambridge/Stansted; Norwich -Lowestoft; Norwich - Great Yarmouth; Norwich – Sheringham; Ipswich – Lowestoft; Ipswich - Felixstowe and Ipswich - Cambridge. Marks Tey - Sudbury	1 train per hour
Ipswich – Peterborough	1 train every 2 hours

Stansted Express​

Routes	Frequency
Stansted Airport-London	2 trains per hour

"

 

[86246]

Something that I was wondering about was the weekend services which the above confirms is unchanged. The Norwich - London services have been busy at the weekends so it is good to see the current frequency (particulary on Saturdays) has been maintained.

 

[ScotGG]

Anyone know which of the Norwich-London-Norwich trains are cancelled?

GA journey planner and realtimetrains both still showing 2tph all day

 

[JonathanH]

Anyone know which of the Norwich-London-Norwich trains are cancelled?

GA journey planner and realtimetrains both still showing 2tph all day

Logically they would keep the ones that call at Stowmarket - eg on the hour from Norwich and on the half-hour from London.

 

[306024]

Anyone know which of the Norwich-London-Norwich trains are cancelled?

GA journey planner and realtimetrains both still showing 2tph all day

It will take time for NR to publish all these changes before they appear in the public domain. But yes it’s a sure bet the xx.00 (ish) from Norwich and xx.30 from Liverpool St will be the runners.

Hopefully most of the commuters from Chelmsford and Billericay will be working from home, otherwise it could become a bit cosy.

 

[86246]

Anyone know which of the Norwich-London-Norwich trains are cancelled?

GA journey planner and realtimetrains both still showing 2tph all day

RTT has now been updated. Yeah roughly on the hour from Norwich and on the half hour from London.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Greater Anglia makes further changes to its weekday timetable

www.greateranglia.co.uk

"Greater Anglia is making further temporary changes to its weekday timetable from Monday 10 January, in response to fewer passengers travelling.

The company is going to replace the current temporary weekday timetable which was implemented just before Christmas with a Sunday-style timetable on most routes – but with earlier first trains mostly consistent with a normal weekday timetable and more trains at peak times.

The busiest services will be operated with eight- or ten-carriage trains.

No changes will be made to regional route service frequency apart from removing four additional peak services on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth route, meaning an hourly service on most routes or two-hourly on the Ipswich to Peterborough route, as normal.

The Norwich to London Liverpool Street intercity service, which operates with 12 carriage trains, will become hourly.

The weekend timetable will remain unchanged.

Passenger numbers at Greater Anglia have fallen again in recent weeks - and are currently at 40-50 per cent of pre pandemic levels, having increased to around 65–70 per cent in the autumn. Peak-time passenger numbers are currently around 30 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.”

They fell after the Government advised people in December to work from home whenever possible – which remains current guidance until at least the end of January – and as fewer people have been travelling, given the recent significant increases in coronavirus cases across the region.

However, the new timetable allows for some growth in passenger numbers, with about 74 per cent of pre-pandemic services continuing to run.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “The pandemic has changed our railway over the past 21 months. Working patterns have altered, so we currently have fewer commuters and business travellers and we are now entirely funded by the Government – and ultimately taxpayers.

“We are accountable to our customers and to taxpayers. We want to provide a reliable and punctual service for our customers, which also represents the best possible value to taxpayers.

“We’ve been closely monitoring and reviewing our passenger numbers and have designed a timetable which more accurately represents the level of customers who are using the trains.

“We’ll continue to monitor passenger numbers and make adjustments if necessary, by either increasing the length of trains or adding extra services.

“We are determined to continue running a reliable and punctual service for all our customers, as we have done throughout the pandemic.”

Customers are reminded to check before they travel using the Greater Anglia website or app, which will include revised train times.

Greater Anglia has a range of measures in place to keep people safe while travelling including good ventilation with either air conditioning which sucks in fresh air every six to nine minutes or opening windows, as well as doors which open at stations.

The company is continuing with enhanced cleaning and sanitisation paying particular attention to high touch areas such as push buttons and grab handles.

Anyone who wants to travel on a less busy train can check which trains have fewest passengers using the less busy trains tool on the Greater Anglia website.

The company is thanking the high number of customers who are wearing face coverings on trains and stations, which is once again mandatory.

Greater Anglia will continue to monitor the situation and adjust the timetable as necessary.

If you have booked a ticket for one of the cancelled services you can catch either the train before or after the service that has been cancelled. Alternatively, if it is no longer convenient for you to travel, you can request a refund from wherever you originally purchased your ticket from.

Intercity​

Routes	Frequency
Intercity (Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester – London Liverpool Street)	1 train per hour

Great Eastern Mainline​

Routes	Frequency
Ipswich – Liverpool Street, Clacton – Liverpool Street, Walton-on-the-Naze – Thorpe-le-Soken, Manningtree – Harwich, Braintree – Witham, Southminster – Wickford, Colchester – Colchester Town.	1 train per hour
Southend – London Liverpool Street,	2 trains per hour
Colchester – London Liverpool Street	3 trains per hour

West Anglia​

Routes	Frequency
Cambridge-London Liverpool Street, Hertford East – Stratford, Stratford – Meridian Water,	2 trains per hour
Bishop’s Stortford – Liverpool Street	4 trains per hour

Regional Routes​

Routes	Frequency
Norwich – Cambridge/Stansted; Norwich -Lowestoft; Norwich - Great Yarmouth; Norwich – Sheringham; Ipswich – Lowestoft; Ipswich - Felixstowe and Ipswich - Cambridge. Marks Tey - Sudbury	1 train per hour
Ipswich – Peterborough	1 train every 2 hours

Stansted Express​

Routes	Frequency
Stansted Airport-London	2 trains per hour

"

Interesting how WA seems to be less impacted than the GE side. Always seems more passengers on the GE when ive been after321's recently. Lets hope this isn't the new base timetable although with DofT needing to keep costs down i wouldn't be surprised and certainly see this not being reversed before May 22 now.

 

[JonathanH]

Interesting how WA seems to be less impacted than the GE side.

It is a bit harder to cut back on WA as to do any cut backs beyond the obvious cutback of Stratford to Bishops Stortford services you end up with 1tph to Hertford East and / or Cambridge.

 

[EssexGonzo]

So they say that about 74% of pre-pandemic services will be running. What is not said is how many of those are 4 or 5 carriage trains instead of the 8, 10 or 12 carriage trains that they were before the pandemic. This is where the real squeeze is felt between Liverpool St and Shenfield, rather than the reduced frequency.

I wonder how the percentages look if capacity numbers were used?

 

[dk1]

Apart from the odd cancellation equivalent to 1 return train on the Ipswich-Cambridge & Norwich-Yarmouth & Lowestoft routes, it’s business as usual on GA regional.

 

[306024]

So they say that about 74% of pre-pandemic services will be running. What is not said is how many of those are 4 or 5 carriage trains instead of the 8, 10 or 12 carriage trains that they were before the pandemic. This is where the real squeeze is felt between Liverpool St and Shenfield, rather than the reduced frequency.

I wonder how the percentages look if capacity numbers were used?

Exactly. While they say trains will be 8 X 321 or 10 x 720, if you analysed the reduction in capacity between Colchester / Southend and Liverpool St it is a lot more than the remaining 26%. That is where the pinch, assuming there is one, will be felt.

 

[dk1]

Exactly. While they say trains will be 8 X 321 or 10 x 720, if you analysed the reduction in capacity between Colchester / Southend and Liverpool St it is a lot more than the remaining 26%. That is where the pinch, assuming there is one, will be felt.

Going to be some cosy trains next week either way. Plenty still travelling.

 

[trebor79]

Going to be some cosy trains next week either way. Plenty still travelling.

That was my observation too and seems at odds with the statement put out by the company. Is it perhaps more to do with staff availability?

 

[dk1]

That was my observation too and seems at odds with the statement put out by the company. Is it perhaps more to do with staff availability?

I wonder if it’s got something to do with perceived staff availability over the next few weeks but we certainly aren’t struggling that much right now from what I can see. It seems to be unnecessarily severe in my opinion considering an almost full schedule continues on regional routes.

 

[Wivenswold]

I wonder if it’s got something to do with perceived staff availability over the next few weeks but we certainly aren’t struggling that much right now from what I can see. It seems to be unnecessarily severe in my opinion considering an almost full schedule continues on regional routes.

Well staff sickness is predicted to get worse so it must be. My initial thought was "Well there's GA covering up for a shortage of stock" but there's a similar amount of units left to be delivered as there are waiting to go off-lease.

Fewer seats; that's what we need in a pandemic when people should be keeping their distance.

 

[greaterangrier]

The Saturday timetable looks to have a much better service provision than the weekdays - seems very strange.

 

[trebor79]

That was my observation too and seems at odds with the statement put out by the company. Is it perhaps more to do with staff availability?

I wonder if it’s got something to do with perceived staff availability over the next few weeks but we certainly aren’t struggling that much right now from what I can see. It seems to be unnecessarily severe in my opinion considering an almost full schedule continues on regional routes.

It is a bit curious. Mind you I caught the 1830 out of Liverpool Street in mid-December and there were about 5 passengers per carriage. Usually that train would be full and standing.
You'll know better than me but perhaps the London loadings are comparatively lower than the regional?
Plus's cutting the regional to every other hour would make the service almost useless and probably just result in even fewer passengers, if that's what the driver really is.
Arguably an hourly service on the GEML is still useful.

 

[JonathanH]

The Saturday timetable looks to have a much better service provision than the weekdays - seems very strange.

Not really. For the next three weeks people are still encouraged to work from home. Not much seems to be putting people off weekend travel.

 

[Bald Rick]

It is a bit curious. Mind you I caught the 1830 out of Liverpool Street in mid-December and there were about 5 passengers per carriage. Usually that train would be full and standing.
You'll know better than me but perhaps the London loadings are comparatively lower than the regional?
Plus's cutting the regional to every other hour would make the service almost useless and probably just result in even fewer passengers, if that's what the driver really is.
Arguably an hourly service on the GEML is still useful.

at the very peak of passenger numbers in October / November, the GEML outer suburban services (Southend, Witham, Clacton etc) all had plenty of spare capacity in the peak, and almost all were running in short formations.

 

[306024]

at the very peak of passenger numbers in October / November, the GEML outer suburban services (Southend, Witham, Clacton etc) all had plenty of spare capacity in the peak, and almost all were running in short formations.

That is of course true, but a Sunday service, is a big reduction from that. Who knows? Hopefully it will be OK but 20 minute gaps in the peak at Chelmsford, with the next train being quite full, is a bit of a leap of faith. Don't envy Chelmsford station supervisor on Monday morning.

Meanwhile local passenger flows from the Clacton area into Colchester seem to require a long walk up East Hill from Hythe, or catch a bus.

 

[Alfie1014]

That is of course true, but a Sunday service, is a big reduction from that. Who knows? Hopefully it will be OK but 20 minute gaps in the peak at Chelmsford, with the next train being quite full, is a bit of a leap of faith. Don't envy Chelmsford station supervisor on Monday morning.

Meanwhile local passenger flows from the Clacton area into Colchester seem to require a long walk up East Hill from Hythe, or catch a bus.

Agreed a reduced Saturday service would seem to be more appropriate, this level of service in some parts is worse than during the full lockdowns and seems to ignore a lot of local flows that cater for parts of the economy still working, (school kids, students, shop workers, etc..) which in my observations are still using the trains in high numbers. Indeed the busiest trains I’ve been on since the pandemic started with 125%+ load factors on 8/10 car trains have been school time services. An 8 minute journey replaced by 53 minute one with 30 minute change is not going to maintain rail use when the local bus operators (in and around Colchester at least) are still running normal weekday services. At times you do have to wonder how well GA understand its markets (unless of course it’s Norwich based)!

at the very peak of passenger numbers in October / November, the GEML outer suburban services (Southend, Witham, Clacton etc) all had plenty of spare capacity in the peak, and almost all were running in short formations.

I agree the London peaks are incredibly depressed and with a 5 car 720 having almost as many seats as an 8 car 321 crowding may not be an issue. But by throwing the baby out with the bath water and going for a Sunday service across the board they are completely ignoring many other flows which are not traditional office based commuting and which in my observation were still being used in reasonable numbers.

 

[dk1]

At times you do have to wonder how well GA understand its markets (unless of course it’s Norwich based)!

Much of GA management are based at Stratford & Colchester.

 

[gingerheid]

I wonder if it’s got something to do with perceived staff availability over the next few weeks but we certainly aren’t struggling that much right now from what I can see. It seems to be unnecessarily severe in my opinion considering an almost full schedule continues on regional routes.

The regional routes are less frequent and harder to cut services from... as we all discovered that infamous December...

 

[dk1]

The regional routes are less frequent and harder to cut services from... as we all discovered that infamous December...

I still can’t get my head around the 15:36 Yarmouth & 16:17 return. Just so random & unnecessary.

 

[gingerheid]

I still can’t get my head around the 15:36 Yarmouth & 16:17 return. Just so random & unnecessary.

It seemed so overwhelmingly random I hoped that meant that, operationally, there was a really good reason for it!

 

[dk1]

It seemed so overwhelmingly random I hoped that meant that, operationally, there was a really good reason for it!

If only I knew what that was. I’m struggling.

 

[306024]

You wonder how much choice GA had. There are three references to ’taxpayers’ in Jamie Burles statement, which seems more like a statement prepared by the treasury.

I still can’t get my head around the 15:36 Yarmouth & 16:17 return. Just so random & unnecessary.

Only the 08.09 and 18.04 Norwich to Yarmouth and return workings are shown cancelled next week in RTT, but yes last weeks cancellations were random all over the patch.

 

[gingerheid]

In past times the Peterborough - Ipswich service was of course probably the most cancellable regional service, but Soham station changes that.

 

[dk1]

You wonder how much choice GA had. There are three references to ’taxpayers’ in Jamie Burles statement, which seems more like a statement prepared by the treasury.



Only the 08.09 and 18.04 Norwich to Yarmouth and return workings are shown cancelled next week in RTT, but yes last weeks cancellations were random all over the patch.

Ahh so it’s back again the 08:09 (fast to/from Lingwood) & the 18:04 are far more sensible omissions from the timetable.

 

[Sleepy]

It is a bit curious. Mind you I caught the 1830 out of Liverpool Street in mid-December and there were about 5 passengers per carriage. Usually that train would be full and standing.
You'll know better than me but perhaps the London loadings are comparatively lower than the regional?
Plus's cutting the regional to every other hour would make the service almost useless and probably just result in even fewer passengers, if that's what the driver really is.
Arguably an hourly service on the GEML is still useful.

Yesterday 1730 LST - Norwich had 50 passengers (used to be around 550) The 1750 had about 60 on it. Commuting to Liverpool St. has dropped off a cliff since working from home again was recommend.