Greater Anglia to install tables on its Stansted Express trains

[rdlover777]

Greater Anglia have announced that they'll be installing tables on its Stansted Express units (745/1)s

Greater Anglia to install tables on its Stansted Express trains

www.greateranglia.co.uk

Greater Anglia (GA) is to fit its Stansted Express trains with tables, in a significant customer-focused upgrade that is scheduled to begin later this year and is due for completion by the end of 2025. The initiative will also benefit passengers on GA’s intercity services between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, and London, as the Class 745/1 Stansted Express trains operate a few of those services each day.

Although the trains already have fold down, seat-back tables on most seats, there are currently no tables in the bays of four seats. This is because when the trains were ordered and specified, it was expected that passenger demand profiles, operating schedules and prospective rail infrastructure upgrades would mean that the trains would only operate a couple of services a day at most on the Great Eastern Main Line. In fact, the trains are covering more services than anticipated and customer feedback has reinforced the value passengers place on tables, especially on the intercity services, but also on the Stansted Express services too, enabling them to work more easily, use their laptops, and place papers, books or drinks on tables when sat in the bays of four seats.

As a result, Greater Anglia has worked with Stadler, the company which manufactured and maintains the trains, to develop a scheme to install tables in all the bays of four on the Stansted Express trains, so customers will always have access to tables on intercity services once the installation programme is complete.

As the efficient use of Greater Anglia’s intercity and Stansted Express trains means most trains are in service for most of the week, to maintain the excellent performance and availability of Greater Anglia services (currently consistently the most punctual and reliable in the UK), the tables will be fitted in a phased way - rather than taking a full train out of service for a number of weeks at a time with the extra challenges that would present. But customers will progressively see more and more tables fitted during the project from this autumn onwards through to project completion, which is due by the end of next year.

Martin Moran, Greater Anglia's Commercial and Customer Service Director said:

“We are pleased to be delivering this significant upgrade, which will provide a better service for our customers, and which directly addresses feedback from passengers on the need for tables on all of our intercity services.

"We always seek to address our customers’ priorities for high service standards and ongoing improvements. Our high-quality new trains have been very well received, but this was a further enhancement which had been highlighted by many customers, so we’re glad to be able to confirm we will now be fitting tables throughout our Stansted Express trains, with benefits for both our Stansted Express and intercity customers.”

 

[Trainfan344]

Can they fit them with a buffet car while their at it?

 

[dk1]

Can they fit them with a buffet car while their at it?

First class was an option although not taken up. Further cafe bars were never going to be agreed.

 

[cmovcc]

wonder if (... hoping that) a similar thing is planned for the longer distance 720s

their current interior configuration is perfectly suitable for the inner London suburban services (max duration: 30 mins or so)

but it's unsuitable for longer West Anglia journeys (e.g. from Cambridge)

in two years I don't think I've seen anyone sat in the 3x2 middle seat, and if you sit on the outside seat you get bashed by every person that walks past

 

[47421]

wonder if (... hoping that) a similar thing is planned for the longer distance 720s

their current interior configuration is perfectly suitable for the inner London suburban services (max duration: 30 mins or so)

but it's unsuitable for longer West Anglia journeys (e.g. from Cambridge)

in two years I don't think I've seen anyone sat in the 3x2 middle seat, and if you sit on the outside seat you get bashed by every person that walks past

indeed - on 720s the absence in the bays of even small 365 style tables to put a coffee on is very poor

 

[RailWonderer]

indeed - on 720s the absence in the bays of even small 365 style tables to put a coffee on is very poor

Even the Heathrow Express 387s have coffee cup holders and the 701s have micro tables as well.

The Stansted 745s will now be as good for Norwich runs instead of a triple 755.

Further cafe bars were never going to be agreed.

Apparently they were costly to fit and took a while to install which partly led to their delayed introduction.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

wonder if (... hoping that) a similar thing is planned for the longer distance 720s

their current interior configuration is perfectly suitable for the inner London suburban services (max duration: 30 mins or so)

but it's unsuitable for longer West Anglia journeys (e.g. from Cambridge)

in two years I don't think I've seen anyone sat in the 3x2 middle seat, and if you sit on the outside seat you get bashed by every person that walks past

when I went from cbg to lst pretty much every middle seat was full

 

[F Great Eastern]

The Spin on the press release is fantastic.

I don't know anybody on the StanstedE xpress that wants them to be honest. It's all about failing to order enough units with them for the Norwich line which was obvious to pretty much everyone from the start.

They're righting that wrong now but it has everything to do with correcting out a poor decision by the bid team that operations saw coming a mile off.

 

[dk1]

Apparently they were costly to fit and took a while to install which partly led to their delayed introduction.

I wouldn’t dispute that but I’m very glad indeed that they decided to go for the bar on the IC units.

 

[cmovcc]

Even the Heathrow Express 387s have coffee cup holders and the 701s have micro tables as well.

The Stansted 745s will now be as good for Norwich runs instead of a triple 755.


Apparently they were costly to fit and took a while to install which partly led to their delayed introduction.

it's a shame

the 379s were really very nice, I used to look forward to getting on the train and having a relaxing journey home in comfort

(I didn't think I'd even miss the 317s but I guess you don't know what had until it's gone)

the current experience is just awful, the seats are small, hard and designed for people without elbows

and by the time the journey's at its end I can't wait to get off

it certainly feels miles away from what you'd expect from a medium length commute into the wealthiest square mile on Earth

at least now most city commuters now only have to do it twice a week

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Almost as if they should have kept the new class 379 stock they already had!

 

[Adrian1980uk]

The Spin on the press release is fantastic.

I don't know anybody on the StanstedE xpress that wants them to be honest. It's all about failing to order enough units with them for the Norwich line which was obvious to pretty much everyone from the start.

They're righting that wrong now but it has everything to do with correcting out a poor decision by the bid team that operations saw coming a mile off.

I would re phrase that to making the best of a bad job.. apart from the expense they can't do without a single unit in the fleet, this is storing up problems as the fleet age as well.

Interested in another 5 to 10 years when they'll need a refurb how that would be achieved and if as predicted passenger numbers increase, the service will become less reliable

 

[dk1]

Almost as if they should have kept the new class 379 stock they already had!

Why would they want to keep them when total fleet renewal has taken place?

 

[wickham]

It is a complete fiasco from start to finish, they have completely spoiled the travelling experiance on both the Stanstead Express and the Norwich Main Line !
Ordered the wrong trains and disposed of the right ones !

 

[Adrian1980uk]

It is a complete fiasco from start to finish, they have completely spoiled the travelling experiance on both the Stanstead Express and the Norwich Main Line !
Ordered the wrong trains and disposed of the right ones !

Wouldn't go that far but they have ended up with the wrong quantities of each train type, the 755s are successful but in sufficient IC 745s and Stansted express 745s but too many 720s.

I'm sceptical of this move as it's not solving anything, Stansted express will still have commuter stock and InterCity services without intercity trains. It's a bit like going to buy mercedes and getting a ford fiesta and saying at least you don't have to walk.

 

[dk1]

It is a complete fiasco from start to finish, they have completely spoiled the travelling experiance on both the Stanstead Express and the Norwich Main Line !
Ordered the wrong trains and disposed of the right ones !

745/755 fleet are very popular indeed.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Why would they want to keep them when total fleet renewal has taken place?

It seemed extraordinarily wasteful to replace the class 379s and class 360s

 

[Trainbike46]

Personally, I think the 755s are some of the best regional units on the network today, I hope that the next set of regional stock orders will learn some of the lessons from these units. The 745s are good IC trains, though I wish they'd ordered slightly more of them and did the originally planned timetable recast to speed up services a bit and reduced the number of units needed for the IC service. I've not travelled on the stansted express units, so can't really comment on them.

It seemed extraordinarily wasteful to replace the class 379s and class 360s

In the current industry structure lease cost is what matters, and my understanding is that the new trains were cheaper to lease than the 379s - so why would they not have taken the advantages of having fewer types of train and a more unified fleet?

Of course, the current structure of the industry is very far from ideal

 

[306024]

Personally, I think the 755s are some of the best regional units on the network today, I hope that the next set of regional stock orders will learn some of the lessons from these units. The 745s are good IC trains, though I wish they'd ordered slightly more of them and did the originally planned timetable recast to speed up services a bit and reduced the number of units needed for the IC service. I've not travelled on the stansted express units, so can't really comment on them.

Certainly the 755s are the best regional units. As for the originally planned timetable recast, that was only a figment in the bid teams imagination. Any timetable that ignored the freight requirements from the country’s biggest container port was never going to be realistic.

 

[dk1]

It seemed extraordinarily wasteful to replace the class 379s and class 360s

In a way yes but in another no. Everything from maintenance to staff training is so much more straightforward now.

 

[Travelmonkey]

It's a classic 1st gen problem, GA took a punt with the FLRTs but you just have to compare to the Hitachi's on GWR & LNER they didn't get it right straight off the bat and tbh are still quite despised by some but lessons were learned for the future gens with other TOCs although given the FLRTs are only in operation with 2 companies (GA & TFW) they haven't had as much expansion as other operators got CAF/Alstom (bombardier) & Hitachi to make their new units.

 

[cmovcc]

the 745s/755s are luxurious compared to the 720s

but lessons were learned for the future gens with other TOCs

unfortunately those of us in west anglia are stuck with them for the next 40 years

though thinking positively as they're bombardier they probably won't last 10 (already some are rattling like crazy)

 

[chubs]

It is a complete fiasco from start to finish, they have completely spoiled the travelling experiance on both the Stanstead Express and the Norwich Main Line !
Ordered the wrong trains and disposed of the right ones !

It's the best thing that's ever happened to the east.

The mk2's & mk3's were life expired junk that offered a terrible travelling experience. The 745's are excellent.

Likewise for the local lines the 755's offer immense improvement in comfort over the old sprinters and turbostars.

It's just a shame they don't have 4 more 745/0's.

 

[JonathanH]

It seemed extraordinarily wasteful to replace the class 379s and class 360s

The 360s found use elsewhere, and the 379s would have done sooner if demand hadn't collapsed on GTR.

Is it really any different to Avanti displacing Voyagers by taking on 805s and 807s, or WMR displacing 170s by taking on 196s? Where is the concern that either of those fleet replacements were wasteful?

 

[Adrian1980uk]

It's the best thing that's ever happened to the east.

The mk2's & mk3's were life expired junk that offered a terrible travelling experience. The 745's are excellent.

Likewise for the local lines the 755's offer immense improvement in comfort over the old sprinters and turbostars.

It's just a shame they don't have 4 more 745/0's.

I totally agree, the 745 are ideal for the IC runs and I personally think it's inevitable that more 745s will have to be ordered, currently we're going through the 'lets spend lots of money trying trying to avoid it' in the normal government way.

Clearly there aren't enough 745s to do the timetable they're planned for, probably need 4 more of each type. This is just the first step, next they'll make a decision to either fit first class or remove it from all and have to refit 720s into Stansted express layout followed by an order of 8 to 10 new trains for 'expansion of timetable' (note these would go out to tender and may be a totally different fleet).

 

[Falcon1200]

It would surely have made more sense just to order 20 x 745/0 instead of the two different fleets, giving far greater flexibility?

 

[dk1]

It would surely have made more sense just to order 20 x 745/0 instead of the two different fleets, giving far greater flexibility?

That was said from the very start but we are where we are.

 

[RacsoMoquette]

Well I think that the addition on full length tables to be erected on the Class 745/1 fleet are a long overdue necessity for the fleet. At least it will evoke a more relaxed and leisurely travel environment for jaded travelers arriving in to the United Kingdom from some far and distant land.
I also hope that this modification may reduce misallocations for example Coach letter and table fitted 745/0s doing the Stanstead Express and the latter without tables or letters coaches doing the Norwich services. As quite simply the current reaghime is inconsistent and could induce confusion. Especially for Norwich passengers who have booked a reservation in Coach A, however in reality a 745/1 arrives without any coach numbers!

 

[dk1]

Well I think that the addition on full length tables to be erected on the Class 745/1 fleet are a long overdue necessity for the fleet. At least it will evoke a more relaxed and leisurely travel environment for jaded travelers arriving in to the United Kingdom from some far and distant land.
I also hope that this modification may reduce misallocations for example Coach letter and table fitted 745/0s doing the Stanstead Express and the latter without tables or letters coaches doing the Norwich services. As quite simply the current reaghime is inconsistent and could endure confusion. Especially for Norwich passengers who have booked a reservation in Coach A, however in reality a 745/1 arrives without any coach numbers!

There are no seat reservations on Norwich services. They ended in 2019 as fleet transition began and never returned even though they do work.

745/1s have to work Norwich-Liverpool Street services to allow them to cycle through maintenance at Crown Point. These are booked just like 755 triple traction that work odd GEML services & there will always be ad-hoc replacements where technical reasons dictate it.

 

[richa2002]

I don't know how anyone thinks 745s are ideal for InterCity runs compared to the old Mk3s. The intermediate doors spoil that for me. I don't find the seats as comfy as the old IC70s in standard class either. Was never too keen on the IC80s in first class so not much of a downgrade there.