Abellio Greater Anglia invests a further £4million in service improvements

Abellio Greater Anglia is to invest an additional £4 million in service improvements across its network. Key upgrades include:

A refresh for 40 of the Class 321 electric trains used on services to Southend, Chelmsford, Witham, Braintree, Colchester, Clacton, Harwich and Ipswich, with new seat covers, better lighting and an enhanced deep cleaning programme

An extended programme of specific reliability modifications for the Class 317 trains used on West Anglia services to Hertford East, Harlow, Bishops Stortford and Cambridge and the Class 321 trains used on services to Southend, Chelmsford, Witham, Braintree, Colchester, Clacton, Harwich and Ipswich

A more frequent "heavy clean" programme for all trains

New platform seating at mainline stations including Norwich, Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich, Manningtree, Colchester, Witham, Chelmsford and Shenfield, as well as Cambridge on the West Anglia route

Upgraded waiting rooms at Diss, Stowmarket and Manningtree

New Customer Information screens at 35 stations: Audley End, Battlebridge, Billericay, Bures, Burnham-on-Crouch, Chappel and Wakes Colne, Cheshunt, Cromer, Dovercourt, Great Bentley, Great Chesterford, Great Yarmouth, Halesworth, Harwich Town, Hatfield Peverel, Hoveton and Wroxham, Kelvedon, Lowestoft, Needham Market, Newmarket, Oulton Broad North, Reedham, Saxmundham, Shenfield, Sheringham, Stowmarket, St Margarets, Sudbury, Thetford, Thorpe Le Soken, Thurston, Ware, Wickford, Witham and Wroxham

Refurbishment of the waiting rooms at stations between Southend and Shenfield

Improvements to waiting facilities, platform seating and information screens at Lea Valley stations (including Enfield Lock, Brimsdown, Ponders End and Northumberland Park) on the West Anglia route

Improved accessibility arrangements at Ely station (with an accessible ticket window and improved access to the waiting room and toilets on platforms 2 and 3)

Upgrades at Newmarket station (including new customer information screens, better waiting facilities and a ticket vending machine).

The new set of enhancements, which will be implemented over the next 4 months, mean that the train operator is now investing more than £35.5 million in upgrades during its short franchise (which runs until October 2016), with an additional £15.5 million worth of upgrades added to the £20 million programme announced when the company agreed the current contract with the Department for Transport in April 2014.

Commenting on the new investment programme Abellio Greater Anglia’s Managing Director, Jamie Burles said: "We are pleased to confirm a further programme of customer-focused improvements with investment in a refresh for a significant number of the Class 321 trains, additional train reliability initiatives, more station upgrades and schemes to deliver better customer information. Despite a short franchise we have continued to invest above and beyond the commitments we agreed with the Department for Transport (DfT), constantly seeking to provide a better service for our customers. We will keep on investing and working to raise service standards throughout the remainder of our current franchise as well as making the case to Ministers and the DfT for investment in major upgrades in the next franchise."