Vision for future of rail services from Norwich

Rail operator National Express East Anglia has set out its new vision for the Norwich to London mainline, including cutting journey times and introducing new trains.

JON WELCH
21 November 2009 06:30



Rail operator National Express East Anglia has set out its new vision for the Norwich to London mainline, including cutting journey times and introducing new trains.

But its proposed improvements will not come into play until 2014, by which time the company could have lost its franchise.

Addressing the conference of Shaping Norfolk's Future, the county's economic conference, in Norwich yesterday, managing director Andrew Chivers set out three “key aspirations” to deliver a better service to passengers on the route.

They are quicker journey times, with a fastest Norwich to London service of 1 hour 30 minutes; new inter-city trains offering a “high-quality travelling environment”; and further improvements to the railway infrastructure, including track and signalling.

However, it is by no means certain that National Express East Anglia will be in place to deliver the improvements. The operator's franchise comes to an end in 2011, but could be extended until 2014. The company will be bidding to run the service beyond that date.

In the short-term, however, National Express East Anglia plans to make some other improvements, including more capacity on commuter services from December 2009 and December 2010, and longer inter-city trains from December 2010.

It also plans to introduce some faster services from December 2010, with a journey time of 1 hour 48 minutes between London and Norwich and a quick morning business train, shaving three minutes off that time. It also hopes to deliver wi-fi internet connections on inter-city trains.

Mr Chivers told the audience the operator was committed to the route, and that it had an important role to play in the region's economic competitiveness.

He claimed service on the line had improved under National Express, with punctuality of inter-city services up to 86 per cent from 79pc in 2004.

But he admitted that the average time for the 115-mile journey from London to Norwich of 1 hour 54 minutes was longer than for comparable routes. London to Birmingham, a journey of the same distance, takes 1 hour 25 minutes, while London to Bristol, a distance of 118 miles, takes 1 hour 40 minutes.

Journey times on the route are slowed by the fact that it is a very busy mainline with intensive commuter services, yet only has four tracks for 20 miles between London and Shenfield.

There are few passing loops, a 100mph speed limit, and freight traffic takes precedence at off-peak times.

But he said that with a number of key rail industry and transport funding programmes due to be finalised over the next two years, a window of opportunity existed to make the case for further investment between 2014 and 2019.

Are you happy with the standard of public transport in Norwich? Write to Evening News letters at Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, NR1 1RE, or email eveningnewsletters@archant.co.uk

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