Greater Anglia reveals its New Year promises
Greater Anglia has pledged to phase in more of its new trains in 2021 - Credit: Greater Anglia
Improvements to stations, ticket options and accessibility are among the pledges which have been made by the region's main rail operator for the year ahead.
Greater Anglia also said it would focus on better punctuality of its services and sustainability, building on its work last year to reduce water and energy usage.
The firm said it had halved the amount of waste generated by its operations between April and September 2020 compared to the same period the previous year, but admitted that this was "largely due to the impact of coronavirus on passenger numbers".
Social distancing measures in place at Norwich Rail Station. - Credit: Greater Anglia
It added that, during the same period, it had almost halved the number of service cancellations and increased the percentage of trains arriving at their terminating station early or within 59 seconds of the scheduled time from 68pc to 87pc, though this too would have been helped by much reduced passenger numbers.
Greater Anglia also said it was going to be phasing in more new trains in 2021, and also changing timetables to "capitalise on their faster acceleration and braking times".
Meanwhile, the operator detailed the steps it took to change its operations as the coronavirus pandemic affected them, including the hiring of more cleaning staff and use of specialist equipment.
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It added that 99.86pc of the 58,000 refund claims it had received from customers who needed to stop travelling at short notice had been processed.
Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles - Credit: Greater Anglia
Managing director Jamie Burles said: "Last year was dominated by the pandemic for everyone. I’m very proud that we provided a safe and reliable service for customers who needed to use our trains.
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"We achieved a great deal last year, with our transformation of the railway in East Anglia continuing at pace, and we have much planned for this year to continue to improve our service to our customers.
"Over the next few months, our aim is to maintain the high performance standards, continue the roll out of our new trains as the first new suburban trains enter service, keep running a safe, reliable railway as we move through the pandemic and play our full part in the region’s recovery."
