Following one of the most successful years in the operator’s history, BETHANY WALES looks at how Greater Anglia has fought back against industry challenges to bring performance to an all-time high.
It’s been a good year for Greater Anglia.
After Covid saw travel screech to a halt, the operator has clawed back passengers - especially those travelling for leisure and on rural routes - with 10pc more people travelling on their trains than in 2022.
The company said it’s down to a combination of “sustained improved performance standards, new Greater Anglia trains on all services and work by Network Rail to improve rail infrastructure reliability,” with punctuality hitting a record high and significantly outstripping many other operators.
In recognition of this, the company won three Golden Whistle awards - which are awarded based solely on operational results and statistics - making it the most decorated operator in the UK in 2023.
And it’s not hard to see why.
Performance for the last four-week period (ending 16 September) saw punctuality across the Greater Anglia network averaging 93.8pc - using the long-standing public performance measure (PPM), which measures arrival times at destination stations for each service.
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As a result, the GA moving annual average PPM figure is now at 94.1pc - continuing the historically high results being delivered by the train operator over the last three and a half years.
Punctuality on the company’s regional lines have been particularly successful.
The Norwich to Great Yarmouth route operated at 99pc, while Marks Tey to Sudbury and Norwich to Lowestoft averaged 98pc.
The impressive results are also evident using the more challenging “Time to Three” performance measure – which measures the arrival within three minutes of every single train at every single station it serves.
On this measure the operator’s annual performance is 93.1pc.
Jamie Burles, managing director at Greater Anglia, said the operator was thrilled with the results and praised his team’s “consistent” efforts to get to this point.
He added: “It is a testament to the commitment of our teams, and our partnership with Network Rail colleagues, that we have been delivering these impressive results on a consistent basis for more than three years now, despite the increasing challenges of more regular extreme weather events which can cause disruption to services.
“We are fully focused on maintaining these excellent performance standards and making further improvements for our customers and communities in the months and years ahead.”
So how exactly did Greater Anglia pull this off?
According to the operator, it’s down to a couple of key factors.
NEW TRAINS
A new £1.4bn fleet of trains was unveiled in 2019 with the promise to improve journeys for passengers.
The investment is the first time a UK rail operator has introduced an entirely new set of trains.
Not only are the trains bigger - every single one is now at least three carriages long, rather than two - but they’re also decked out with modern amenities like plug sockets for every seat, complimentary Wi-Fi, and industry-leading accessibility features.
The introduction of Automatic Vehicle Inspection Systems (AVIS) has also helped the company measure damage and wear to wheels, check the wear on the pantographs that get power from the overhead wires to the train, and check the condition of brake pads and discs and the profile of the train itself.
That has meant faults can be identified and fixed more quickly to help prevent delays and cancellations.
Mr Burles said: "It was always our intention that the transformation of train services linked to the introduction of our new trains would include very high standards of performance, as well as more comfortable journeys and more seating capacity.”
MORE TRAINS
As well as extending the carriages on its trains, the operator has also increased the number of services it puts on.
Over the summer, the company re-introduced additional services between Norwich and Great Yarmouth, and Ipswich and Peterborough, to satisfy the appetites of leisure passengers.
More services were also added to its rural lines, seeing more regular journeys between Norwich and Lowestoft, Cambridge, and Sheringham, and Ipswich and Cambridge, Felixstowe, and Lowestoft.
Crucially, the company has delivered on this extended timetable, achieving the lowest cancellation rate of any UK operator at just 1.4pc.
And while Mr Burles said the team was celebrating the fantastic results seen over the past year, he made clear they didn’t plan on stopping there.
He said: “We are pleased to be consistently delivering high levels of punctuality for our customers and stakeholders in East Anglia.
“We are fully focused on maintaining these excellent performance standards and making further improvements for our customers and communities in the months and years ahead.”
Jonathan Denby, head of corporate affairs at Greater Anglia, added: “You’re only as good as your last journey.
“This is clearly a moment to be proud, but our mission now is to maintain this excellent performance. That’s the real test.”
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