It pulled into the startion at 8:37, which is no big deal, it's done that before. Just as I'm walking down the stairs to platform 1, the doors close. It had only just turned 8:39. I assumed the previous train was delayed (why wouldn't you?).

Trains departing early is as bad as trains being delayed in my opinion. A handful of people at Billericay missed this train as a result.

Just imagine being consistently delayed into work as a result of Greater Anglia's trains. Then one day tell your boss that you are late because the train you usually get left before it should have. It takes some believing!

Train services on all routes via Bethnal Green are being disrupted due to overhead wire problems. Engineers are working as fast as possible to restore services to normal. Short notice alterations, cancellations and delays of up to 30 minutes can be expected. Further Information: London Underground is accepting Greater Anglia ticket holders reasonable routes until further notice. To find out whether this will impact your journey and to get alternative options planned for you, please use the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner, or call Train Tracker on 0871 200 49 50.

You can also follow us on twitter @greateranglia or download our new Apps by searching ‘Greater Anglia’ at your app store.

http://www.greateranglia.co.uk/about-us/news/2012/02/service-disruption-update-900

We would like to apologise to all our customers who have experienced delays on our services today.

Last night we took a decision about the service we would run based on the weather forecast which indicated that low temperatures overnight would mean that the snow/ice on the ground would clear less quickly than previously thought. Based on this forecast we placed a 60 mile per hour speed limit on all our services this morning in order to avoid the build up of snow/ice on the underside of trains which can cause damage to the tracks and signalling when it becomes dislodged and to lessen the risk of damage to the motors on our electric trains. Because of the slower running speed it was not possible to run as many trains into London Liverpool Street as usual without causing severe congestion and delays to services. These changes were advertised via our website on Sunday evening.

This morning we encountered a number of problems related to the Winter weather: Due to damage to our Metro (London-Shenfield stopping service) trains it was necessary to cancel a small number of services. Points failures at Manningtree and between Colchester and Colchester Town also caused delays to services through these areas.

At around 08:00 a signalling failure outside London Liverpool Street severely restricted our access into platforms 5-10 at London Liverpool Street The platforms remained open for much of the morning however the resulting congestion caused further delays to customers on our Mainline (Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Clacton and Chelmsford to London) and Southend/Southminster services. Engineers worked to restore the signalling to normal, however they were unable to fully access the fault until after the morning rush hour without fully closing the line into London Liverpool Street and so repairs took longer than anticipated. This signalling failure re-occured at 17:30 disrupting some services during the evening rush hour and engineers were already on site to fx the problem but some trains had to be started from Stratford/Shenfield to allow engineers access to work on the line without causing further congestion and disruption to other services at Liverpool Street.

At around 10:30 a fault with the electrical connection between two trains caused a train to break down blocking the Norwich-bound line from Colchester causing significant disruption of up to 2 hours whilst the train was moved.  In order to return the train service to normal it was necessary to terminate some trains short of their destination and to cancel some services.

We are pleased to report that there is currently a good service operating on all routes this evening and would like to remind customers that due to planned route improvement tonight, buses will be replacing trains between Shenfield and Witham after 22:00 this evening.

Thank you for your patience today. We plan to run a full service tomorrow morning and will update our website again at 06:30

http://www.greateranglia.co.uk/about-us/news/2012/02/train-service-update-at-...

Anglia will have a secure and fairer railway while car parking charges have been frozen in 2012

Additional customer service staff in place across the franchise from day one

Greater Anglia begins operation today and as promised has already doubled the numbers of safety and security staff employed within its customer service team to ensure that customers feel assured of safe travel on its train services. With the clear focus within the company on customer service these additional team members will be able to provide help, assistance and information while travelling on Greater Anglia trains.

The additional Making Travel Safe Officers (MTSOs), or Enforcement Officers, who will be working across the region will be the largest ever single deployment of complementary policing resources in the history of UK rail. These officers will work in partnership with the Revenue Protection Officers (RPOs) and British Transport Police (BTP) to reduce fare evasion and tackle anti-social behaviour to achieve a better travel experience for all.

To ensure the Greater Anglia frontline Enforcement staff are fully equipped with the training and tools to achieve the highest customer service standards they will be accredited under the Railway Safety Accreditation Scheme (RSAS).

Superintendent Gareth Williams, from British Transport Police, said: “The MTSOs will be a valuable addition to the existing policing presence and provide further reassurance for passengers across the network.”

“We already have officers who tackle crime and passenger safety issues on trains and at stations across Essex and East Anglia, but these additional teams will play a significant role in supporting our efforts, by parolling the lines across the Greater Anglia route.

“The team will be tasked on a daily basis to patrol hotspot locations where anti-social behaviour and low-level disorder is reported and they will work alongside police officers and specialist resources when required.

“By having specific teams targeting dedicated lines of route, passengers can be assured of seeing a higher visibility presence across the Greater Anglia route, which we believe will make great inroads in further reducing crime.”

As promised Greater Anglia has increased the number of seats available on services to and from Liverpool Street by using the fleet available more effectively. These include the 0629 service Ipswich to Liverpool Street, 0811 Stowmarket to Liverpool Street and the 0800 Liverpool Street to Ipswich service. In the evening the 1702 Liverpool Street to Norwich and the 1932 to Harwich International now have more seats for passengers.

In addition a new marketing and advertising campaign launches today to raise awareness of the savings customers can make travelling by train compared with the car. Savings endorsed by Emmerson Hill, who calculate cost per mile for the Department for Transport and the AA, show that running a car is 56 pence per mile and this is reduced to 21 pence per mile by train if the customer travels on a monthly or longer season ticket.

Ruud Haket, Managing Director, Greater Anglia said:

“We want to provide a great rail service and from today will start by ensuring those travelling in the peak see more seats on specific trains. I want customers to have complete peace of mind that they are travelling safely too, and the deployment of the MTSO and RPO team will certainly help. I also want to make it really clear that I believe all customers should travel on a valid ticket. We know that over 90 per cent of customers buy a ticket, however this still leaves 1 in 10 that don’t and this minority are costing all rail users in the end.

“Another promise we made from the outset was to raise awareness of the benefits of rail travel across the region. Our new marketing campaign starts today and has been designed to deliver a strong message to those travelling by car of the savings achieved by travelling by train. At 56 pence per mile for those customers travelling by car, compared to 21 pence per mile if they chose to travel by train could save people thousands of pounds over the year and our research tells us that many do not realise this.

“For those that are already making the journey by train and using Greater Anglia car parks, there is the welcome news that we have frozen car parking charges for the rest of 2012, so there will be no car parking charge increase to passengers this year. Also all customers should take a look at our new website, www.greateranglia.co.uk and by simply registering on it they will be sent a unique pin code enabling them to save 25 per cent off their next ticket purchase made online .

“We’ll continue to deliver on the promises we have made to improve customer service through a whole suite of initiatives between now and the end of the franchise. Initially we will work towards delivering the successful Olympic programme but my commitment to existing and new customers is to make it easier to ensure staff are able to deliver customer service to you every day, no matter which part of the network you travel on.”

Greater Anglia can also announce the final appointment to the Executive team with the confirmation of Michelle Smart as Human Resources and Safety Assurance Director starting on 1 March 2012.

http://www.greateranglia.co.uk/about-us/news/2012/02/greater-anglia-starts-operations-and-delivers-on-its-promises