New contract for East Anglian rail franchise - with increased service for Peterborough

The frequency of trains between Peterborough and the East Anglian town will be doubled so there will be hourly services.

Abellio operates the current franchise, which trades as Abellio Greater Anglia and connects London, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Norfolk.

The contract will also see the replacement of the entire fleet of trains with 1,043 brand new carriages, built by Bombardier in Derby (660 carriages) and Stadler in Switzerland (383 carriages). These will all be in service by the end of 2020.

Dominic Booth, Managing Director for Abellio UK said: “This is a very exciting time for the railways across the Greater Anglia region. We are delighted to be able to build on the hard work of all our colleagues at Abellio Greater Anglia over the past four years. This announcement will now enable us to deliver the world-class rail network that the region deserves.

“Our ambitious plans, that include the replacement of the entire Greater Anglia fleet in the largest privately-funded train order in the UK, will give the people of the Greater Anglia region a railway that is unrecognisable from today.”