Published on: Friday, 14 September 2012
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
The region’s train operator Greater Anglia has reported on another successful period of performance, this time for the Paralympic Games following the excellent train services delivered during the Olympics.
For the Paralympics between 29 August and 9 September 2012, 94.3% of Greater Anglia train services were on-time and the company recorded almost 4.2m passenger journeys into London, a rise of 665,000 on the equivalent period for last year, representing an increase of 19% more journeys.
Greater Anglia continued to play its part during the Paralympics with over 100 additional staff on duty at stations with a key focus on London Liverpool Street and Stratford and with extra customer service staff also providing assistance and information at other locations including, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford, Shenfield, Romford, Ilford, Tottenham Hale, Harlow Town, Bishop’s Stortford and Cambridge. Easily identifiable in their smart magenta tabards, with their Olympic handbooks at the ready, these friendly, helpful employees offered valuable information about train services and the Games arrangements.
Feedback from customers about the efforts of Greater Anglia staff during the Paralympics was again very positive. The team at Stratford station were pleased to assist almost 1,700 passengers with disabilities who were travelling to a Paralympic event and for the entire Games period, over 3,600 passengers were provided with special assistance at Stratford.
Over the entire Olympics and Paralympics period, Greater Anglia welcomed almost 1.3m extra passengers on their London-bound services and for the twenty-eight days of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 94.9% of trains arrived on-time. During this period, Greater Anglia operated an average of 150,000 extra seats per day, an increase in capacity of over 25% and with over 600 trains a day calling at Stratford.
The company is fully focused on ensuring a lasting legacy from the success of the Games, by continuing to work in partnership with Network Rail to deliver consistently good train service performance and even better customer service across the Greater Anglia network in London and the East Anglia region.
Commenting on Greater Anglia's performance, Ruud Haket, Managing Director said: “Once again, the Greater Anglia team has delivered excellent levels of train service performance and a dedicated and fully-committed approach to customer service, this time for the Paralympics.
“I am extremely proud of the entire team for their efforts throughout the Olympics and Paralympics and I pay tribute to each and every one of our 3,000 employees who have contributed. Our customers, both existing and the many new visitors we were pleased to welcome, also played their part in creating a wonderful atmosphere, helping to ensure the Games will remain a cherished memory for everyone. Our challenge now is to continue all our efforts in further improving service standards, building on the wonderful legacy of London 2012.”