Published on: Friday, 23 February 2018
Last updated: Sunday, 25 February 2018
Rail passengers in East Anglia are to receive round-the-clock help from Greater Anglia as it’s Norwich-based Customer Contact Centre moves to a 24/7 operation.
The 24/7 service will come into effect from 4 March when customers will be able to get 24-hour train running information and better assistance by calling 0345 600 7245.
The change represents a new era for the team of 18, who will provide train running information and assist with other queries, day and night, via the telephone.
The team will also pick up calls from people seeking help with ticket purchases and other train service information via Greater Anglia’s “virtual ticket agent” ticket machines, which connect customers to a real person at the press of a button.
This facility is especially helpful for customers at stations that are unstaffed or at other stations outside the hours when staff are scheduled to be available.
Many Greater Anglia stations already have ticket machines in place and many more are due to have them installed later this year.
Greater Anglia’s Customer Service Director, Andrew Goodrum, said, “This is a step-change in the information provision we offer to customers and means that our team is on hand any time of the day to provide the information and help that will make our passengers’ journeys a little easier.”
The team will no longer handle Delay Repay compensation claims or complaints as the operator moves this function to Abellio’s Shared Services Centre in Glasgow, which handles all other claims of this nature for the group of Abellio companies.
Greater Anglia is the first train operator in England to roll out the ViTA “virtual ticket agents” across all its existing ticket machines. Passengers can connect to a real person - via an audio link - who can offer help whilst they buy their train tickets. This service is available 24/7 by pressing the ‘Ticket Assistance’ button on the screen.