Mock-up of new Greater Anglia train set up at rail depot

A mock-up of one of Greater Anglia’s new trains has been set up at the company’s Norwich depot for selected groups of staff, customers and stakeholders to see the proposed new trains due to run on the region’s railways from 2019.

A mock-up of a Stadler FLIRT train – which will operate between Norwich and London, on the Stansted Express, and on regional routes – is currently at the train operator’s Crown Point depot in Norwich.

Rail users from the Greater Anglia Customer Panel, stakeholders and staff from across the Greater Anglia network have seen the mocked-up train first-hand and were able to give feedback on the design.

The mock-up is designed to illustrate all the different elements of a train, and includes both first and standard class seating, cycle storage area, a café bar, toilet and vestibule area. More staff, customer and stakeholder groups will be able to visit the train over the coming months and give feedback on the design.

The trains, which will be built in Switzerland, are due to enter service from 2019. All new trains will have fast Wi-Fi, plug points and air conditioning.

Mike Kean, Deputy Managing Director for Greater Anglia, said: “We are very excited to be replacing every single one of our trains and very pleased to be able to offer stakeholders and rail user groups a glimpse of what’s to come by showing them the mock-up. Our colleagues’, customers’ and stakeholders’ views are very important, which is why we launched a public consultation process, seeking feedback which will inform the final design and specification of the new trains.

“Replacing all of our trains represents the biggest ever investment in trains in East Anglia.”

Customers wishing to comment on the proposed designs of Greater Anglia’s new fleet still have time to do so. Visit: www.greateranglia.com/newtrains ‌

Follow @GreaterAngliaPR and search #newtrains for more

Stadler trains fact-file:

• We’re buying 378 new carriages from Stadler:
• 10 electric 12-carriage intercity trains, for Great Eastern Main Line, Norwich, Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich, Manningtree, Colchester, Chelmsford, Stratford and London Liverpool Street
• 10 electric 12-carriage trains to service Stansted Airport(Stansted Express)
• 38 bi-mode trains (which can operate as diesel and electric) as 24 4-carriage trains and 14 3-carriage trains, for Marks Tey to Sudbury, Norwich to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Cambridge, and Ipswich to Felixstowe, Lowestoft, Cambridge and Peterborough.
• There will be six bicycle spaces on intercity and bi-mode trains and up to 18 spaces on Stansted Express
• The trains have better accessibility due to their low floor design
• Seating capacity is around 750 seats on all intercity and airport trains and between 170-230 seats on three and four carriage bi-mode trains.
• We are spending £1.4 billion on new trains, of which £600 million is for Stadler trains.
• FLIRT stands for Fast Light Innovative Regional Train.