Greater Anglia pre-Covid new timetable

[Instinct04]

Following on from this old thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/pre-covid-greater-anglia-timetable-plans.273710/#post-6933983

I am aware that Greater Anglia wanted to implement some timetable improvements pre-Covid, e.g 3 trains per hour to Norwich, An extra train per hour Liverpool Street to Cambridge fast service and an extra train per hour to Hertford East, etc.

How would these new services have been implemented, and would any of them be needed now/could any of them be done now?

 

[700720]

I'm not sure how the fast Cambridge service would work, I was under the impression that all the fast WAML paths had been taken up by the Stansted Express?

 

[Alfie1014]

Following on from this old thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/pre-covid-greater-anglia-timetable-plans.273710/#post-6933983

I am aware that Greater Anglia wanted to implement some timetable improvements pre-Covid, e.g 3 trains per hour to Norwich, An extra train per hour Liverpool Street to Cambridge fast service and an extra train per hour to Hertford East, etc.

How would these new services have been implemented, and would any of them be needed now/could any of them be done now?

Other improvements planned that haven’t been delivered were 4 tph to Southend Victoria (driven mostly by the then expanding Southend Airport), doubling the 2 hourly Peterborough to Ipswich service to make it hourly and extend it to/from Colchester, a handful of through London services off the East Suffolk line and a Sunday service to Colchester Town.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

How fast would the Cambridge service have been?

 

[Instinct04]

How fast would the Cambridge service have been?

I think it would have only called at Tottenham Hale and Audley End.

I'm not sure how the fast Cambridge service would work, I was under the impression that all the fast WAML paths had been taken up by the Stansted Express?

I thought this too. Then again they do manage an additional 2tph fast to Cambridge/Ely during the peaks, so maybe there was room?

I’m particularly interested in the Liverpool Street to Bishops Stortford service, and the extra Hertford service.

 

[William3000]

Is there sufficient demand for a fast Cambridge to London Liverpool Street service only calling at Audley End and Tottenham Hale? I would’ve thought stopping at Cambridge South and Whittlesford Parkway as well may make it more viable. But it’s still likely to take 1hr 07 mins, which is longer than Cambridge to London King’s Cross which is around 50 mins

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Is there sufficient demand for a fast Cambridge to London Liverpool Street service only calling at Audley End and Tottenham Hale? I would’ve thought stopping at Cambridge South and Whittlesford Parkway as well may make it more viable. But it’s still likely to take 1hr 07 mins, which is longer than Cambridge to London King’s Cross which is around 50 mins

But could very well be quicker for or friends in East and South East London

 

[Magdalia]

Is there sufficient demand for a fast Cambridge to London Liverpool Street service only calling at Audley End and Tottenham Hale? I would’ve thought stopping at Cambridge South and Whittlesford Parkway as well may make it more viable. But it’s still likely to take 1hr 07 mins, which is longer than Cambridge to London King’s Cross which is around 50 mins

No. 2tph off peak is fine with class 720s.

The busiest stations for Liverpool Street traffic are Audley End and Whittlesford Parkway, not Cambridge.

The biggest flow is Cambridge-Stansted Airport, which is now bigger than Audley End-Liverpool Street.

One of the interesting features of the 2025 timetable is the new calling patterns of the contra-peak additional trains.

1H96/98 0808/0908 Liverpool Street-Cambridge are now Tottenham, both Harlows, Sawbridgeworth, Stortford, Audley End and Whittlesford.

1H97/99 1535/1635 Cambridge-Liverpool Street are now all to Stortford, Harlow Town and Tottenham.

 

[47421]

The timetables GA based their new franchise bid on have never been published, only the highlights, being the ones mentioned above and also more Norwich Yarmouths so 2tph most hours.

The uplifts were to be delivered in two stages, May 19 and May 20.

Post covid most of the extra services probably not needed. But fact they have not delivered on any of the 10% journey time improvements suggests the proposals were overly optimistic/undeliverable.

The Camb service is now worse than it has been since 2010 or 11 when the 1707/37/1807 peak fasts were introduced with 3x12 car 379s calling Tott Hale, Bis Stortford, Audley End and Whittlesford only.

Now many more stops, cramped 720s with no proper tables, and even some peak services 5 car only. But this presumably reflects the bigger drop off in long distance commuting as compared to shorter distance.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

The timetables GA based their new franchise bid on have never been published, only the highlights, being the ones mentioned above and also more Norwich Yarmouths so 2tph most hours.

The uplifts were to be delivered in two stages, May 19 and May 20.

Post covid most of the extra services probably not needed. But fact they have not delivered on any of the 10% journey time improvements suggests the proposals were overly optimistic/undeliverable.

The Camb service is now worse than it has been since 2010 or 11 when the 1707/37/1807 peak fasts were introduced with 3x12 car 379s calling Tott Hale, Bis Stortford, Audley End and Whittlesford only.

Now many more stops, cramped 720s with no proper tables, and even some peak services 5 car only. But this presumably reflects the bigger drop off in long distance commuting as compared to shorter distance.

Yes, and they went up to Kings Lynn as well in the evenings. Which I always thought was really interesting.

 

[cle]

Don't some still go to Ely? And all to North?

But the contra-expresses were fun. Still, it is hard to justify missing so many 2m stations when it isn't the core route to Cambridge. If the Cruisers skipped South, it might have had another shot, but they won't.

 

[Magdalia]

Post covid most of the extra services probably not needed.

Post COVID no extra services are needed. Audley End-Liverpool Street is still more than 20% below pre-COVID levels and Whittlesford even lower.

Yes, and they went up to Kings Lynn as well in the evenings.

Kings Lynn never returned after COVID. The result was a proper 2tph peak GN service which wasn't possible while GA were still running through.

Don't some still go to Ely? And all to North?

Ely has 4 up trains in the morning and 3 down trains in the evening. Most other trains go through to/from Cambridge North but there are a few inconvenient gaps in the peaks.

Now many more stops, cramped 720s with no proper tables, and even some peak services 5 car only.

Only 5 up morning peak and 5 down evening peak trains are booked for 10 cars. I occasionally use the down evening peak 10 car trains and the country end unit always has plenty of space. I choose an airline 2 seat and have never had to share.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Kings Lynn never returned after COVID. The result was a proper 2tph peak GN service which wasn't possible while GA were still running through.

Still, it was good seeing another long-distance service from Liverpool Street. Especially given how impressive the 379s looked in a 12 car formation.

 

[Instinct04]

The timetables GA based their new franchise bid on have never been published, only the highlights, being the ones mentioned above and also more Norwich Yarmouths so 2tph most hours.

The uplifts were to be delivered in two stages, May 19 and May 20.

Post covid most of the extra services probably not needed. But fact they have not delivered on any of the 10% journey time improvements suggests the proposals were overly optimistic/undeliverable.

The Camb service is now worse than it has been since 2010 or 11 when the 1707/37/1807 peak fasts were introduced with 3x12 car 379s calling Tott Hale, Bis Stortford, Audley End and Whittlesford only.

Now many more stops, cramped 720s with no proper tables, and even some peak services 5 car only. But this presumably reflects the bigger drop off in long distance commuting as compared to shorter distance.

The extra stops have been added in to cater for the passanger growth of other stations e.g Sawbridgeworth, Waltham Cross etc.

Essentially everything has now been slowed down. No extra trains can be added so more stops to compensate!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jan 2026 ==

Don't some still go to Ely? And all to North?

But the contra-expresses were fun. Still, it is hard to justify missing so many 2m stations when it isn't the core route to Cambridge. If the Cruisers skipped South, it might have had another shot, but they won't.

I never got to travel on any of them - sad..

Other improvements planned that haven’t been delivered were 4 tph to Southend Victoria (driven mostly by the then expanding Southend Airport), doubling the 2 hourly Peterborough to Ipswich service to make it hourly and extend it to/from Colchester, a handful of through London services off the East Suffolk line and a Sunday service to Colchester Town.

How comes 4tph Southend Victoria hasn't happened yet?