13.06.14
East Anglia rail passenger numbers up 17.5%
East Anglia rail passenger numbers have soared by 17.5% in the last three years, following a significant period of investment, Network Rail has revealed.
The company has invested more than £430m in improving and expanding the East Anglia rail network over the last 12 months.
The record investment has provided new infrastructure to build a bigger and better railway across the Anglia route, which comprises the rail lines connecting Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street stations in London to towns and cities in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.
Abellio Greater Anglia has seen overall passenger growth on its network from 105.8m journeys in 2010 to 124.4m journeys in 2013, while this year 37.8m passengers used c2c services compared to 35m in 2010.
Richard Schofield, Network Rail route managing director, said: “We are in the middle of a rail renaissance with record levels of passenger numbers and record levels of investment.
“With more trains on the network than 10 years ago, there are inevitable challenges – we are determined to do more to improve train reliability in the face of these challenges.”
Network Rail has managed many vital enhancement projects to add capacity to the railway and drive economic growth, but a key project undertaken in the last 12 months includes the completion of the £59m Ipswich Chord in Suffolk. The project has increased capacity for freight trains and eases a major bottleneck affecting passenger services on the Great Eastern main line between London and Norwich.
Ben Gummer, Ipswich MP, part of the task force seeking greater investment in the region’s rail network, described the rise in passenger numbers over recent years as “astonishing.”
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