New trains for Greater Anglia and Great Northern

Greater Anglia has announced they are testing their new Class 745 and 755 trains manufactured by Stadler Rail.

From Greater Anglia

Watch out for Greater Anglia’s brand new trains – which are being tested in daylight on more routes in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex from later this month.

Greater Anglia is replacing every single train with brand new state-of-the-art trains which will start to come into service in the middle of this year.

Network Rail’s vision for the greener network and new overhead wires for Southend Victoria Line

Here’s some railway news from Network rail because there isn’t much bus news to report on.

From Network Rail

We own, operate and develop 20,000 miles of track across Britain and that’s just the start. With such far-reaching infrastructure, we have a responsibility to limit our impact on the environment as best we can.

We’ve made significant progress in sustainability over the past year, diverting 94% of our waste from landfill.

October Industrial action for Greater Anglia, Southern and Tube services

UPDATE - 4th October 2017

The industrial action for the London Underground is now cancelled.

The planned strike due to take place on Thursday 5th October has been cancelled. Services will be running as normal.

— Transport for London (@TfL) October 3, 2017

Original article starts below

Not a good start to the month of October 2017 as Greater Anglia, Southern and London Underground services will be disrupted due to industrial action.

London Underground services will be disrupted for one day while Greater Anglia and Southern services are disrupted for two days. I’m aware that Northern Rail and Merseyrail will be striking on the same days as Greater Anglia and Southern but I will concentrate on the disruptions that are happening in London.

Shenfield Station to serve TfL rail service again

After completing works between Brentwood and Shenfield, a full TfL service is set to return on Monday 22^nd May 2017.

From TfL news

Upgrade work has been completed to prepare for Elizabeth line services between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in December 2018.

Abellio sells 40% of their Greater Anglia stake to Japanese based Mitsui

This is a follow up to my previous article titled ‘Abellio wins East Anglia railway franchise’.

Abellio has sold 40% of their Greater Anglia stake to Mitsui Group, which is one of the largest trading companies in Japan.

Timetable and maps for London National Rail services

Looking at TfL’s website - they don’t feature timetables for National Rail services, only timetables for their own services such as London Buses, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, Tramlink, London Overground and TFL Rail.

TfL do have a map though which shows the railway services in London as they are part of the Oyster Pay-As-You-Go fare system. TFL also provide “National Rail journeys,” on their Journey Planner.

Abellio wins East Anglia railway franchise

Abellio wins the 9-year franchise to operate the East Anglia railways; their contract commences on October 2016 and runs until 2025.

Abellio is owned by Nederlandse Spoorwegen which is a state owned company in the Netherlands and run by the government. Despite Britain voting to leave the EU, no changes have been made to Britain’s railways.

Reopening of Lea Bridge Station on 16th May 2016

Most of you won't know that on 16th May 2016, Lea Bridge Station is re-opening after 31 years of closure.

Here is the report:

From Waltham Forest Council

Leyton’s Lea Bridge Station is re-opening to passengers on 16 May 2016 after 31 years of closure.

The station will provide passengers with direct links to both Stratford and Tottenham Hale and journey times of five minutes apiece.

Stratford is the nearest high-speed station to central London, connecting to services going to Europe, and Tottenham Hale provides easy and fast connections to Stansted Airport, meaning the new station will open the western part of Waltham Forest up to further commercial opportunities in London and beyond.

New London Overground services to get new trains

TFL have just issued a press release regarding the new London Overground services getting the new Class 378 Capitalstar trains.

Thousands of customers on London Overground routes in East and North East London will travel on new air-conditioned trains from 2018, after TfL today announced that a contract with a capital value of around £260m will be awarded to Bombardier Transportation to build a new fleet of trains.

Video: London Overground Romford to Upminster branch

On 31st May 2015, the Romford to Upminster line were transferred to TFL's London Overground from Abellio Greater Anglia. 

The service uses British Rail Class 317. Inside they feature a table which is unusual for a Commuter railway train to have. So I felt the service is first class because of the features which London Overground provided for the Romford to Upminster Line.

Shenfield Metro Service to be operated under the brand of TFL Rail

In one of TFL’s latest press releases titled ‘Crossrail – Moving to the Operating Railway’ they revealed the branding for the Shenfield branch which TFL is beginning operation on, on 31^st May 2015.

Video: Class 315 Abellio Greater Anglia from London's Liverpool Street to Stratford

Take a virtual ride on the Class 315 train from London's Liverpool Street to Stratford.

Video: Abellio Greater Anglia service From Ilford to Stratford

"Romford railway station MMB 15 315803" by mattbuck (category) - Own work by mattbuck.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

During the morning rush hour commute, the service goes past Manor Park, Forest Gate and Maryland stations from Ilford without stopping and go straight to Stratford station.