THE EAST Anglia rail franchise contract, which includes trains through Harlow, has been awarded to a Dutch company today (Thursday October 20) rather than to one of two British firms.
Transport Minister Theresa Villiers said Abellio Greater Anglia Limited, part of Dutch rail company NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen, will operate the Greater Anglia franchise from February 2012 until July 2014.
Abellio was up against UK companies Stagecoach and Go-Ahead Group in the battle for the Greater Anglia franchise, which includes routes out of London to Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
When the franchise is renewed in July 2014, it is expected to last for 15 years.
Ms Villiers said that under the terms of the contract agreed with Abellio, the company will deliver a series of improvements for passengers during the 29-month franchise.
These include providing better station and ticket facilities and measures to improve passenger information. A text messaging service to keep passengers informed of service disruption will be introduced, and new information desks will be provided at major stations including Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport.
The new franchise will make it easier for passengers to buy tickets, including extending the Oyster pay-as-you-go facility between Liverpool Street and all stations to Hertford East.
Abellio has also committed to provide an additional 600 car park spaces (subject to planning approvals), more cycle storage facilities and to deliver a number of other measures to improve the service to customers including deep cleaning of stations and trains.
In a new move, from the start of the new franchise, Abellio will start publishing a breakdown of punctuality figures by route, giving passengers more transparency over the performance of the lines they use. The reliability requirements for the new franchise are more demanding than the previous one.
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