Rail commuters give new Essex operator frosty welcome (From Gazette)

Rail commuters give new Essex operator frosty welcome

4:20pm Tuesday 7th February 2012 in Local News By James Cox

IT was a frosty start to Abellio’s reign over East Anglian trains.

The service provider, which took over from National Express East Anglia, had promised cleaner trains, better customer service and a smoother operation.

But wintry conditions caused timetable chaos, with delays and signal failures.

My first experience of the newly-labelled, Greater Anglia trains, was the 8am service from Colchester Town station to Chelmsford being cancelled.

Sighs of “here we go again” could be heard as commuters trudged over the snow-covered platform towards the bus station.

On reaching North Station, I was aware of how many platform staff were visible, wearing the new Greater Anglia identity cards.

I had met Abellio’s public affairs director, Cameron Jones, last month and he told me customer service and availability of staff was high on the company’s agenda.

He had also promised a deep clean of every train and when I finally did make it on to the London-bound service, the carriages were notably tidier.

But the smell of freshly cleaned upholstery was of little significance to commuters, who were already running late.

AnEssex University economics student on her way home to Nottingham, said: “People will judge the new company on two things – price and whether the train leaves on time.”

Apart from the “welcome to this Greater Anglia service” announcement over the loud speaker, there was little else to identify the new provider.

The first working day of Abellio’s train provision will be remembered for many – as a long wait on a wintry cold platform.