PASSENGERS can now avail of free wifi on all Greater Anglia commuter trains, firm bosses have announced.

The operator's £4.8 million project has seen free wifi installed on on all trains between East Anglia and London Liverpool Street.

It means up to 907,000 passengers a month will be able to connect their laptops and other devices to the worldwide web on the majority of its trains.

The project has taken over a year and involved a bespoke installation on four different types of train, using more than 18km of Ethernet cable.

The new systems have been fitted at the firm's Ilford Depot on one train every day since March 2018 - 840 separate carriages in total. The installation is now complete.

Each train requires its own wifi access points, network switch, roof antennae and power supply housed in a secure cupboard, with bespoke designs required for each different type of train.

Project manager, Katharine Rosa, said, “Fitting wifi to trains is a complex task, so it’s great news that passengers can now be more productive while they are travelling and also make savings on their data packages by using the free wifi on board.

“While we await the roll-out of our brand new fleet of trains, which will also have free wifi, we are committed to improving our current fleet to improve passengers’ journeys now.”

The on-board wifi can be connected to by selecting Greater Anglia Wi-Fi in a device’s wifi settings, then opening a web browser to sign in.

The trains included in the rollout are:

  • Intercity trains, which operate between Norwich and London Liverpool
  • Greater Anglia’s Class 321 trains run between Southend, Clacton, Colchester and Liverpool Street
  • The Class 360 and Class 317 trains operate commuter services in Essex, Hertfordshire, and between Cambridge to Liverpool Street
  • The Stansted Express