A CONSULTATION has begun to learn rail passengers’ views about plans to provide extra rolling stock and more seats on trains.

National Express East Anglia will spend the next 12 weeks asking what travellers think about proposals to provide 11,000 more seats on its lines at peak times.

In April, the Department for Transport announced it wanted to boost capacity on services to and from London Liverpool Street.

A total of 120 new carriages and 68 refurbished ones will be added to East Anglia services – a 17 per cent increase in the National Express train fleet.

They will come on line between December next year and December 2012.

The new carriages will be used on trains serving Stansted Airport and some Cambridge to Liverpool Street services.

The 68 refurbished carriages will be used on services to Chelmsford, Colchester, Clacton, Harwich, Braintree and Southend.