STATIONS

East Anglia Stations Greener Than Ever

Passengers returning to Greater Anglia trains will notice a big improvement as the operator continues a wide-ranging upgrade programme across its entire estate

Greater Anglia is currently in the middle of a fouryear, £40 million station renewals programme, with 90 schemes either in the pipeline, development or in delivery. The programme is focused on improving customer experience and satisfaction, but is also crucial for meeting regulatory targets, the Station Stewardship Measure (which is overseen by the Office of Rail and Road) and the Percentage of Asset Remaining Life (which is overseen the Department for Transport) and includes works such as rewiring, platform repairs, roof repairs, car park upgrades, lift replacements, stairs and footbridge repair and replacement at stations across the network.

In addition to the two brand-new stations that opened recently on Greater Anglia’s network - Soham and Meridian Water – the operator has just completed a £1 million upgrade to waiting shelters, toilets and benches at rail stations across East Anglia.

A total of nine new waiting shelters have been installed, eight of them replacing old ones at Braintree Freeport, Brandon, Great Chesterford, Hatfield Peverel, Harlow Mill and Wrabness, and at Alresford, an additional new shelter has been installed.

Toilet facilities have been refurbished at Audley End, Chelmsford, Cheshunt, Hockley, Manningtree, Marks Tey, Shenfield and Thorpe Le Soken. The upgrade included new tiling, hand dryers and decoration and at some stations new sinks and worktops.

Over 450 platform benches have also been upgraded, and some old style metal benches have been replaced with timber ones which are more comfortable and improve the appearance of the platforms.

The new benches – which would be the equivalent of a kilometre long if placed end to end – have supplemented and/or replaced older benches at 76 stations (listed below), across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

Greater Anglia’s Director of Asset Management, Simone Bailey, said: ‘These upgrades provide a better station environment and improved comfort for passengers, as we welcome people back to the railway.

‘It’s part of an ongoing programme of station upgrade projects which has also included car park re-lining and wider station presentation standards across our network to ensure our facilities are in excellent condition for our customers.’

Greater Anglia has spent £1 million so far to carry out relining and resurfacing work at 70 car parks across its network. The car park works at Cheshunt, Dovercourt, Harling Road, Hatfield Peverel, Hockley, North Fambridge, Prittlewell, Rochford, Sawbridgeworth, South Woodham Ferrers, Stowmarket, Thorpe-Le-Soken, Whittlesford Parkway and Wivenhoe stations are compliant with Equality legislation by ensuring that accessible parking spaces are clearly defined, there is the correct number of accessible spaces for each car park and that appropriate distances are maintained between vehicles in the accessible bays.

In addition to this work, Greater Anglia recently completed the mammoth task of lengthening platforms at Hertford East, Ware, Broxbourne and Stratford to enable its five-carriage Class 720 trains to run in a longer ten-carriage formation.

Now that the work is done, it marks the final stage of the operator’s programme to replace every single train on the network with brand-new state-of-the-art trains. The work took place at weekends in June, July and August including a 17-day-stretch of continuous engineering works on the Hertford East Line.

Andrew Goodrum, Greater Anglia’s Client and Programme Director commented: ‘This was a big milestone in the rollout of new

trains across the whole of our network. The Hertford East line is a very busy commuter line and now we’re able to run ten-carriage trains on the route it significantly increases passenger capacity.

‘Customer reaction to our new trains has been fantastic. With their plug and USB points, fast free wifi, air conditioning, improved accessibility features, dedicated cycle spaces and better passenger information screens, our new trains offer a much better travel experience.’

Another big project on the horizon is an accessibility scheme at Stowmarket which will see an entirely new kind of footbridge and lift system installed. The station received funding in 2019 for accessibility improvements under the Government’s Access for All scheme as the only step-free way to cross the platforms currently is via the level crossing. The funding will see the existing concrete footbridge removed and replaced with a new type of ‘Ava’ bridge that will be the first of its kind in the UK.

It is a modular steel design, which is cheaper and quicker to construct. Lifts will be built into the bridge’s design, making it much easier to travel between the platforms. Construction is expected to start towards to end of next year.

Marek Dowejko, Greater Anglia’s Asset Programme Manager said: ‘We’re delighted to be able to progress this improvement scheme to help people access the station more easily. Thanks to this revolutionary new style of bridge the scheme was affordable and we have been able to use the Access for All funding efficiently and to the best outcome for passengers.’

Rebecca Richardson, Greater Anglia’s Accessibility Manager said: ‘We want everyone to be able to have a good journey with us and the plans for Stowmarket are going to make a big difference to people using the station.

‘Along with the enhanced accessibility features of our new fleet of trains, this Access For All scheme means that we are really starting to transform rail travel for people with disabilities and other accessibility needs, making it much easier for them to travel, and we will continue to support our communities with their aspirations for improvements at other stations too.’

Changing Places

In another first, as part of Greater Anglia’s redevelopment of Ely, the station will become the first in East Anglia to provide a ‘Changing Places’ toilet facility. Other accessibility improvements will include new, additional accessible entrances and more space on the concourse to ease congestion. New gatelines will also be installed as part of the project which has been jointly funded by Greater Anglia, the Department for Transport, Govia Thameslink Railway and the Railway Heritage Trust. It is due to completed in September 2022.

In addition to new works, Greater Anglia also works closely with the Railway Heritage Trust to keep some of its older, Victorian station buildings in good condition and

preserve their unique historic features.

One such recent example is Frinton on Sea station, a designated heritage station, where Greater Anglia invested £200,000 – with a further £50,000 of funding being provided by the Railway Heritage Trust – for refurbishments.

The works included the repair and restoration of the roof and canopy, the installation of new decorative ‘Florence-style dagger boards’ to the canopy and repainting of the support structures in heritage colours, as well as the replacement of old guttering and downpipes.

Simone comments: ‘We are very grateful to the Railway Heritage Trust for their help and support in restoring Frinton on Sea station, and many others, to conserve their unique features for future generations to enjoy and to improve and protect the buildings, making them fit for use in the 21st Century.’

Many stations have also been given a new lease of life through community projects, many of which have been achieved through joint working with the region’s community rail partnerships.

One excellent example is the Old Parcels Office at Lowestoft station, which has been transformed from a building that lay derelict for over thirty years into an attractive community and exhibition space. Work has included restoration of many original windows and doors, new ceilings and flooring with all the detailed work being undertaken by local craftsmen.

The project was funded through grants from the Railway Heritage Trust, Community Rail Network, the Lowestoft Central Project and support from the East Suffolk Lines and Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnerships and Greater Anglia.

In Southminster, Essex, another community project has the rail station take on a new role in helping to tackle loneliness and isolation when it became the first rail station in England to host a Men’s Shed.

The new group was set up by the Maldon and District Community Voluntary Service in partnership with the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership. The Southminster Railway Shed volunteers are currently busy clearing, tidying and setting up the Shed – which is actually part of the old station building - to be as usable and welcoming as possible.

Jayne Sumner, Rail Engagement Manager for the Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership said: ‘I’m delighted to see the Men’s Shed now up and running at Southminster station and we are looking forward to working with them. We work with all sorts of community partners – including other Men’s Sheds in the county – to help our communities thrive and we are very grateful for their support and enthusiasm.’

Environmental impact

Alongside the large programme of upgrades and ongoing maintenance work, Greater Anglia is also working to minimise its impact on the environment, reducing energy use at stations and depots where possible.

Last year, the operator saved more than 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from being emitted into the atmosphere, after installing energy management technology at more than 30 stations.

The Wireless Energy Management Systems (WEMS) were installed at stations surveyed and identified as high energy consuming stations. Since 2019, the WEMS network of wireless sensors have been in place around the stations’ waiting rooms and offices and have been communicating to a main control panel that helps regulate temperatures and reduce energy usage wherever possible.

As a result, Broxbourne, Manningtree and Great Yarmouth stations have seen energy reductions of more than 50 per cent, while the average reduction across all stations is 20 per cent. In addition to this, East Anglia’s fragile wildlife populations are finding sanctuary at many of Greater Anglia’s stations – thanks to the efforts of volunteers who have transformed land the equivalent of 34 tennis courts into ecofriendly gardens.

There are 61 station gardens on Greater Anglia’s network, each one providing a vital additional habitat for local wildlife as well as making the stations more attractive and welcoming, contributing to human wellbeing too.

In a recent survey, Greater Anglia station adopters reported a wide range of creatures visiting their stations including many different types of butterflies as well as bees, slow worms, bats, foxes, deer and many varieties of birds, recording over 200 different species. Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Engagement Manager, Alan Neville, said: ‘Thanks to the care and attention of our team of station adopters, we have thousands upon thousands of plants thriving at our rail stations which helps not only to make them more welcoming, but are benefiting the environment too.

‘Many of these gardens have been designed to be wildlife friendly, enhancing biodiversity and providing food, shelter and breeding places for many different types of wildlife. Some of them are becoming really magical places as a result, helping to support rare types of wildlife and benefiting their communities by helping to improve the local environment and existing more harmoniously with their rural surroundings. This is all helping the railway in East Anglia to lead the green recovery from the pandemic by being a much more sustainable way to travel.’