Greater Anglia DEVELOPMENTS 2014-18

When new developments occur for GREATER ANGLIA, they'll be added to the page - we'll let you know by placing a 'ATTENTION - GREATER ANGLIA DEVELOPMENT' banner on the Home Page! You'll still find some updates here.

2014-2018......

21/05/14: 90010 currently sits at Dereham, on the Mid-Norfolk Railway, in unfamiliar territory. Tomorrow, it will be transported via road to Toton for an overhaul and repaint into GA colours. 90010 is in this situation after the bogie seized at Manningtree on the 11:30 Norwich to London service last Thursday.

06/01/15: 379013 entered service on the Harwich line today, with its new battery. 379013s first few runs today included the 11:40 from Manningtree to Harwich and the 12:07 Harwich to Manningtree.

02/02/15: 12013 was the first refurbished MK3 Coach to enter service. It entered service today on the 09:00 Norwich to London, as coach D. Also, 40 Class 321s were internally upgraded - these units can be identified by new seat covers throughout the train, blue grabrails in standard class and grab rails painted red in First Class.

10/03/15: 90002 recently went to Toton for a repaint (doesn't need to go to Crewe as the loco has already had maintenance stages and exam). 90009 at Doncaster for major repairs. 12015 is the first Mk3 to be internally overhauled.

24/05/15: Half of MK3 coaching stock has now been repainted into GA livery, with a third of the coaches already receiving internal overhaul.

10/10/15: 90015 now in GA colours. Then 18/02/16: 90006 repainted in GA livery. 68004 was being deployed on stock moves from Norwich to/from Wolveton and Toton. It took 90007 away for repaint, whilst a few carriages came back the other way already in the livery.

04/2016: A 156 unusually forms a Norwich to Cambridge service, via Wymondham (here in the photo), Thetford and Ely. Class 170s (3-car) generally operate this route, however there was a shortage of this stock unfortunately at the time of the photo.

05/2016: Four of the Direct Rail Services MK2s (usual coaches in the formation plus spares) were taken away from the Short Set by 37422 in order to receive exams and maintenance. These all return soon, for the Charity Tour.

Therefore, MK3 coaches 12031, 12108 and DVT 82152 (the DVT hosts the tannoy and crucial guards area and emergency procedures and first aid equipment) stood in to be able to cover the usual diagram. 37405/419 are the locomotives apart of this consist.

06/16: 10406 is the only MK3 not in AGA colours, as it's in ONE livery. All sisters have been repainted into AGA colours.

06/2016: Change of Wi-fi supplier, at a cost of £10 million, to allow a free network on Intercity trains between Norwich Colchester and London, as well as a faster connection at stations.

20/05/16: Below Left: Bingo! Only one of 4 MK3s still in the AGA fleet to be in ONE livery. This one's Coach H Buffet 10404, due for overhaul soon. **update: now all in GA livery **

The Pretendolino set entered service with Greater Anglia in January 2015, to alleviate other IC stock which was undergoing at the time. This was seeing use on the Norwich to Liverpool Street line right up until the end of 2016, when it went off-lease (along with 90034). The next stage of its life is expected to be a spell at Transpennine Express!

18/08/16: Numerous class 170s and 360s now have new seat covers, and class 321 Renatus programme well underway with 3 units away currently (303/304/321).

16/10/16: Five Class 153s are leased to Greater Anglia for local services. ------ It was announced in October 2016 though that these will be withdrawn in 2019/2020, not meeting DDA compliants, along with the entire fleet when the new Bombardier (replacing 317s/321s), Stadler FLIRT InterCity (replacing the Stansted Express 379s and IC mk3 sets) and Stadler FLIRT UK (replacing 153s/156s/170s)!

18/01/2017: 4 ex-Great Northern 321s transfer into the fleet. A further 6 will follow by Summer 2017, as they're no longer needed by GTR due to the arrival of 700s at Thameslink (displacing 387/1s to Great Northern). All of the GN 317s will follow suit by Autumn 2017.

07/02/2017: In the interim, before the current fleet is replaced, it was announced today that the 170s will all receive a refurbishment.

The 170s already have new seat covers from a previous overhaul by GA, but new carpets, upgraded loos, an additional 6 seats per 3-car unit (removal of the centre guards office), painted grabrails/doors and improved heating / air-conditioning systems are all on the cards for 2017 - plus a dab of paint into the new livery too, branded colours red/grey/white inside and out. 170270 (previously ONE livery) was the first to receive the treatment, in February 2017, with the 3 sister 2-car units to follow next before GA move onto the 3-car Turbostar 170 series.

March 2016: 82136 and 2 Aga livery Mk3s stand in on the 37 short set, whilst Mk2s go away for tyre turning.

Then by Summer 2017, 3 class 321 (303/304/321) units had received the Renatus Overhaul and 4 (including 355/360) sisters had received the lighter refresh programme. The three separate Class 321 overhaul programmes have been summarised in this post here (originally just for the 2015 project, but it's getting quite complex now so it's all been clarified!).

Meanwhile, 170204 returned following repairs being necessary due to colliding with a tractor last summer. As of result of this, in September 2017, the Class 68 short hauled set went off lease. A railtour was held to bid farewell to the locomotives, with proceeds going to the East Anglia Children's Hospice. For full information on the farewell tour, and also regarding saying goodbye to the Class 68 set, please click here.

Also during Summer 2017, 321301 was next for the Renatus Overhaul Package,

Below: Artist impression of the Bombardier Aventra trains replacing class 317/321/360s from 2019. For further information regarding the new stock, see our post here.