Media centre

Tuesday 12 May 2009

LONGER PLATFORMS INTRODUCE 12-CAR TRAINS FROM CAMBRIDGE

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

• New May 17th timetable will see 12-carriage trains depart Cambridge for King’s Cross for the first time
• Network Rail has lengthened platforms and carried out power upgrades to enable more and longer trains to use the network.
• A revised timetable and the introduction of 20 additional carriages will result in over 5000 peak seats being added to the route

The most significant change to the Great Northern (GN) route timetable for at least 15 years will take place on May 17th. The new timetable sees five additional trains added to the timetable in the first step to significantly reduce overcrowding.

The 7.15AM and 7.45AM departures for London King’s Cross, once listed as some of the most overcrowded trains in the country, will be strengthened from eight carriages to twelve carriages.

There will also be significant changes to the evening timetable returning to Cambridge, with faster journey times. The additional rolling stock also enables significant enhancements to off-peak travellers – for example the 14.56 departure from Ely to London King’s Cross on Sunday’s will be doubled in length from four carriages to eight.

Network Rail lengthened platforms at Cambridge and Royston to allow longer trains to stop and also invested £1.6m to upgrade the power supply along the route to London, allowing more and longer trains to run.

Richard Lungmuss, Route Director at Network Rail, said: “The platform extensions at Cambridge and Royston and the improvements to the power supply will both make a real difference to passengers, allowing 12-car trains to run for the very first time and increasing capacity on this busy line. This marks a significant milestone as we continue to explore ways to increase capacity across the rail network.”

Jim Morgan, Managing Director at First Capital Connect said: “The new timetable, extra carriages and infrastructure improvements, means we will have increased peak seats by over 5000 in the past year. This is very much the first step, and in partnership with the Department for Transport and Network Rail, we would like to continue to work on increasing capacity on our services.”