Removal of First Class - East Anglia and Kent

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The Independent

Greater Anglia is scrapping first class on most of its trains from 2020 in a bid to ease overcrowding.

The train operator will run single class services on all commuter and regional routes, including the Stansted Express. Only intercity trains, which run between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London, will retain first class seats. The operator will replace all trains with “brand new state-of-the-art longer trains”, which will come into service between the middle of 2019 and the end of 2020.

The company predicts that the move will provide around 20 per cent more seats across its network in East Anglia.

Southeastern, whose trains service Kent, is expected to follow Greater Anglia’s lead. Last year, the Department for Transport stipulated that the new operator for the Southeastern franchise should remove first class accommodation on all passenger trains within 18 months when a new franchise agreement is signed next year. The new operator is expected to begin on 1 April.

[Reginald25]

Amazing that this hasn't happened long ago.

[TaplowGreen]

Good idea on Commuter routes.

[martyjon]

Why not replace the space freed up by the removal of the first class accomodation to provide a new travelling class, STANDING class with a standard flat fare of FREE. Thus all the toffs that travel first class would be able to use their cars cos road congestion would be removed at a stroke cos all the car drivers that cant afford the cost of rail fares would change their travel habits and travel STANDING class freeing up the road space for the TOFFS.

[Ralph Ayres]

I was briefly baffled by there being an overcrowding problem on late evening trains until I realized that 2020 was the year not the time...