Greater Anglia gearing up for state ownership

Greater Anglia is set to become state-owned on 12 October this year

A rail firm covering the East of England said it was "absolutely focused" on keeping up its high standards as it gears up for re-nationalisation.

Greater Anglia, which runs trains across the East of England and into London, is to be brought into public ownership on 12 October.

It has been the best performing train operator in the UK for two years with annual punctuality on train routes at 94.1% in the 12 months to 31 March 2025.

Jonathan Denby, head of corporate affairs for Greater Anglia, said its task was to "run a really good railway for passengers and stake holders who depend upon us".

Jonathan Denby of Greater Anglia has worked for rail companies in the East since before privatisation in the 1990s

The government said Greater Anglia "will act as a blueprint for publicly-owned rail, sharing its expertise across the network".

Greater Anglia runs trains throughout Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, including the Stansted Express airport service.

It was announced in December that the company would move under public ownership in 2025.

The government said nationalisation of all services in Britain would bring savings of up to £150m and it hoped the move would clamp down on delays and cancellations.

Mr Denby told BBC Politics East that he first worked for British Rail before privatisation.

"I've done 35 years. So I started in 1990 with British Rail and I've seen it through a number of eras. We were intercity Anglia, then Anglia Railways for 10 years.

"Then through the National Express East Anglia phase and then Greater Anglia since 2012."

Greater Anglia runs the key commuter service between Norwich and London Liverpool Street

Looking at the future under state ownership, he said the service at first "should be exactly the same and clearly one of the big objectives for us is to make sure that it stays exactly the same".

He said: "At Greater Anglia we're in a good place performance-wise, we have been the best performing train operator in the UK for the last two years.

"If we go back to the early 1990s, you had far fewer trains, far fewer frequency, they weren't as nice as they are now.

"There weren't direct trains between Norwich and Cambridge and frequency on Stansted Express wasn't as frequent as it is now."

Greater Anglia is the latest in a roster of firms running key train routes in the eastern region

He said: "We're focused to keep on improving, maintaining benefits, but also improving those areas passengers want us too."

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "We are undertaking generational reform of our railways, bringing services back into public ownership and putting passengers, not shareholders, at the heart of our railways.

"When Greater Anglia's services come into public ownership on 12 October, it will continue to deliver high-performing services, and will act as a blueprint for publicly owned rail, sharing its expertise across the network."

Key issues for MPs

BBC Politics East presenter Amelia Reynolds quizzed MPs (from left to right) Jerome Mayhew, Marie Goldman and Chris Vince at the East Anglian Railway Museum in Wakes Colne, near Colchester, Essex

The plan for the re-nationalisation of railways has provoked a wide debate on the BBC Politics East.

Chris Vince, Labour MP for Harlow, believes putting Greater Anglia into public ownership will improve the service.

"Anecdotal evidence is passengers are fed up with trains being cancelled," he said. "Constituents have got in contact with me and they are very frustrated.

"There is an opportunity for rail nationalisation to solve many of the problems. We've seen costs going up also and people are struggling.

"It's a big ambition of this government to make sure communities are connected. These private companies... are doing it to make a profit to shareholders, that can be reinvested [in the railways]."

'Wrong analysis' claim

Conservative MP for Broadland and Fakenham in Norfolk, Jerome Mayhew said he had serious concerns about nationalisation.

"I'm really worried about it. I think Labour have got the wrong analysis on the solution to the problems, and we do have some problems in the railways," he said.

"Many fewer in Greater Anglia which is a really well-run private business which has invested £800m in whole new rolling stock.

"We've got the best time kept service... It's liked by its customers and if it isn't broke we shouldn't fix it.

Marie Goldman, Lib Dem MP for Chelmsford, said: "I agree with the passengers who say: 'We don't really care who runs our railways, we just want them to be on time, we want them to be affordable and we want them to be comfortable.

"We do have a really good railway company - Greater Anglia - in this part of the world, and we're really lucky. There is always room for improvement, of course there is.

"What I'm worried about, by re-nationalising it, is if we don't continue to invest in our railways.

"There's always the temptation by governments, which are short-term in their views, to say 'can we shave a bit of money off there. We don't have to invest'."

BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday 5 October at 10:00 GMT on BBC One in the East of England, and will be available after broadcast on BBC iPlayer.

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