October 17, 2021 • 29 mins
Listen to this first episode of Greater Anglia’s new podcast to discover some interesting nuggets about life on rails. Find out how trains are made, how they’re kept clean and sanitised, and why leaves on the line are like black ice on the road. Discover which destination we recommend to YouTuber Geoff Marshall, and how you can get the cheapest fares.
We’d love to hear from you, please tweet us at @GreateAngliaPr #LifeOnRails. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast as well, and visit www.greateranglia.co.uk/podcast to discover more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Juliet Maxim (00:02):
Hello, I'm Juliet Maxim.
Lucy Wright (00:04):
And I'm Lucy Wright. And this is Life on Rails.
Juliet Maxim (00:07):
We both work at Greater Anglia, which means that we
are able to go behind the scenes at one of
the UK's biggest train companies.
Lucy Wright (00:13):
And in this podcast, we'll be talking to drivers, managers,
cleaners, and everyone in between, including some of the celebs
of East Anglia and the train world.
Juliet Maxim (00:21):
We've got a great first episode lined up. Join us
as we speak to our resident fares guru, Ken Strong.
Ken Strong (00:27):
Especially on lightly loaded trains where the number of tickets
sold is not generally that high, there will still be
fairly cheap fares available, and it'll still work out a lot cheaper.
Juliet Maxim (00:37):
Environment managers, Steph Evans.
Steph Evans (00:39):
There's a lot of stories at the moment on things we can can
do, and I think if everyone does their own little bit, then
we can all help to make a difference.
Juliet Maxim (00:45):
Nadia O'Brien, who's in charge of train cleaning.
Nadia O'Brien (00:48):
The train still needed to be cleaned, and during the
pandemic, it needed to be cleaned even more so. Even
when we had calls of people going into self isolation
or COVID symptoms, the team then shrunk down a little bit, but they
worked even harder.
Juliet Maxim (01:02):
And Steve Mitchell, project manager on the biggest new trains
order in UK history.
Steve Mitchel (01:07):
I mean, if we look at the date that some of those trains
are built, back in the mid 70s, and you looked at the cars on
the road at the time, if we were all still driving around
in those cars, we'd all want to change.
Lucy Wright (01:17):
To kick things off, though, we are going to chat with Jeff
Marshall. One of the biggest transport YouTubers around.
Juliet Maxim (01:25):
This is travel surgery, where Lucy and I choose a
destination on our network for a special guest. Today, we're
joined by video editor and producer Jeff Marshall. He's been
in the Guinness World Book of Records twice for traveling
to all of the London underground Stations in the fastest time
possible. And in 2017, he visited all 2, 563 national
(01:48):
rail stations in Great Britain, including the best, those at
Greater Anglia.
Lucy Wright (01:52):
Hi Jeff, thanks for coming on our podcast and being one
of our first guests.
Jeff Marshall (01:56):
Hello, thanks for having me. Nice to be here.
Lucy Wright (01:58):
Can you just explain a bit about your job, just for anyone who doesn't
know what you do.
Jeff Marshall (02:01):
Well, as a middle aged man in his 40s, I'm
reticent towards using the phrase YouTuber, because for that, you
have to be half my age and sat in your
bedroom. And I do venture out mainly onto the railway
network with my video camera and proceed to create short
films, entertaining videos, vlogs, as I believe sometimes is the
phrase used to just highlight transport and stations and travel around
(02:26):
Britain and sometimes outside of Britain as well.
Juliet Maxim (02:28):
We love your videos, of course. Why the railway? When
did you first become interested in the railway?
Jeff Marshall (02:33):
That's a great question. I always remember my granddad, he'd
have a bookshelf full of maps, OS maps, and an
A to Z collection going back many years. And on the back of
every London A to Z was always a copy of that
year's additions tube map. And as a small boy, I
would always look at the tube map and notice the
differences over time, how things have grown and changed. And
(02:54):
I took an interest in thinking what is at the
end of the lines? What is at Upminster and what
is it Epping. And I think that stayed with me.
Came a young adult with an actual job and actual
money, I remember that there was all those places from years ago, and
it was time to head out and explore the network.
Lucy Wright (03:09):
How did you cope over the past year or so? I mean, the pandemic
at the start, it was essential travel only. How did you cope?
Jeff Marshall (03:16):
I did a whole bunch of walking videos. I went
into did a whole series of walking old, abandoned, and
disused railways around London. I did a series of 16
videos which kept me very occupied for two months during
January, February, March, April time. And then for March, April this year
things slowly returned a little bit back to normal.
Juliet Maxim (03:35):
So you enjoy walking. That's an interesting thing to know.
So what does the railway mean to you?
Jeff Marshall (03:41):
The story I always like to tell is of my
friend Roland. I used to work with many years ago and I
used to work at the BBC and we did that
Monday to Friday office job. And he was from Newcastle.
He was down in London and he spent five years
down here and he got the tube every day. I
think two stops from the end of the Northern line,
Colliers Wood up into Central London. And when it got
to his last week and he is leaving to go
back up Newcastle, he got married and went home and
(04:02):
stuff, and he was like, he had to get that that
Northern line train every blooming day. And I was like, "
Well, at least you got to see like the sunny sites of Morden," I said
rather flippantly, because in Morden it's just like a supermarket.
And he was like, he said, "You know what, Jeff, in all the five
years I've been doing it, I've never actually gone two
stops south and gone to Morden." And I was like, "
What, did you ever just get the urge to stay
on the train one evening and just see what was
(04:23):
beyond your stop?" And he went, " No." And I was
aghast. People just get stuck in that world of like, "
I get on at my home station and I go
to this station and that's it." And I just have
this bug inside of me that says, " No, well why don't you
just go a stop further or why not get out at
a different stop?"
Lucy Wright (04:39):
So be less Roland, be more Jeff, go out and
have an adventure. What's it like sharing your journeys with
the world? What kind of feedback do you get? Have you
inspired people to get out and see more? Not just Roland.
Jeff Marshall (04:51):
It's strange. Occasionally I get like a tweet or an
email. I think my favorite recently was... I did that
whole lost railways series beginning of this year, like episode
five, I walked across Staines Moor in Southwest London to
follow the path of the old railway there. And I got
this hilarious message saying, " Jeff, just to let you know,
I'm a 38 year old with a four year old
son. And he insisted, insisted that we went to Staines
(05:14):
Moor last Saturday, and I had to walk across and
I wish I'd taken my Wellington boots." So it's nice
when people see you do something and then they go
and do the same thing, which is something that I do as well,
because I watch other people. So I'm genuinely inspired myself,
and then that inspiration is passed on to others as well.
Juliet Maxim (05:32):
And that's the purpose of this interview. We want to
inspire you. Yes, you've been to all of our stations,
but we want to inspire you to go beyond the station.
We just want to find out what would be the
perfect destination for you? So you clearly like walking, you
like going by train. Our community rail partnerships published booklets
of walks and I've been trying them out because I
(05:55):
love going by train and I love walking and there's
one I think might be right up your street. If
you're not scared of walking maybe 10 miles, is that
too much, 10, 12 miles? I
Jeff Marshall (06:06):
I'd like to get in my 10, 000 steps a day anyway. That's always
it. That's about 5k.
Juliet Maxim (06:11):
This would be perfect then. So it's the Debon and
coast walk and it's in the East Suffolk line walks
booklet, and it's basically between Trimleigh and Felixstowe stations, but
it's not direct. It takes you across some marshes and
then along the river Debon and along the coast. And
some of it is really empty, you can see nobody,
(06:35):
and then you get to Felixstowe ferry and into Felixstowe.
So there we are. I think that is the perfect
little trip for you to make, and I just recommend
to you getting the community rail partnership booklets, and then
they'll tell you about the different sites along the way.
That's it. Thank you very much.
Jeff Marshall (06:52):
No, thank you very much. Thanks for having me on.
Is this the first ever one?
Juliet Maxim (06:55):
It is the first ever one. You are first ever
travel surgery guest, and we really hope you enjoy our
recommendation to you.
Jeff Marshall (07:03):
Thank you. All right. Juliet, Lucy. Thank you.
Lucy Wright (07:06):
So we are on location today. We are at Norwich,
we're at Norwich station, and we're recording today with Nadia
O'Brien, who's our presentation ops manager. Hi Nadia, thanks for
being on our podcast.
Nadia O'Brien (07:16):
Hi, thank you for having me.
Lucy Wright (07:18):
So can you just talk me through your role? What it
is you do? Where you're based? That kind of thing.
Nadia O'Brien (07:23):
Yeah, of course. So I'm based out of Norwich station
and I work with the presentation team cleaning the trains
out of, like I said, Norwich, also Crown Point depot, also
Ipswitch, Clacton, Colchester, and also Harwich International as well. So
a typical day is the train will come into Norwich,
(07:43):
the guys are ready to get on the train, clean.
So we litter pick, make sure the soap in the
toilet is completely full. Also make sure there's toilet roll
and a spare and just make sure everything is clean
and tidy. And then during the night we do more
of a enhanced clean. So we do a stabled clean
(08:03):
as we call it, which is more of an in
depth clean than a half an hour turnaround clean, where
we go through, we mop, hoover inside out, and also
we carpet clean as well. So the trains overnight have got
their carpets all cleaned.
Lucy Wright (08:20):
So over the pandemic we have invested over half a
million pounds in some of the new equipment, the fogging
guns, the ATP machines and so on, the backpack vacs.
Have they been well received? People like using them?
Nadia O'Brien (08:31):
Oh, massively, yeah. The whole team, they've just really just
stuck in and got on with it. And also we've
had people going, " Oh, I want to do that job,"
because it's also something different. It's changed their routine up
a little bit. So they are very interested and very
well received equipment.
Lucy Wright (08:48):
But now I'm going to look at how a fogging gun works. So what's the
point of a fogging gun, Nadia?
Nadia O'Brien (08:53):
Okay, so the fogging gun produces a very fine mist
of a chemical and it will sanitize in the nooks
and crannies that the cleaners can't actually get to, and
it will kill bacteria and it will remain there for
a while, and it's a lot safer and cleaner then
(09:15):
just going in and cleaning with a chemical and a microfiber
cloth, which we do both, but just double protection.
Lucy Wright (09:23):
And I can see that we've got a fogging gun
with us.
Nadia O'Brien (09:26):
Yes we have.
Lucy Wright (09:26):
In the room where we're recording. So would you like to
just show me how it works?
Nadia O'Brien (09:30):
Of course, yeah. So you've got a small tank that
sits on the bottom and you put your chemical in
the small tank, screw it on, and then just press
a button and then the fine mist will come out.
So if I just screw that on there and then
(09:54):
all you do is press a button and then it
just sprays a fine mist everywhere. And as you can
see, it goes quite far.
Lucy Wright (10:11):
And we also invested in the backpack vacuum cleaners. They're quite
handy aren't they, because they're quite lightweight, but they don't
only clean the floors.
Nadia O'Brien (10:20):
No. So they actually clean the air whilst we are
hoovering as well.
Lucy Wright (10:25):
Should we have a look at one?
Nadia O'Brien (10:26):
Yes, definitely.
Lucy Wright (10:27):
So these are worn literally like a backpack.
Nadia O'Brien (10:31):
Yes, so worn on your back, so there's no lifting
up a Hoover and trying to carry that down the
aisle. They just wear it on their back, looking like a Ghostbuster,
and then yeah, just hoovering. So it's a lot easier.
They're really light as well. And also you can take
off the end as well, so you can just take it
(10:51):
off if you see something on a chair, you can
just hoover it up quickly.
Lucy Wright (10:56):
And they filter the air as well.
Nadia O'Brien (10:57):
They do filter the air.
Lucy Wright (10:59):
Let's have a look.
Nadia O'Brien (10:59):
Okay, excellent.
Lucy Wright (11:13):
So just going back, it's been a strange 18 months,
as we've all talked about, but at the start of
the pandemic, we were still running a service for key
workers. And our staff themselves were key workers. So what
happened there?
Nadia O'Brien (11:29):
So, like you say, obviously we were running a service,
the trains still needed to be cleaned, and during the pandemic
it needed to be cleaned even more so. So the
team they (inaudible) , they came in every single shift
during the night, during the day. And obviously COVID affected
everybody, so it also affected our workforce all the colleagues
(11:50):
downstairs and in their personal lives as well. Even when
we had calls of people going into self isolation or
COVID symptoms, the team then shrunk down a little bit,
but they worked even harder.
Lucy Wright (12:02):
And they completely went above and beyond.
Nadia O'Brien (12:04):
They did.
Lucy Wright (12:04):
We received so many nice tweets as well. So thank you if you're one of
the customers who sends one of those lovely tweets about
our team. They do get passed on and just want
to say huge thank you to you, your team, your
colleagues, and the wider colleagues across the network, because it
has been a really, really difficult job. So thank you
to them and to you.
Nadia O'Brien (12:23):
Thank you very much. Thank you. Everyone has pulled together
and worked as a team throughout the pandemic, which has
just been fantastic. So thank you.
Juliet Maxim (12:33):
In October 2016 Greater Anglia ordered a fleet of 191 new
trains, the biggest whole scale replacement of new trains in
franchising history. Today I'm sitting down with Steve Mitchell, project
manager for the new trains program for part of it,
to discuss how the project is going. So Steve, hello.
Steve Mitchel (12:54):
Hello Juliet.
Juliet Maxim (12:55):
Tell me about your involvement in getting new trains.
Steve Mitchel (12:59):
So my involvement was as the joint project manager for
the Stadler fleet of trains, which is 58 of those
new trains that you've mentioned. That's part of the wider
new trains program, which is about changing every single train
that Greater Anglia was operating.
Juliet Maxim (13:15):
Why did we do it? What was wrong with our old
trains? All the train enthusiasts loved them.
Steve Mitchel (13:20):
They've served us well for a very long time, but
they're dated. I mean, if we look at the date
that some of those trains are built, back in the
mid 70s, and you'd looked at the cars on the road
at the time, if we're all still driving around in
those cars, we'd all want to have modern facilities. And
in fact, the Stadler fleet, which I was fortuitous enough
to be involved in buying, is probably one of the
(13:42):
significant steps forward in that, that the UK's had in
a long time. The height of the train compared to
the platforms has been altered. There's not this automatic big
step up that our old trains used to have. Now
we even have a ramp that comes out to bridge
that gap to make it easier to get on and off.
Juliet Maxim (14:00):
Yeah, they are absolutely brilliant. I love those trains. Look, it was
2016 when we put in the order for those trains.
All the ones that you were responsible for, the Stadlers, are
now in, but we're still waiting for the rest of the
trains to come. They are trickling in. Why on Earth
does it take so long?
Steve Mitchel (14:18):
Again, I'll use another analogy to the car industry, and
actually people might see that they order their car and
perhaps with a bit of a chip shortage at the
moment that still might take three, four months to get
your car. With a train, it's a bit different. That
train is bespoke to the region. So we go through
a design cycle and therefore the train has been effectively
(14:38):
custom adapted and designed for our particular railway. That takes
time, because you've got to get that right.
Juliet Maxim (14:44):
There's a large element of trains which are actually handmade aren't
they? It really isn't like a car rolling off a
production line.
Steve Mitchel (14:51):
Yeah, very much so. The actual chassis itself is what they call a
monocoque chassis. It is aluminum welded together by very skilled
welders that actually build that structure. And then once that
structure's built, the rest of the train is then built
around that chassis. Every wire, every part is hand assembled.
Juliet Maxim (15:12):
Were these trains made?
Steve Mitchel (15:13):
The trains were made all over Europe. The actual assembly
of the trains took place in three main locations, Switzerland,
where Stadler come from, in a place called Bussnang, in
Poland, a place called Siedlce, and in Valencia in Spain. But
the parts of the train that then go into the
assembly come from lots of different countries. The camera system
(15:34):
comes from a company called Petards based in Newcastle. The
pantographs on the roof come from a company called Brecknall
Willis based in Somerset. The door system comes from Austria,
from a company in Austria, and the body shells themselves,
some of them were actually made in Switzerland, and some
of them were made in Hungary in a place called Szolnok.
Juliet Maxim (15:53):
That's incredible. What's so good about these new trains?
Steve Mitchel (15:57):
That's a really hard question. Just to pick one thing.
I mean, they're faster accelerating. They help keep better time
for our passengers. They're lighter. They're aluminum made trains, so
they use less electricity to get from London to Norwich
or London to Stanstead. And our bi- mode trains take
full advantage of when they're underneath the pantograph, the wires,
(16:19):
they can run on electric rather than using diesel. So
they're actually got an environmental benefit as well. Whichever way
we look at it, I think they're a significant improvement
on what we've had before, and also very personally involved,
I'm really proud. Shortly after the new trains came into
service, I took my family to go and see a
new train. We traveled from Norwich to Yarmouth, and as
(16:42):
part of that trip, we saw the train in action.
We saw the air conditioning, the space, the passenger information.
And then at Yarmouth, we saw two wheelchair users self
board onto the train as well, and take advantage of
the low floor. We traveled back to Norwich, and having
experienced that new train, we decided to go for some
fish and chips in Croma. And of course at the
(17:02):
time it was one of those one carriage trains, one
five three, as we call it, and it was packed,
it was hot, it was... Yeah, quite unpleasant, and actually
it was really, really good to realize that the change
was coming and that that will be a thing of
the past and it is now a thing of the past
for our all routes, because we've changed all of those trains.
Juliet Maxim (17:24):
Oh, that's just brilliant. A great story to end on.
So thanks very much, Steve. Thanks for being a guest
on this podcast and thanks for all your hard work
on getting us new trains.
Steve Mitchel (17:35):
Well thank you for inviting me. Thank you Juliet.
Lucy Wright (17:40):
In every episode, we'll dive into some seasonal MythBusters to
get to the bottom of how the weather really impacts train
travel. Autumn's coming up, and what challenges do you think
that's likely to bring?
Juliet Maxim (17:50):
Lucy, traditionally in autumn the railway is pilloried and laughed
at for leaves on the line, but we know leaves
on the line are no joke. Leaves on the line
are the equivalent of black ice on the roads. Leaves
fall off the trees and they get compacted into this
big slippery mess on the rails. And the worst case
(18:12):
scenario, it causes the train wheels to either spin when
the trains are accelerating or lock when the trains are
braking. And we're working really hard with Network Rail, the
people who run the signals, the tracks, the overhead lines,
to really keep on top of autumn and the problems
that it brings. Our trains have this fantastic new technology,
(18:33):
and for all the engineers out there, we've got wheel
slide protection, which is like ABS on cars. And that
stops the train wheels from locking and skidding. And we've
got this thing called... On our new trains, this is,
called dynamic traction control, which stops the train wheels from
spinning when they're accelerating. And do you know what else
(18:56):
we've got on our trains? This is really quite incredible.
We have sand stored on the train, and the drivers,
if they feel that the track's getting a little bit
slippery or they look out the window and they see
that conditions look bad, they can release the sand onto
the track, and that gives them more grip as well. Just
imagine if you had cars with grit on board and
(19:16):
you could release grit whenever you're on black ice. But
we've got it on our trains. Just incredible.
Lucy Wright (19:22):
So that's everything that we are doing on the new
trains, which sounds brilliant, but obviously we don't manage and
maintain the track. So what are our colleagues at Network Rail
doing this autumn?
Juliet Maxim (19:31):
Autumn is a big time of year for Network Rail.
You're quite right. They have these special trains, they're called
railhead treatment trains, and they go around the network blasting
the leaves off the tracks, and then they put this
special gel on the tracks which helps the train wheels
grip the track. It's like gritting again. And they apparently,
at Network Rail, they have all of this intelligence about
(19:54):
the network. They monitor the leaves and the vegetation. They
do chop some of it down, in an environmentally friendly
way, obviously, but they send the railhead treatment trains to
the areas which are worst affected by falling leaves. And
there's lots of new technology coming up, which is being
trialed in other parts of the country, because the railway
(20:16):
as a whole, not just at Greater Anglia, we are
determined to make our railway as punctual as possible because
we know that's what our customers want. And last autumn,
which was the first autumn where we had more new
trains, was just incredible. Punctuality was great. And we are
really hoping to do the same this year. Oh, and
I must remind everybody to check before they travel, because
(20:38):
the other thing we do is we retime six of
our early morning intercity services, they're just a few minutes
earlier and that's just to give ourselves a little bit
of extra leeway to avoid delays. So as ever, check
before you travel.
Lucy Wright (20:53):
And is there anything that you'd recommend passengers doing in East Anglia in autumn?
Juliet Maxim (20:56):
We have got some really great places to go on
our network where you can admire the changing colors of
the leaves on the trees before they fall. Fetford forest,
that's nearby. Do you know Christchurch park in Ipswich. That
is such a beautiful park and they have some magnificent
trees there. Also Cambridge Botanical Gardens. They're beautiful all year
(21:17):
round, but autumn, it is magnificent, isn't it? Red, gold,
yellow. The leaves do look wonderful. I love this time
of year. Okay, Lucy, thanks for the grilling. It's your
to turn next time.
Lucy Wright (21:27):
It certainly is. In our next episode, we'll be talking about
winter weather. So if you've got any questions about snow,
winter travel, anything like that, please do get in touch.
You can send us a tweet @ GreaterAngliaPR, and we'll be
answering some of your questions about winter weather and snow
in our next episode. Just a reminder that the autumn
time table is now underway, so please do check before
you travel. Some of the earlier inter city services are
(21:50):
slightly re- timed. We're now joined by Ken Strong, Greater
Anglia's resident fares guru. Hi Ken. Thanks for coming on
our podcast.
Ken Strong (22:00):
Hi Lucy. Thanks very much for inviting me.
Lucy Wright (22:02):
Ken, could you just describe your role to us please?
Ken Strong (22:05):
Well, I'm basically the pricing analyst and I work to
the actual pricing manager, but I do the day to
day nitty gritty of fares. And I also sort out
reservations and quota management for the cheap advanced fares.
Lucy Wright (22:22):
I think it's important just to say now that Ken doesn't
decide every single fare in Greater Anglia. A lot of
fares are regulated by the government. We don't set all
of our fares. So if you're thinking, " Why does my
fare cost this?" It's not Ken's fault. Ken doesn't make
all those decision. So Ken, today we are going to
be talking about advanced fares. Can you just explain what
(22:43):
these are to anyone who doesn't know?
Ken Strong (22:45):
Well, advanced fares are by their name, you have to
book them in advance and they are specific to a
particular train. You have to travel on the train that
you're booked on, but that is why they are cheaper
by and large than tickets that you might buy on
the day that are more flexible.
Lucy Wright (23:00):
So it's a good value fare, quite cheap comparatively, and valid
for a specific train. So how far in advance can
people book these cheaper fares?
Ken Strong (23:09):
Normally the booking horizon as we call it is 12 weeks
before departure of the train. But currently because of various
COVID timetable amendments that we've been putting in, and the timetable's
been changing, it's about six weeks. We're hoping to extend
that over the next year or so back up to
the 12 weeks. But basically as soon as they become
available. The sooner you book, the cheaper you'll get a ticket.
Lucy Wright (23:30):
And what type of journeys can people get an advanced
fare for, because it's not just the longer journeys that
we run. It's not just Norwich to London, is it?
Ken Strong (23:38):
It's not just Norwich to London. You can get a
shorter journey as Colchester to London, and on our West
Anglia route, you can get from (inaudible) and (inaudible)
to various places between Cambridge and London. And you
can also put them to non- London places. You don't
have to be going to, or from London. You can
buy them from Colchester, Great Yarmouth, or you can buy
them indeed across the country to wherever you're going off
(24:01):
the GA network.
Lucy Wright (24:02):
What about the best times to travel? Are there quieter
times, any time of day that people might be able
to get a slightly cheaper ticket?
Ken Strong (24:09):
Mid morning, late morning, early afternoon. Trains are quite quiet,
and we can put on quite a few cheap tickets
to fill up the train. And then of course, as
the afternoon goes on, leaving London in particular, we reduce
the numbers that are available. Going towards London in the
afternoon isn't the problem, because the trains are quiet. We
keep them on there. And then in the evenings, again,
they become available.
Lucy Wright (24:29):
So we know that the cheapest way to travel is
to buy tickets in advance. How can people sign up
for alerts or know when the cheapest fares are available?
Ken Strong (24:38):
Well on the GA website, you can sign up to
advanced ticket alerts where the cheap fares, as soon as
they're released, you will get an email to advise you
that the fairs for the particular day that you want
to travel have been released, and then you can jump
in and get them before anybody else does.
Lucy Wright (24:54):
Brilliant. And if somebody does forget or it slips their
mind at all, how far in advance can people book? I
mean, is there any benefit in just booking in advance
three days before travel, for example?
Ken Strong (25:05):
Oh, absolutely, especially on lightly loaded trains where the number
of tickets sold is not generally that high, there will
still be... Maybe not the very cheapest level, but there
will still be fairly cheap fares available, and it'll still
work out a lot cheaper than buying on the day tickets.
One bit of advice I do have is if you
are making a return journey, put in both ways at
(25:27):
the one time when you're doing a search, and then
if the on the day return ticket is cheaper, it
will show that on your results and you can buy
the off peak return, which isn't specific to a particular train.
Most of the time advance will still be cheaper, but
there are some cases, especially on slightly busier trains mid-
morning or late- ish afternoon where the off peak ticket
may work out cheaper. So that's a tip that you
can bear in mind.
Juliet Maxim (25:50):
It's time now for greener Anglia, where we discuss the
steps we are taking to create a way of traveling
that's greener and more sustainable. I'm joined today by Steph
Evans, our environment and energy manager. Hi Steph. We often
say that rail travel is the most sustainable form of
transport after walking and cycling. Why is that?
Steph Evans (26:10):
So the new trains also play a really key part of it,
mainly because they've got a lot of features that are
beneficial to the environment. So to give you a few
examples, they're aerodynamic in their design, so that can help us
to reduce energy in terms of how much energy they're
using compared to the old ones. They've also got regenerative
braking on them, which means that they harness energy as
(26:30):
they brake, and previously that would've been wasted. They've also
got energy meters on them, which means that we can
then look to see trends, if certain trends are using
more energy, if routes are using more energy, and will
help us to make further reductions overall. We've also got
a bi- mode train, and that means it has two
power modes, diesel and electrics, if there are overhead line available,
(26:51):
that can be utilized. To give you an example, so
if you're traveling from Norwich to Cambridge, as you get
to (inaudible) , the pantograph can be raised and it means
it can then utilize the power from the overhead lines and use
electricity rather than diesel. Previously that whole route would've been
diesel usage.
Juliet Maxim (27:06):
That sounds really good. So is it just about the
new trains then? Is that why we're greener?
Steph Evans (27:12):
No. So there's also lots of work being done with regards to
station building. There's been a big program of LED installations
for the lights to help reduce electricity consumption from those.
I've also been installing a wireless energy management systems at over
30 stations, and these are basically a network of temperature
sensors that help to regulate the temperatures in the station
buildings, and that can then help to reduce energy consumption. And we've
(27:34):
also installed water fountains at 12 stations, which means that
passengers have the opportunity to fill up their water bottle,
and that can help to reduce plastic waste, which is
hugely beneficial. And I think that the last calculation we did, over 400,
000 bottles had been refilled, which means effectively we've prevented
that amount of waste overall.
Juliet Maxim (27:53):
Wow, that's quite something isn't it. Also, we've installed lots
of cycle spaces, haven't we, at stations. So I suppose
we are encouraging people to come to the station by
another sustainable form of transport.
Steph Evans (28:05):
Yeah, and I suppose that's the key thing as well. We don't want to just focus
on traveling by train. It's also how do people get to
the train station and want to make sure there's options
out there to travel to the station sustainably as well?
Juliet Maxim (28:17):
What about passengers? How are we helping them to do
their bit?
Steph Evans (28:20):
We've got a green Anglia page on the website and
this can help passengers to decide whether their journey is
greener by going by trains. There's a carbon calculator on
there which can help passengers to assess options.
Juliet Maxim (28:32):
Yeah, good point. Good point. Because I think that greener
Anglia hub also says how many cars are taken off
the road if everybody travels on one of our intercity
trains, for instance, and it's remarkable numbers. How did you
know that this was the right role for you? You're
doing so much to make Greater Anglia greener. Have you
(28:53):
always been interested in green and sustainable issues?
Steph Evans (28:57):
So I was always interested in geography at school and
I've always liked the outdoors and being outdoors, so I
suppose I really do genuinely care about the environment. Although it
is my job, it's something that I do as well as
a hobby. It's just, I suppose, my personal life is
what I do, and I think if everyone does their
own little bit, then we can all help to make
a difference.
Lucy Wright (29:19):
That's it from us for this episode. We hope you've
enjoyed listening and learned something new about Greater Anglia.
Juliet Maxim (29:23):
And as you might be realizing, the world of train
travel is huge, and there's always more to discover.
Lucy Wright (29:29):
Life on Rails releases quarterly with the change of seasons,
so be sure to check back in December for episode two.
Juliet Maxim (29:35):
In the meantime though, follow or subscribe to the podcast
for free so you never miss an episode. And visit
our website at www. greateranglia. co. uk/ podcast for more information.
Lucy Wright (29:48):
Thanks for joining us. Bye.
Hello, I'm Juliet Maxim.
Lucy Wright (00:04):
And I'm Lucy Wright. And this is Life on Rails.
Juliet Maxim (00:07):
We both work at Greater Anglia, which means that we
are able to go behind the scenes at one of
the UK's biggest train companies.
Lucy Wright (00:13):
And in this podcast, we'll be talking to drivers, managers,
cleaners, and everyone in between, including some of the celebs
of East Anglia and the train world.
Juliet Maxim (00:21):
We've got a great first episode lined up. Join us
as we speak to our resident fares guru, Ken Strong.
Ken Strong (00:27):
Especially on lightly loaded trains where the number of tickets
sold is not generally that high, there will still be
fairly cheap fares available, and it'll still work out a lot cheaper.
Juliet Maxim (00:37):
Environment managers, Steph Evans.
Steph Evans (00:39):
There's a lot of stories at the moment on things we can can
do, and I think if everyone does their own little bit, then
we can all help to make a difference.
Juliet Maxim (00:45):
Nadia O'Brien, who's in charge of train cleaning.
Nadia O'Brien (00:48):
The train still needed to be cleaned, and during the
pandemic, it needed to be cleaned even more so. Even
when we had calls of people going into self isolation
or COVID symptoms, the team then shrunk down a little bit, but they
worked even harder.
Juliet Maxim (01:02):
And Steve Mitchell, project manager on the biggest new trains
order in UK history.
Steve Mitchel (01:07):
I mean, if we look at the date that some of those trains
are built, back in the mid 70s, and you looked at the cars on
the road at the time, if we were all still driving around
in those cars, we'd all want to change.
Lucy Wright (01:17):
To kick things off, though, we are going to chat with Jeff
Marshall. One of the biggest transport YouTubers around.
Juliet Maxim (01:25):
This is travel surgery, where Lucy and I choose a
destination on our network for a special guest. Today, we're
joined by video editor and producer Jeff Marshall. He's been
in the Guinness World Book of Records twice for traveling
to all of the London underground Stations in the fastest time
possible. And in 2017, he visited all 2, 563 national
(01:48):
rail stations in Great Britain, including the best, those at
Greater Anglia.
Lucy Wright (01:52):
Hi Jeff, thanks for coming on our podcast and being one
of our first guests.
Jeff Marshall (01:56):
Hello, thanks for having me. Nice to be here.
Lucy Wright (01:58):
Can you just explain a bit about your job, just for anyone who doesn't
know what you do.
Jeff Marshall (02:01):
Well, as a middle aged man in his 40s, I'm
reticent towards using the phrase YouTuber, because for that, you
have to be half my age and sat in your
bedroom. And I do venture out mainly onto the railway
network with my video camera and proceed to create short
films, entertaining videos, vlogs, as I believe sometimes is the
phrase used to just highlight transport and stations and travel around
(02:26):
Britain and sometimes outside of Britain as well.
Juliet Maxim (02:28):
We love your videos, of course. Why the railway? When
did you first become interested in the railway?
Jeff Marshall (02:33):
That's a great question. I always remember my granddad, he'd
have a bookshelf full of maps, OS maps, and an
A to Z collection going back many years. And on the back of
every London A to Z was always a copy of that
year's additions tube map. And as a small boy, I
would always look at the tube map and notice the
differences over time, how things have grown and changed. And
(02:54):
I took an interest in thinking what is at the
end of the lines? What is at Upminster and what
is it Epping. And I think that stayed with me.
Came a young adult with an actual job and actual
money, I remember that there was all those places from years ago, and
it was time to head out and explore the network.
Lucy Wright (03:09):
How did you cope over the past year or so? I mean, the pandemic
at the start, it was essential travel only. How did you cope?
Jeff Marshall (03:16):
I did a whole bunch of walking videos. I went
into did a whole series of walking old, abandoned, and
disused railways around London. I did a series of 16
videos which kept me very occupied for two months during
January, February, March, April time. And then for March, April this year
things slowly returned a little bit back to normal.
Juliet Maxim (03:35):
So you enjoy walking. That's an interesting thing to know.
So what does the railway mean to you?
Jeff Marshall (03:41):
The story I always like to tell is of my
friend Roland. I used to work with many years ago and I
used to work at the BBC and we did that
Monday to Friday office job. And he was from Newcastle.
He was down in London and he spent five years
down here and he got the tube every day. I
think two stops from the end of the Northern line,
Colliers Wood up into Central London. And when it got
to his last week and he is leaving to go
back up Newcastle, he got married and went home and
(04:02):
stuff, and he was like, he had to get that that
Northern line train every blooming day. And I was like, "
Well, at least you got to see like the sunny sites of Morden," I said
rather flippantly, because in Morden it's just like a supermarket.
And he was like, he said, "You know what, Jeff, in all the five
years I've been doing it, I've never actually gone two
stops south and gone to Morden." And I was like, "
What, did you ever just get the urge to stay
on the train one evening and just see what was
(04:23):
beyond your stop?" And he went, " No." And I was
aghast. People just get stuck in that world of like, "
I get on at my home station and I go
to this station and that's it." And I just have
this bug inside of me that says, " No, well why don't you
just go a stop further or why not get out at
a different stop?"
Lucy Wright (04:39):
So be less Roland, be more Jeff, go out and
have an adventure. What's it like sharing your journeys with
the world? What kind of feedback do you get? Have you
inspired people to get out and see more? Not just Roland.
Jeff Marshall (04:51):
It's strange. Occasionally I get like a tweet or an
email. I think my favorite recently was... I did that
whole lost railways series beginning of this year, like episode
five, I walked across Staines Moor in Southwest London to
follow the path of the old railway there. And I got
this hilarious message saying, " Jeff, just to let you know,
I'm a 38 year old with a four year old
son. And he insisted, insisted that we went to Staines
(05:14):
Moor last Saturday, and I had to walk across and
I wish I'd taken my Wellington boots." So it's nice
when people see you do something and then they go
and do the same thing, which is something that I do as well,
because I watch other people. So I'm genuinely inspired myself,
and then that inspiration is passed on to others as well.
Juliet Maxim (05:32):
And that's the purpose of this interview. We want to
inspire you. Yes, you've been to all of our stations,
but we want to inspire you to go beyond the station.
We just want to find out what would be the
perfect destination for you? So you clearly like walking, you
like going by train. Our community rail partnerships published booklets
of walks and I've been trying them out because I
(05:55):
love going by train and I love walking and there's
one I think might be right up your street. If
you're not scared of walking maybe 10 miles, is that
too much, 10, 12 miles? I
Jeff Marshall (06:06):
I'd like to get in my 10, 000 steps a day anyway. That's always
it. That's about 5k.
Juliet Maxim (06:11):
This would be perfect then. So it's the Debon and
coast walk and it's in the East Suffolk line walks
booklet, and it's basically between Trimleigh and Felixstowe stations, but
it's not direct. It takes you across some marshes and
then along the river Debon and along the coast. And
some of it is really empty, you can see nobody,
(06:35):
and then you get to Felixstowe ferry and into Felixstowe.
So there we are. I think that is the perfect
little trip for you to make, and I just recommend
to you getting the community rail partnership booklets, and then
they'll tell you about the different sites along the way.
That's it. Thank you very much.
Jeff Marshall (06:52):
No, thank you very much. Thanks for having me on.
Is this the first ever one?
Juliet Maxim (06:55):
It is the first ever one. You are first ever
travel surgery guest, and we really hope you enjoy our
recommendation to you.
Jeff Marshall (07:03):
Thank you. All right. Juliet, Lucy. Thank you.
Lucy Wright (07:06):
So we are on location today. We are at Norwich,
we're at Norwich station, and we're recording today with Nadia
O'Brien, who's our presentation ops manager. Hi Nadia, thanks for
being on our podcast.
Nadia O'Brien (07:16):
Hi, thank you for having me.
Lucy Wright (07:18):
So can you just talk me through your role? What it
is you do? Where you're based? That kind of thing.
Nadia O'Brien (07:23):
Yeah, of course. So I'm based out of Norwich station
and I work with the presentation team cleaning the trains
out of, like I said, Norwich, also Crown Point depot, also
Ipswitch, Clacton, Colchester, and also Harwich International as well. So
a typical day is the train will come into Norwich,
(07:43):
the guys are ready to get on the train, clean.
So we litter pick, make sure the soap in the
toilet is completely full. Also make sure there's toilet roll
and a spare and just make sure everything is clean
and tidy. And then during the night we do more
of a enhanced clean. So we do a stabled clean
(08:03):
as we call it, which is more of an in
depth clean than a half an hour turnaround clean, where
we go through, we mop, hoover inside out, and also
we carpet clean as well. So the trains overnight have got
their carpets all cleaned.
Lucy Wright (08:20):
So over the pandemic we have invested over half a
million pounds in some of the new equipment, the fogging
guns, the ATP machines and so on, the backpack vacs.
Have they been well received? People like using them?
Nadia O'Brien (08:31):
Oh, massively, yeah. The whole team, they've just really just
stuck in and got on with it. And also we've
had people going, " Oh, I want to do that job,"
because it's also something different. It's changed their routine up
a little bit. So they are very interested and very
well received equipment.
Lucy Wright (08:48):
But now I'm going to look at how a fogging gun works. So what's the
point of a fogging gun, Nadia?
Nadia O'Brien (08:53):
Okay, so the fogging gun produces a very fine mist
of a chemical and it will sanitize in the nooks
and crannies that the cleaners can't actually get to, and
it will kill bacteria and it will remain there for
a while, and it's a lot safer and cleaner then
(09:15):
just going in and cleaning with a chemical and a microfiber
cloth, which we do both, but just double protection.
Lucy Wright (09:23):
And I can see that we've got a fogging gun
with us.
Nadia O'Brien (09:26):
Yes we have.
Lucy Wright (09:26):
In the room where we're recording. So would you like to
just show me how it works?
Nadia O'Brien (09:30):
Of course, yeah. So you've got a small tank that
sits on the bottom and you put your chemical in
the small tank, screw it on, and then just press
a button and then the fine mist will come out.
So if I just screw that on there and then
(09:54):
all you do is press a button and then it
just sprays a fine mist everywhere. And as you can
see, it goes quite far.
Lucy Wright (10:11):
And we also invested in the backpack vacuum cleaners. They're quite
handy aren't they, because they're quite lightweight, but they don't
only clean the floors.
Nadia O'Brien (10:20):
No. So they actually clean the air whilst we are
hoovering as well.
Lucy Wright (10:25):
Should we have a look at one?
Nadia O'Brien (10:26):
Yes, definitely.
Lucy Wright (10:27):
So these are worn literally like a backpack.
Nadia O'Brien (10:31):
Yes, so worn on your back, so there's no lifting
up a Hoover and trying to carry that down the
aisle. They just wear it on their back, looking like a Ghostbuster,
and then yeah, just hoovering. So it's a lot easier.
They're really light as well. And also you can take
off the end as well, so you can just take it
(10:51):
off if you see something on a chair, you can
just hoover it up quickly.
Lucy Wright (10:56):
And they filter the air as well.
Nadia O'Brien (10:57):
They do filter the air.
Lucy Wright (10:59):
Let's have a look.
Nadia O'Brien (10:59):
Okay, excellent.
Lucy Wright (11:13):
So just going back, it's been a strange 18 months,
as we've all talked about, but at the start of
the pandemic, we were still running a service for key
workers. And our staff themselves were key workers. So what
happened there?
Nadia O'Brien (11:29):
So, like you say, obviously we were running a service,
the trains still needed to be cleaned, and during the pandemic
it needed to be cleaned even more so. So the
team they (inaudible) , they came in every single shift
during the night, during the day. And obviously COVID affected
everybody, so it also affected our workforce all the colleagues
(11:50):
downstairs and in their personal lives as well. Even when
we had calls of people going into self isolation or
COVID symptoms, the team then shrunk down a little bit,
but they worked even harder.
Lucy Wright (12:02):
And they completely went above and beyond.
Nadia O'Brien (12:04):
They did.
Lucy Wright (12:04):
We received so many nice tweets as well. So thank you if you're one of
the customers who sends one of those lovely tweets about
our team. They do get passed on and just want
to say huge thank you to you, your team, your
colleagues, and the wider colleagues across the network, because it
has been a really, really difficult job. So thank you
to them and to you.
Nadia O'Brien (12:23):
Thank you very much. Thank you. Everyone has pulled together
and worked as a team throughout the pandemic, which has
just been fantastic. So thank you.
Juliet Maxim (12:33):
In October 2016 Greater Anglia ordered a fleet of 191 new
trains, the biggest whole scale replacement of new trains in
franchising history. Today I'm sitting down with Steve Mitchell, project
manager for the new trains program for part of it,
to discuss how the project is going. So Steve, hello.
Steve Mitchel (12:54):
Hello Juliet.
Juliet Maxim (12:55):
Tell me about your involvement in getting new trains.
Steve Mitchel (12:59):
So my involvement was as the joint project manager for
the Stadler fleet of trains, which is 58 of those
new trains that you've mentioned. That's part of the wider
new trains program, which is about changing every single train
that Greater Anglia was operating.
Juliet Maxim (13:15):
Why did we do it? What was wrong with our old
trains? All the train enthusiasts loved them.
Steve Mitchel (13:20):
They've served us well for a very long time, but
they're dated. I mean, if we look at the date
that some of those trains are built, back in the
mid 70s, and you'd looked at the cars on the road
at the time, if we're all still driving around in
those cars, we'd all want to have modern facilities. And
in fact, the Stadler fleet, which I was fortuitous enough
to be involved in buying, is probably one of the
(13:42):
significant steps forward in that, that the UK's had in
a long time. The height of the train compared to
the platforms has been altered. There's not this automatic big
step up that our old trains used to have. Now
we even have a ramp that comes out to bridge
that gap to make it easier to get on and off.
Juliet Maxim (14:00):
Yeah, they are absolutely brilliant. I love those trains. Look, it was
2016 when we put in the order for those trains.
All the ones that you were responsible for, the Stadlers, are
now in, but we're still waiting for the rest of the
trains to come. They are trickling in. Why on Earth
does it take so long?
Steve Mitchel (14:18):
Again, I'll use another analogy to the car industry, and
actually people might see that they order their car and
perhaps with a bit of a chip shortage at the
moment that still might take three, four months to get
your car. With a train, it's a bit different. That
train is bespoke to the region. So we go through
a design cycle and therefore the train has been effectively
(14:38):
custom adapted and designed for our particular railway. That takes
time, because you've got to get that right.
Juliet Maxim (14:44):
There's a large element of trains which are actually handmade aren't
they? It really isn't like a car rolling off a
production line.
Steve Mitchel (14:51):
Yeah, very much so. The actual chassis itself is what they call a
monocoque chassis. It is aluminum welded together by very skilled
welders that actually build that structure. And then once that
structure's built, the rest of the train is then built
around that chassis. Every wire, every part is hand assembled.
Juliet Maxim (15:12):
Were these trains made?
Steve Mitchel (15:13):
The trains were made all over Europe. The actual assembly
of the trains took place in three main locations, Switzerland,
where Stadler come from, in a place called Bussnang, in
Poland, a place called Siedlce, and in Valencia in Spain. But
the parts of the train that then go into the
assembly come from lots of different countries. The camera system
(15:34):
comes from a company called Petards based in Newcastle. The
pantographs on the roof come from a company called Brecknall
Willis based in Somerset. The door system comes from Austria,
from a company in Austria, and the body shells themselves,
some of them were actually made in Switzerland, and some
of them were made in Hungary in a place called Szolnok.
Juliet Maxim (15:53):
That's incredible. What's so good about these new trains?
Steve Mitchel (15:57):
That's a really hard question. Just to pick one thing.
I mean, they're faster accelerating. They help keep better time
for our passengers. They're lighter. They're aluminum made trains, so
they use less electricity to get from London to Norwich
or London to Stanstead. And our bi- mode trains take
full advantage of when they're underneath the pantograph, the wires,
(16:19):
they can run on electric rather than using diesel. So
they're actually got an environmental benefit as well. Whichever way
we look at it, I think they're a significant improvement
on what we've had before, and also very personally involved,
I'm really proud. Shortly after the new trains came into
service, I took my family to go and see a
new train. We traveled from Norwich to Yarmouth, and as
(16:42):
part of that trip, we saw the train in action.
We saw the air conditioning, the space, the passenger information.
And then at Yarmouth, we saw two wheelchair users self
board onto the train as well, and take advantage of
the low floor. We traveled back to Norwich, and having
experienced that new train, we decided to go for some
fish and chips in Croma. And of course at the
(17:02):
time it was one of those one carriage trains, one
five three, as we call it, and it was packed,
it was hot, it was... Yeah, quite unpleasant, and actually
it was really, really good to realize that the change
was coming and that that will be a thing of
the past and it is now a thing of the past
for our all routes, because we've changed all of those trains.
Juliet Maxim (17:24):
Oh, that's just brilliant. A great story to end on.
So thanks very much, Steve. Thanks for being a guest
on this podcast and thanks for all your hard work
on getting us new trains.
Steve Mitchel (17:35):
Well thank you for inviting me. Thank you Juliet.
Lucy Wright (17:40):
In every episode, we'll dive into some seasonal MythBusters to
get to the bottom of how the weather really impacts train
travel. Autumn's coming up, and what challenges do you think
that's likely to bring?
Juliet Maxim (17:50):
Lucy, traditionally in autumn the railway is pilloried and laughed
at for leaves on the line, but we know leaves
on the line are no joke. Leaves on the line
are the equivalent of black ice on the roads. Leaves
fall off the trees and they get compacted into this
big slippery mess on the rails. And the worst case
(18:12):
scenario, it causes the train wheels to either spin when
the trains are accelerating or lock when the trains are
braking. And we're working really hard with Network Rail, the
people who run the signals, the tracks, the overhead lines,
to really keep on top of autumn and the problems
that it brings. Our trains have this fantastic new technology,
(18:33):
and for all the engineers out there, we've got wheel
slide protection, which is like ABS on cars. And that
stops the train wheels from locking and skidding. And we've
got this thing called... On our new trains, this is,
called dynamic traction control, which stops the train wheels from
spinning when they're accelerating. And do you know what else
(18:56):
we've got on our trains? This is really quite incredible.
We have sand stored on the train, and the drivers,
if they feel that the track's getting a little bit
slippery or they look out the window and they see
that conditions look bad, they can release the sand onto
the track, and that gives them more grip as well. Just
imagine if you had cars with grit on board and
(19:16):
you could release grit whenever you're on black ice. But
we've got it on our trains. Just incredible.
Lucy Wright (19:22):
So that's everything that we are doing on the new
trains, which sounds brilliant, but obviously we don't manage and
maintain the track. So what are our colleagues at Network Rail
doing this autumn?
Juliet Maxim (19:31):
Autumn is a big time of year for Network Rail.
You're quite right. They have these special trains, they're called
railhead treatment trains, and they go around the network blasting
the leaves off the tracks, and then they put this
special gel on the tracks which helps the train wheels
grip the track. It's like gritting again. And they apparently,
at Network Rail, they have all of this intelligence about
(19:54):
the network. They monitor the leaves and the vegetation. They
do chop some of it down, in an environmentally friendly
way, obviously, but they send the railhead treatment trains to
the areas which are worst affected by falling leaves. And
there's lots of new technology coming up, which is being
trialed in other parts of the country, because the railway
(20:16):
as a whole, not just at Greater Anglia, we are
determined to make our railway as punctual as possible because
we know that's what our customers want. And last autumn,
which was the first autumn where we had more new
trains, was just incredible. Punctuality was great. And we are
really hoping to do the same this year. Oh, and
I must remind everybody to check before they travel, because
(20:38):
the other thing we do is we retime six of
our early morning intercity services, they're just a few minutes
earlier and that's just to give ourselves a little bit
of extra leeway to avoid delays. So as ever, check
before you travel.
Lucy Wright (20:53):
And is there anything that you'd recommend passengers doing in East Anglia in autumn?
Juliet Maxim (20:56):
We have got some really great places to go on
our network where you can admire the changing colors of
the leaves on the trees before they fall. Fetford forest,
that's nearby. Do you know Christchurch park in Ipswich. That
is such a beautiful park and they have some magnificent
trees there. Also Cambridge Botanical Gardens. They're beautiful all year
(21:17):
round, but autumn, it is magnificent, isn't it? Red, gold,
yellow. The leaves do look wonderful. I love this time
of year. Okay, Lucy, thanks for the grilling. It's your
to turn next time.
Lucy Wright (21:27):
It certainly is. In our next episode, we'll be talking about
winter weather. So if you've got any questions about snow,
winter travel, anything like that, please do get in touch.
You can send us a tweet @ GreaterAngliaPR, and we'll be
answering some of your questions about winter weather and snow
in our next episode. Just a reminder that the autumn
time table is now underway, so please do check before
you travel. Some of the earlier inter city services are
(21:50):
slightly re- timed. We're now joined by Ken Strong, Greater
Anglia's resident fares guru. Hi Ken. Thanks for coming on
our podcast.
Ken Strong (22:00):
Hi Lucy. Thanks very much for inviting me.
Lucy Wright (22:02):
Ken, could you just describe your role to us please?
Ken Strong (22:05):
Well, I'm basically the pricing analyst and I work to
the actual pricing manager, but I do the day to
day nitty gritty of fares. And I also sort out
reservations and quota management for the cheap advanced fares.
Lucy Wright (22:22):
I think it's important just to say now that Ken doesn't
decide every single fare in Greater Anglia. A lot of
fares are regulated by the government. We don't set all
of our fares. So if you're thinking, " Why does my
fare cost this?" It's not Ken's fault. Ken doesn't make
all those decision. So Ken, today we are going to
be talking about advanced fares. Can you just explain what
(22:43):
these are to anyone who doesn't know?
Ken Strong (22:45):
Well, advanced fares are by their name, you have to
book them in advance and they are specific to a
particular train. You have to travel on the train that
you're booked on, but that is why they are cheaper
by and large than tickets that you might buy on
the day that are more flexible.
Lucy Wright (23:00):
So it's a good value fare, quite cheap comparatively, and valid
for a specific train. So how far in advance can
people book these cheaper fares?
Ken Strong (23:09):
Normally the booking horizon as we call it is 12 weeks
before departure of the train. But currently because of various
COVID timetable amendments that we've been putting in, and the timetable's
been changing, it's about six weeks. We're hoping to extend
that over the next year or so back up to
the 12 weeks. But basically as soon as they become
available. The sooner you book, the cheaper you'll get a ticket.
Lucy Wright (23:30):
And what type of journeys can people get an advanced
fare for, because it's not just the longer journeys that
we run. It's not just Norwich to London, is it?
Ken Strong (23:38):
It's not just Norwich to London. You can get a
shorter journey as Colchester to London, and on our West
Anglia route, you can get from (inaudible) and (inaudible)
to various places between Cambridge and London. And you
can also put them to non- London places. You don't
have to be going to, or from London. You can
buy them from Colchester, Great Yarmouth, or you can buy
them indeed across the country to wherever you're going off
(24:01):
the GA network.
Lucy Wright (24:02):
What about the best times to travel? Are there quieter
times, any time of day that people might be able
to get a slightly cheaper ticket?
Ken Strong (24:09):
Mid morning, late morning, early afternoon. Trains are quite quiet,
and we can put on quite a few cheap tickets
to fill up the train. And then of course, as
the afternoon goes on, leaving London in particular, we reduce
the numbers that are available. Going towards London in the
afternoon isn't the problem, because the trains are quiet. We
keep them on there. And then in the evenings, again,
they become available.
Lucy Wright (24:29):
So we know that the cheapest way to travel is
to buy tickets in advance. How can people sign up
for alerts or know when the cheapest fares are available?
Ken Strong (24:38):
Well on the GA website, you can sign up to
advanced ticket alerts where the cheap fares, as soon as
they're released, you will get an email to advise you
that the fairs for the particular day that you want
to travel have been released, and then you can jump
in and get them before anybody else does.
Lucy Wright (24:54):
Brilliant. And if somebody does forget or it slips their
mind at all, how far in advance can people book? I
mean, is there any benefit in just booking in advance
three days before travel, for example?
Ken Strong (25:05):
Oh, absolutely, especially on lightly loaded trains where the number
of tickets sold is not generally that high, there will
still be... Maybe not the very cheapest level, but there
will still be fairly cheap fares available, and it'll still
work out a lot cheaper than buying on the day tickets.
One bit of advice I do have is if you
are making a return journey, put in both ways at
(25:27):
the one time when you're doing a search, and then
if the on the day return ticket is cheaper, it
will show that on your results and you can buy
the off peak return, which isn't specific to a particular train.
Most of the time advance will still be cheaper, but
there are some cases, especially on slightly busier trains mid-
morning or late- ish afternoon where the off peak ticket
may work out cheaper. So that's a tip that you
can bear in mind.
Juliet Maxim (25:50):
It's time now for greener Anglia, where we discuss the
steps we are taking to create a way of traveling
that's greener and more sustainable. I'm joined today by Steph
Evans, our environment and energy manager. Hi Steph. We often
say that rail travel is the most sustainable form of
transport after walking and cycling. Why is that?
Steph Evans (26:10):
So the new trains also play a really key part of it,
mainly because they've got a lot of features that are
beneficial to the environment. So to give you a few
examples, they're aerodynamic in their design, so that can help us
to reduce energy in terms of how much energy they're
using compared to the old ones. They've also got regenerative
braking on them, which means that they harness energy as
(26:30):
they brake, and previously that would've been wasted. They've also
got energy meters on them, which means that we can
then look to see trends, if certain trends are using
more energy, if routes are using more energy, and will
help us to make further reductions overall. We've also got
a bi- mode train, and that means it has two
power modes, diesel and electrics, if there are overhead line available,
(26:51):
that can be utilized. To give you an example, so
if you're traveling from Norwich to Cambridge, as you get
to (inaudible) , the pantograph can be raised and it means
it can then utilize the power from the overhead lines and use
electricity rather than diesel. Previously that whole route would've been
diesel usage.
Juliet Maxim (27:06):
That sounds really good. So is it just about the
new trains then? Is that why we're greener?
Steph Evans (27:12):
No. So there's also lots of work being done with regards to
station building. There's been a big program of LED installations
for the lights to help reduce electricity consumption from those.
I've also been installing a wireless energy management systems at over
30 stations, and these are basically a network of temperature
sensors that help to regulate the temperatures in the station
buildings, and that can then help to reduce energy consumption. And we've
(27:34):
also installed water fountains at 12 stations, which means that
passengers have the opportunity to fill up their water bottle,
and that can help to reduce plastic waste, which is
hugely beneficial. And I think that the last calculation we did, over 400,
000 bottles had been refilled, which means effectively we've prevented
that amount of waste overall.
Juliet Maxim (27:53):
Wow, that's quite something isn't it. Also, we've installed lots
of cycle spaces, haven't we, at stations. So I suppose
we are encouraging people to come to the station by
another sustainable form of transport.
Steph Evans (28:05):
Yeah, and I suppose that's the key thing as well. We don't want to just focus
on traveling by train. It's also how do people get to
the train station and want to make sure there's options
out there to travel to the station sustainably as well?
Juliet Maxim (28:17):
What about passengers? How are we helping them to do
their bit?
Steph Evans (28:20):
We've got a green Anglia page on the website and
this can help passengers to decide whether their journey is
greener by going by trains. There's a carbon calculator on
there which can help passengers to assess options.
Juliet Maxim (28:32):
Yeah, good point. Good point. Because I think that greener
Anglia hub also says how many cars are taken off
the road if everybody travels on one of our intercity
trains, for instance, and it's remarkable numbers. How did you
know that this was the right role for you? You're
doing so much to make Greater Anglia greener. Have you
(28:53):
always been interested in green and sustainable issues?
Steph Evans (28:57):
So I was always interested in geography at school and
I've always liked the outdoors and being outdoors, so I
suppose I really do genuinely care about the environment. Although it
is my job, it's something that I do as well as
a hobby. It's just, I suppose, my personal life is
what I do, and I think if everyone does their
own little bit, then we can all help to make
a difference.
Lucy Wright (29:19):
That's it from us for this episode. We hope you've
enjoyed listening and learned something new about Greater Anglia.
Juliet Maxim (29:23):
And as you might be realizing, the world of train
travel is huge, and there's always more to discover.
Lucy Wright (29:29):
Life on Rails releases quarterly with the change of seasons,
so be sure to check back in December for episode two.
Juliet Maxim (29:35):
In the meantime though, follow or subscribe to the podcast
for free so you never miss an episode. And visit
our website at www. greateranglia. co. uk/ podcast for more information.
Lucy Wright (29:48):
Thanks for joining us. Bye.
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