NEAR-MISS AT CROSSING PROMPTS ALERT
THE ROLLOUT of Greater Anglia’s new Stadler Flirt bi-mode trains has been affected by a problem with track circuits.
The issue arose on 5 December when a Class 755 reportedly arrived in Norwich without being detected by track circuits from Trowse swing bridge. As a response the entire ‘755’ fleet was withdrawn the following day, and with the majority of GA’s legacy DMUs having moved to other operators there has been a major impact on service levels on GA’s rural routes. As Modern Railways went to press several of these routes were still operating a reduced service, with some services withdrawn altogether and others seeing their frequency halved. Ticket acceptance was variously arranged with other operators or on local buses.
Commentators have noted that the ‘755s’ are the only train type to have been affected by the problems, with other services into Norwich continuing to operate as normal, including East Midlands Railway’s DMUs and GA’s own loco-hauled sets and legacy DMUs.
In a statement on 9 December, Mark Budden, Network Rail Anglia Route Director, and Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia Managing Director, said: ‘We are extremely sorry for the continued disruption to pa…
