Abellio Greater Anglia

As we all know national express east anglia are giveing up their franchise. it has been   awarded to Abellio
and the franchise will be called Abellio Greater Anglia .The duration of the contract is 29 months but abellio have some big plans to come such as 
•A new cycle hire scheme at Norwich station and cycle storage points at 15 stations, including space for 500 bicycles at Chelmsford.

•Up to 300 new car parking spaces, plus a further 300 at Shenfield and Wickford stations, subject to planning approval.

•Cleaning and painting of 141 stations across the franchise.

•Other improvements to be made by the new operator will include updates to existing ticket machines to make them more user-friendly, the installation of 28 new ticket machines at stations across the network and the introduction of online season ticketing.

•Oyster pay-as-you-go will be extended to cover the following
stations: Theobalds Grove, Waltham Cross, Cheshunt, Brentwood, Shenfield, Broxbourne, Rye House, St Margarets, Ware and Hertford East.

•Car drivers will see improvements with the provision of a total of 300 new car parking spaces at specific stations (subject to planning approvals). Meanwhile 300 new parking spaces will be provided at Shenfield and Wickford stations (subject to planning approvals) while 100 pay and display machines in station car parks will be replaced.
The new operator will also be required to install electrical car points at 20 stations.

•The new operator will also run a six month trial of a scheduled bus service between Saffron Walden and Audley End station, the introduction of a PlusCab service that will allow customers to book a taxi from 45 stations with pre-agreed fares based on a zonal pricing structureand a complimentary refreshments service for first class passengers on the London to Norwich and Stansted Express services.

•Information desks will be built at Cambridge, Norwich and Stansted Airport, and six new kiosks will be built at Bishops Stortford, Chelmsford, Colchester (two), Ipswich and Stratford. A new information desk will also be installed at Liverpool Street Station.

•Two new customer panels will be established and the new operator will also recruit a team of multi-lingual volunteers to provide information to customers in or around affected stations during the Olympics and Paralympics. Meanwhile a Smartphone App specifically for the Olympics will be developed which will provide real-time service information and directions to stations.


•A total of 141 stations will be refreshed and the whole the train fleet will be deep cleaned (except the class 379s), including all surfaces and floor coverings, toilets and lighting. In addition the interior of the class 321 units will be refreshed and CCTV will be fitted to 68 class 321 vehicles.    
  

The franchise starts in feb 2012  

 this will be their thired   UK rail franchise as they already have the successful  Merseyrail and Northern Rail businesses. i wish them all the best with the franchise