Greater Anglia is the best passenger train operator in the country this year after scooping the top prize at the National Rail Awards.

The company was named Passenger Operator of the year after bringing in a fleet of new trains aimed at transforming travel on all its routes - Intercity, Suburban and Local services.

Judges praised the company’s new trains programme - with every train on the Greater Anglia network currently being replaced with brand new ones.

They also noted its recent excellent punctuality and reliability results, good safety performance, ongoing station investment, its customer-focused service and upgrades and its community rail and station adoption.

Greater Anglia’s new trains are now in service on every single route in its network, with many routes now operated exclusively by new trains.

The new trains are longer, have more seats, fast free Wi-Fi, air conditioning, an accessible toilet on every train, passenger information screens and dedicated cycle spaces.

During 2021 Greater Anglia saw record-breaking punctuality across all of its routes – recording its best ever annual average punctuality of 94.81 per cent, up from 92.97% in 2020. The company then achieved a new record annual punctuality figure of 95.03% in February 2022.

Norwich Evening News: The Greater Anglia team received the award from TV presenter Steph McGovern.The Greater Anglia team received the award from TV presenter Steph McGovern. (Image: Greater Anglia)

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia’s managing director, said: "To be named Passenger Operator of the Year is a tremendous accolade and a credit to the hard work and determination of everyone in our team, across the whole of Greater Anglia, to make our service much better for our customers.

"I’m very proud of what we have achieved in terms of continuing the roll out of our high-quality new trains and the step change in performance that has seen our punctuality results improve significantly and I would like to thank the entire team for their continued customer-focused approach and commitment to continually improving the rail service in East Anglia.”

In previous yearsGreater Anglia has also won the Train Operator of the Year award in 2013, 2020 and 2021. Meanwhile Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich stations have all been named large station of the year at the National Rail Awards within the last 5 years and Cambridge was highly commended again this year.