Witham MP welcomes return of more Stansted Express services
Witham MP, Priti Patel has welcomed the news that Greater Anglia is to return to an all day, four trains per hour Stansted Express service, seven days a week from December 2023 after campaigning on this issue.
The service will be restored to its pre pandemic standard which is welcome news to holiday makers and commuters. The train timetables across the country have been reduced temporarily in response to the low uptake of commuters during the pandemic. It was on this basis that the frequency on the Stansted Express was halved to only 2tph, or a train every half hour. Passengers numbers have increased and recovered to more than 90% of 2019 levels and it’s important that service providers match this new level of demand with high quality, and frequent public transport services to London Stansted.
Priti has raised this important issue in 2022 with the Transport Secretary and to Greater Anglia to restore the operation of 4tph on behalf of Stansted Airport who have been working tirelessly to restore this service to meet the new demands of their customers.
Priti said “This is a positive step forward which my constituents and I have been calling for since the end of the pandemic restrictions. After making representations to both Greater Anglia and the Department for Transport I am pleased that the four trains per hour service will be restored. This will allow passengers, commuters, local communities, staff and businesses to have greater certainty and flexibility when travelling to and from Stansted Airport.
This will also be a great boost to the travel and tourism industry which was deeply affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. I will continue to work with all stakeholders so that my constituents have access to a range of high quality transport systems.”