Greater Anglia (GA) has been named Rail Operator of the Year at the National Transport Awards 2025.
Judges said: “Greater Anglia impressed the judges with record-breaking performance and customer satisfaction, underpinned by the introduction of a brand-new fleet across its network. The operator has delivered improved punctuality, cleaner, more reliable services, and a consistently strong passenger experience. This transformation demonstrates what can be achieved through investment, innovation, and a real focus on customers.”
It means GA is now the current holder of the “Operator of the Year” awards at the National Transport Awards, the National Rail Awards, the Spotlight Rail Awards, and the Rail Business Awards.
Greater Anglia has been the most punctual operator in the UK since April 2023 with annual performance currently at 93.7% using both the long-standing public performance measure (which measures arrival at destination within 5 minutes) and 92.8% using the more demanding “Time to 3” metric (which measures arrivals of every train at every station it serves). Its best performing routes are even achieving annual performance of between 96.0% and 98.5%.
The company has transformed travel across its network, replacing its entire fleet, with brand new, state of the art, more comfortable trains, with Wi-Fi, plug points, USB points, air conditioning and improved accessibility. They also offer more seats, provide better reliability and service resilience, and have enabled additional services and quicker journey times to be introduced across its network – plus new, direct services, such as from Norwich to Stansted Airport.
Over the last year, it has been making further improvements with ongoing station upgrades, adjusting timetables in line with increasing passenger demand, installing tables on its Stansted Express trains, appointing a Partnerships Manager to help enhance integrated transport links and delivering a positive impact from its new Customer and Community Improvement Fund – supporting small scale projects, that benefit the railway and the local community, right across the GA network. It has also been making local improvements driven by its “We’re All Ears” customer feedback scheme, which encourages passengers to highlight specific areas where other initiatives can help provide a better service.
Martin Beable, Managing Director, Greater Anglia said:
“Everyone at Greater Anglia is really proud to have received the Rail Operator of the Year award at the National Transport Awards. Following on from similar accolades at the National Rail Awards, the Spotlight Rail Awards, and the Rail Business Awards, all in the last nine months, it’s another valuable independent endorsement of the progress we have made in raising service standards in recent years. All across our company, colleagues are passionate about doing their best for the customers and communities we serve. With excellent performance, a commitment to customer service, high quality new trains, and effective partnerships with other rail industry organisations and wider stakeholders, we’re fully focused on maintaining our high standards.
“Once again, I’d like to thank colleagues from across Greater Anglia for their hard work and commitment, and also express our gratitude to key partners, such as Network Rail, the Department for Transport, Stadler, Alstom, our community rail partnerships, our station adopters, other rail industry organisations and regional stakeholders, who all play a key role in helping us provide a high-quality service. We will continue to work to keep up our high standards and keep on improving – always focused on delivering the best train service we can for customers, communities, and wider stakeholders across our region.”
In the last year, as well as winning this latest “Rail Operator of the Year” award at the National Transport Awards”, the “Passenger Operator of the Year” award at the National Rail Awards, the “Operator of the Year” award at the Spotlight Rail Awards, and the “Train Operator of the Year” award at the Rail Business Awards, Greater Anglia has received three Golden Whistles awards (for the third year running) for its high standards of punctuality and reliability, and a Golden Spanner award for the excellent performance of its bi-mode trains.
