Chris Mole MP today (Monday, June 30th 2008) travelled along the Ipswich to London railway line in the cab of a National Express East Anglia train to investigate the challenges faced by Ipswich commuters.

Chris, who has on the 10:40am service from Ipswich to London Liverpool Street, was accompanied by Andrew Goodrum (Mainline Business Manager) and Bob Broadhead (Train Crew and Operations Manager). The journey presented an opportunity to investigate the current condition of the line, represent constituents' concerns about maintenance of the route, and learn of new opportunities for improvements to services in the future.

Discussions centred on the current challenges which face that route, including Network Rail's ongoing replacement of overhead lines. Chris also learnt of encouraging developments concerning additional capacity that would directly benefit Ipswich based commuters, as National Express revealed that they are submitting a proposal to Government that could bring an additional 100 plus vehicles on to the network.

Chris said:

"This was a good opportunity to see the issues that National Express face for providing a regular and reliable service on the train line between Ipswich and London Liverpool Street.

"I was sorry to see that there are more speed restrictions in place than desirable and would urge Network Rail to continue to invest in necessary and routine maintenance to clear these up as quickly as possible.

"Travelling in the cab of the train gave me a 'birds-eye' view of the age of some of the overhead power lines - some of which are over 60 years old - and I would be keen for Network Rail to accelerate their programme of replacing these which continue to be the source of faults in extreme weather conditions.

"I was encouraged to hear that National Express are submitting a proposal to Government to hugely increase capacity and reduce overcrowding on this route during peak periods. I know this step would be hugely popular with my constituents."