PASSENGERS travelling across the Greater Anglia network can help themselves to free water after the train operator installed a further 11 water fountains, as part of a drive to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles.

Water dispensing machines have now been installed at Broxbourne, Cambridge North, Cheshunt, Great Yarmouth, Harlow Town, Hertford East, Lowestoft, Marks Tey, Rochford and Waltham Cross, along with an additional one at Colchester.

Greater Anglia has invested more than £65,000 in this project which increase the number of stations on its network with water fountains to 22, with the facility already in place at Billericay, Bishops Stortford, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ely, Ipswich, Norwich, Tottenham Hale, Shenfield, South Woodham Ferrers, Wickford and Witham. Network Rail have also installed one at London Liverpool Street.

Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia’s Asset Management Director, said: “We are doing all we can to help the environment and we hope the new water fountains will help to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill and oceans from single-use bottles.

“We have water fountains at several other stations on our network and we know they are popular with customers.

“We care about the environment, so we are delivering a number of projects to improve our energy-efficiency and operate in a more sustainable manner – from installing LED lighting, to recycling food waste, to providing free electric car charging points.”

In 2019, Greater Anglia became one of the first train operators in England to offer free water to passengers after installing water fountains at railway stations as part of a drive to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles.

So far more than half a million bottles have been refilled across the Greater Anglia network.