GREATER Anglia is celebrating Pride Month 2025 and is inviting those heading to parades and festivals across East Anglia and London to let the train take the strain.

The operator, which runs trains from London to Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk, has stations close to where a number of the key events will be held, enabling everyone to celebrate across the region.

These include:

Suffolk Pride Fringe Festival – Saturday 31 May to Sunday 29 June
Hertford Pride – Saturday 14 June
Cambridge Pride – Saturday 14 June
Essex Pride in Chelmsford – Saturday 21 June
Clacton Pride – Saturday 28 June
London Pride – Saturday 5 July
Lowestoft Pride – Saturday 12 July
Southend – Saturday 12 July
Norwich – Saturday 26 July
Bishop’s Stortford – Friday 25 July
Ely – Saturday 9 August
Colchester – Saturday 16 August
Great Yarmouth – Saturday 6 September

Greater Anglia passengers will be able to take advantage of weekend rail travel free of disruptive engineering works on the main line between Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and London Liverpool Street this summer.

Passengers using the Great Eastern Main Line between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, and London Liverpool Street will benefit from normal Saturday and Sunday frequencies and journey times, while major works on the main line are paused on this route by Network Rail over the summer.

Weekends are clear of any significant service alterations up to and including the weekend of 6/7 September.

However, anyone travelling to London Pride on 5 July should be aware that there are no trains between Norwich and Ely all day. The 23.18 London Liverpool Street to Clacton service will terminate at Colchester and the 23.30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich service will terminate at Ipswich. Both of these journeys will be completed by a rail replacement bus service.

On the day of Colchester Pride, 16 August, the 22.56 Colchester to Walton-on-the-Naze train will be diverted to Clacton with a bus back to Walton, while the 23.18 London Liverpool Street to Clacton train will terminate at Colchester, with the 23.30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich train terminating at Ipswich, with rail replacement buses for the final parts of the journeys.

Further information is available on the Greater Anglia website.

Over the course of June, Greater Anglia staff will proudly hang flags and bunting at a variety of stations and locations across the network, as part of this year’s celebration.

In addition to getting people across the East of England for Pride events throughout the summer, Greater Anglia will itself be the main sponsor of Norwich Pride, on 26 July.

In 2023 and 2024, the train company also unveiled train Pride liveries on a commuter and regional train. The idea was sparked by members of its Affinity colleague network group, which acts as a support community around the topic of sexuality and ensures the company is as inclusive as possible.

Lee Ivor Smith, Head of Customer Service South and Executive Sponsor of Affinity group, said:

“It is lovely to travel around our network and see the Pride flags and bunting up to celebrate acceptance and continue to bring communities together throughout June and in general as Pride events take place in the towns and cities across our network.

“We hope it helps spread the message the railway is here for everyone and that everyone has fun on their way to the parades and celebrations.”

Martin Moran, Greater Anglia’s Commercial and Customer Services Director, said:

“Our staff always are passionate around events and festivals and Pride is no exception.

“We are really looking forward to welcoming our customers on board, transporting them to and from the many Pride parades, festivals, and celebrations taking place across our network this summer.”

Looking more widely, Greater Anglia offers a range of Advance fares that offer customers savings of between 60% and 70% on the standard walk-up prices, plus 2FOR1 on entry to many top attractions in London and East Anglia. The London Evening / Night Out fare also allows you to have a cheap journey to and from the capital.

The train operator also has a range of great value fares which are available all year round, including Duo, for two people travelling together, GroupSave for people travelling in a group of three or more and a Club 50 discount for those aged 50 and over.

For the best value fares, passengers should book in advance and the earlier customers book, the more they can save.

For more information on these and other offers visit www.greateranglia.co.uk/offers/.

For more information on ticket fares and timetables visit www.greateranglia.co.uk.