Five years ago, in July 2019, the first of Greater Anglia's all-new fleet of trains was introduced amid promises of how they would transform the region's passenger rail services.
Three basic types were introduced - Intercity trains for the Norwich-Ipswich-London route with a few variants for the Stansted Express service, new "bimode" electro-diesel units for rural services and new suburban electric units for commuter services.
The Intercity and Bimode trains were built in Switzerland by Stadler - a relatively new company to the British railway market while the commuter trains were built by Bombardier (now Alstom) at its Derby factory.
The first train to be introduced in July 2019 was a bimode on the Norwich to Lowestoft line. It was more comfortable and faster than the 1980s-built units it replaced and was soon followed by more on other rural lines.
The introduction of these high-tech trains which could run on electric power under wires (between Ipswich and Stowmarket and Ely-Stansted Airport) or with power from diesel engine in the middle didn't go without a hitch.
There were software problems during the autumn and into the first weeks of 2020 which led to trains being cancelled at short notice.
An incident on a level crossing near Wroxham in Norfolk where the gates opened to traffic as the train approached forced a major safety review. The trains were not found to be the cause of the incident - but during the investigation services were affected.
The first Intercity train was run in January 2020 - and the introduction of those trains seemed to go much smoother.
The first pandemic lockdown hit in March 2020 and rail travel fell off cliff. Passenger revenue fell and rail companies relied on government support to keep trains running for essential workers.
What that did, however, was allow Greater Anglia's new trains to get thousands of miles on the clock and show they could be reliable.
By the time passengers - particularly leisure passengers - started returning to the trains in 2021 most of the problems had been ironed out and Greater Anglia began building a reputation as one of the most reliable train operators.
It has been the most reliable and punctual mainland rail operator three years running - and has won a number of industry awards for its new trains.
The success of the new trains was celebrated at Lowestoft station this week - with Greater Anglia staff being joined by officials from Stadler, who built the trains and maintain them at Norwich's Crown Point depot, and Rock Rail which actually owns the trains.
Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles is delighted by the impact the new trains have had.
He said: "Sometimes when you look at the live charts on the wall you see there are no unforeseen incidents and everything is just running as planned everywhere - that happens quite a bit and that is just what you want to see."
Even if there are problems, the flexibility of the new trains allows them to be overcome quickly.
On Monday morning there were delays after livestock had got on the track between Norwich and Great Yarmouth - but the extra speed and acceleration of the new trains meant Greater Anglia was soon able to return to its normal timetable.
Mr Burles added: “Five years on from our first bi-mode train entering passenger service, train services in East Anglia have been successfully and positively transformed.
"Passengers and stakeholders alike have welcomed the step change in service quality and customer numbers are rising as a result"
The new suburban trains started operations in 2021 and by the end of last year all the older trains had left the Greater Anglia region.
But Mr Burles was keen to emphasise this is not the end of the story for the new trains: "We are still looking at ways to improve, to speed services and bring in more services.
"Some of those will require investment from partners - but we're also looking at small gains we can make within the resources we already have."
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