I curently live in Woodford, on the eastern edge of London, UK and am
seriously considering further east of London, and a large
consideration will be the reliability of mainline train
routes/services into
Liverpool Street/ Fenchurch Street.

Is there any published information of relative reliability and
frequency of train services going into these two stations?

If you could also give me an analysis of where the 'express'/limited
stop routes are that would be good also

Ta!

---

Clarification of Question by payload-ga on 26 Sep 2003 01:34 PDT

typo:

'I am seriously considering MOVING further east of London'

Dear payload-ga 

I live in Essex and have commuted to London, so I know the area and
travel options to which you are referring. I attempted to summarise
the main services into these stations but the train operators have
various timetables and routes depending on the time of day and demand.
However, both companies provide their timetables on line and they are
very clear.
 
First the travel companies.

Trains into Fenchurch Street are by c2c. c2c operates commuter
services between London Fenchurch Street, Tilbury, Southend on Sea and
Shoeburyness. Their web site is http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/

They appear to have made recent a investment in new rolling stock.
"All services will be operated using 74 new Electrostar trains by
2002, giving c2c the most modern fleet in the country.".....
"We are investing around £400m in new trains and station
facilities..."
I have traveled recently on this line and can confirm that their
trains are new.

Map of routes 
http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/destin/destin_1a.htm
Click on the station name and it will provide you with a most helpful
local map, transport links, facilities and car parking prices (most
important if you are calculating the full cost of commuting).

Timetables
http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/live/live_1a3.htm

Main commuting routes:
Shoeburyness / Southend with intermediate stations to Pitsea. With
further stops at Basildon and Upminster (link to underground), Barking
(underground) then to London. Little over 1 hour peak time.

Stanford–le–Hope through Dagenham then Barking (underground
interchange) to London 40 mins

Basildon, Laindon, West Horndon, then Upminster (underground) Barking
(underground) then to London 40 mins


They were recently presented with a travel award by HSBC.
"With the aid of a £350 million investment programme, c2c is the first
train operator to bring in a totally new fleet, consigning its
slam-door trains to history in favour of state-of-art trains designed
with maximum passenger comfort in mind. A further £50 million has been
spent refurbishing stations, upgrading information systems, and
introducing CCTV at all stations as part of a comprehensive package of
safety improvements. c2c is the only train operator to be accredited
with 'Secure Station' status at all its stations."
http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/news/news_1a3n.htm



First Great Eastern operates out of Liverpool Street. 
One can travel from from Clacton, Colchester, Southend, Southminster
through Chelmsford, Wickford, Shenfield, Romford and Stratford
(underground link) to London. I was unsure as too how far out you
intend to move, also there are many permutations involved depending on
the route and whether you wish to catch a stopping train or a faster
service. From own experience an ‘express station’ quite often involves
a large increase in the train fare.
This is the link to the overall route map.
http://www.ger.co.uk/images/network_large.jpg


Southminster/Southend to London – varying stops up to Shenfield then
straight to Liverpool Street 1 hour

Ipswich / Clacton / Braintree to London – various permutations, but
most stop at Colchester, Witham and Chelmsford. Various times
depending on the train caught.

Shenfield to London. Direct train to Liverpool street 26 mins.
Stopping 41 mins. During peak time some start from Gidea Park. Also
some are non-stopping after Ilford until Stratford.

Startford is a very useful station for easy connection to the Central
Line and the Jubilee Line.

This is the link to the various route maps and timetables. All are
well presented. Unfortunately there is no guide to the individual
stations and facilities available
http://www.ger.co.uk/timetable_and_routes.asp

Current punctuality figures for the company
http://www.ger.co.uk/performance.asp

Article on their punctuality
http://www.ger.co.uk/newsarticle_53.asp


The Strategic Rail Authority issues statistics on railway company
performances
The National Rail Trends report for April to June 2003.
http://www.sra.gov.uk/news/20030919_national_rail_trends.tt2

c2c are currently varying between 86% and 87%, and First Great Eastern
between 84% and 90%.

Trains on time for the period 2002 – 2003  as a  % (full details of
the periods on the web page).
c2c All Day                  87.3 88.1 86.1 86.3
First Great Eastern All Day  92.1 90.6 88.7 88.4

c2c    Peak                    87.2 87.2 85.5 85.5
First Great Eastern  Peak      90.7 87.0 85.6 84.7


There is a consumer site which discusses c2c. It also has feedback and
comments by passengers.
c2c's Punctuality and Reliability statistics for the last 2 years
http://www.consumerdeals.co.uk/c2c.html

Discussion and comments page. 
http://www.consumerdeals.co.uk/c2cbook.html


I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you and good luck with your plans.
answerfinder

Search strategy
Company web sites and the below search terms
"first great eastern" punctuality
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22first+great+eastern%22+punctuality
c2c punctuality
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=c2c+punctuality

Great stuff, just what I wanted. Thanks!