Please follow Government advice

Please wear a face covering on busy stations and busy trains. Government advice is that people are expected and recommended to wear a face covering (unless exempt) in crowded places. We are asking customers to follow that advice when travelling by train. Face coverings are there to protect others, not just you, so please be considerate of other passengers and rail staff.

It is still mandatory to wear a face covering on Transport for London managed services (including London Overground and TfL Rail which are part of the National Rail network) unless you are exempt.

The usual staffed stations continue to have colleagues present and will be available to help with any questions and concerns you have. You will find them in our ticket offices, on platforms as well as customer service offices where available. Help points are also available at non staffed stations'.

Cleaning and hygiene

• Continuing to step up cleaning and sanitisation of our trains and stations, paying particular attention to high touch areas such as push buttons, door handles and grab rails. 
• We've invested in cleaning equipment - Fogging guns and vacuum backpacks.
• Keeping soap and water topped up in our toilets on stations and trains.
• Keeping toilets open wherever possible.
• Discouraging the use of cash when buying tickets. We can still accept cash if you have no other means of payment.
• Turnaround cleaning is carried out at terminus stations throughout the day on train toilets and train interiors. This includes high touch point areas such as grab rails and washroom surfaces. Touchpoints are additionally sanitised overnight.
• Fogging is delivered to in-service trains at a frequency of 42 days following an interior heavy clean. Reactive fogging is also undertaken where a suspected case of COVID-19 has been reported. Testing is also undertaken for COVID.

Hand sanitisers are available at all staffed stations, but we encourage you to always carry your own.

Before you travel

• Do not travel if you have any COVID-19 symptoms, self-isolating as a result of coronavirus symptoms, sharing a household or support bubble with somebody with symptoms or if you’re clinically extremely vulnerable and cannot shield during your journey and have been advised by the NHS test and trace service that you should self-isolate. Please refer to the NHS website for more information.
• Buy your ticket online or on your phone before you get to the station preferably, so that you minimise your time at the station.
• Although we encourage you to buy your ticket in advance, you do not need a seat reservation. Please remember to socially distance when choosing a seat whilst on the train and not sit facing another person.
• We’re providing details of the busiest trains, so please check this information using our less busy trains tool.

When Travelling

• Follow all Government advice and NHS hygiene guidance
  • Wash your hands
  • Cough or sneeze into your elbow or tissue -and throw tissues in the bin.
  • There are liquid soap dispensers available at our stations and on-train toilets and hand sanitisers available at all of our stations which have a ticket office. Please bring your own hand sanitiser if it isn't available at your station.
• Comply with our queueing and one-way systems.
• If you need to buy a ticket at the station, please use contactless payment.
• Please put all rubbish in the bins so that our cleaners can spend more time cleaning than litter-picking. If you're wearing a face mask or gloves, please don't discard them on the train or at our stations.
• Listen to our staff, they're trying to keep us all safe.
• Stand back and let people off the train before you board. Use all available doors and move down the train. Please get on and off the train as quickly as you can.
• Don't congregate at the front of the train on the approach to Liverpool Street.
• Only one person in a lift at a time please.

Other important information

• If the last train is full and you are unable to board it, or train service disruption causes you to miss a scheduled connection for the last train, we will seek to provide replacement transport to get you to your destination station. Please contact a member of station staff or use the customer information contact facility available at the station (usually via the ticket vending machine) to seek assistance.

• Train services to and from Stansted to London Liverpool Street operate half hourly Monday to Sunday, with 3 trains an hour at certain times of the day Monday to Friday. You can find out more with our Journey Planner.
• All of our ticket offices are open and normal ticket office hours apply.

• Our ticket refund policy changed on 4 January 2021.  View current policy.

To make sure that our staff can give you the best service and notify you if there is anything that will affect your journey we recommend booking assistance by 10pm the day before you wish travel, or 2 hours before your journey for the same day travel.  Sometimes it may not be possible to book in advance, in which case assistance will be available from station staff. 

• For information and booking use the usual methods.
• Tel: 0800 028 2878 (free of charge from landlines)
• Text type: 18001 0800 028 2878.
• From mobile: 0345 600 7245
• Email: assistedtravel@greateranglia.co.uk
• Alternatively, you can submit a request online.

We recognise that travelling during COVID-19 is stressful, particularly for disable people who may be worried about the availability of assistance. We want to reassure you that we're still operating passenger assistance but it may be a little bit different from pre-pandemic times to keep you and our colleagues safe. Following guidance below will help keep us all safe and you moving.

• Staff and customers are required to wear a face covering unless medically exempt.
• If you need to lip read, please indicate to the member of staff who will step back and safely remove their face covering.
• Staff will maintain a safe social distance until required to provide assistance, please respect that. We recognise that some disabilities such as visual impairment makes social distancing very difficult.
• If staff need to make contact with you, your luggage or mobility device they will sanitise their hands prior to contact and afterwards.
• Please ensure you've sanitised your hands if you need to make contact with a member of staff i.e. you're being guided.
• If you need to use a station wheelchair, we will sanitise it prior to use and ask you to face forwards whilst we push it.
• If a member of staff is laying a ramp, please provide them with the space to do so safely.
• If you have any questions about your journey, please contact our assisted travel team for advice.
• If your journey is for travel beyond the Stansted Express services on other operators’ services, please book 24 hours before travelling so we can meet their notice period requirements.

We also can provide turn up and go assistance to those who haven’t pre-booked.