In 1986, British Rail extended the electrification of the West Anglia Main Line from Bishop's Stortford to Cambridge. Included in this plan was the construction of a new branch line—diverging from a triangular junction at Stansted Mountfitchet—to serve, which in 1991 had just completed a massive expansion and was to be used for scheduled aviation passenger service for the first time. Therefore, BR decided to build a dedicated fleet of units to work the new Stansted Express service, designated as Class 322, with the service operated by the Network SouthEast sector. Upon the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, the Stansted Express was part of West Anglia Great Northern franchise until the tender was reorganised in 2004, at which time it became part of the Greater Anglia franchise operated by one Railway until February 2012, when the franchise was taken over by the current operator Abellio Greater Anglia.
Operations
Unlike the Heathrow Express and the Gatwick Express the trains also stops at an intermediate station between London and the airport. It is the only 'Airport Express' style service to call at intermediate non-airport stations, unlike the Heathrow Express or Gatwick Express. The Stansted Express stops at Tottenham Hale. The service takes between 47 and 56 minutes to London Liverpool Street, with trains departing every 15 minutes. Stansted Express offers several ticket types. In addition to the Standard, Business and First Class Single and Return tickets, percentage discounts are available for advance bookings, those travelling in pairs with WebDuo and groups with GroupSave. Every Stansted Express ticket comes with money-saving "2FOR1" offers on some of London's favourite restaurants, shows and attractions like The London Eye, Madame Tussauds, the Sea Life Centre and Thorpe Park Resort. Oyster or Contactless payment cards are not valid on Stansted Express services to/from Stansted Airport, but can be used between Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale. Services per hour:
Criticism
In May 2009, the former operator of the Stansted Express service, National Express abolished off-peak fares on services from Stansted Airport. Therefore, all fares are considered peak and this is reflected in the price. People who live locally can obtain a discounted ticket by producing ID, though the discounted fare is higher than the previous off-peak fare. In September 2010, advertisements for the Stansted Express at Stansted Airport were banned because they were deemed misleading, advertising a 35-minute journey time to London. The Advertising Standards Authority believed the advertisements might confuse travellers into thinking that the train would reach central London in 35 minutes. Previous operator of the service, National Express defended the adverts, stating that Tottenham Hale allows access to the Victoria Line and also stating that the adverts made no reference to the trains going into central London in 35 minutes.
Rolling stock
Current fleet
As part of the 1,300 new carriages to expand the UK's passenger rail fleet, Stansted Express was designated to receive 120 new vehicles. In February 2009, it was announced that Bombardier Transportation would produce the new trains. Bombardier announced on 2 April that a contract had been signed for the delivery of the 120 coaches between December 2010 and March 2011. The first of the new Class 379 units entered passenger service on 3 March 2011. All the Class 379s are now in service on Stansted Express services. The Class 379s will be replaced by Class 745/1s, the first of which entered service on 28 July 2020.
Past fleet
Stansted Express originally used a fleet of five Class 322 EMUs until it was decided to change to a dedicated fleet of nine Class 317/7 EMUs in 2000, further supplemented by twelve Class 317/8s in 2006. The displaced Class 322s were redeployed on several other routes/franchises around the country before settling into their former role in Scotland, working services between Glasgow/Edinburgh and North Berwick; they stayed there for some time before transferring to Northern Rail, working out of Leeds. Following the arrival of the new Class 379 units on Stansted Express services, the Class 317/8s were used alongside Class 317/5 and 317/6 units as a common pool. However, since Abellio took over the East Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012, the Class 317/7s have entered storage.
Future
Stansted Express may call at Stratford station in the future, via the West Anglia Main Line, reconnecting the two to each other.
