Two new late-night trains were introduced on Monday between Witham, Braintree and Liverpool Street, with a third to come in October.

The Witham and Braintree Rail Users Association has persuaded First Great Eastern to open up the trains, which were allowed to travel back to base empty.

Now they will be available at 23.00 to passengers from Liverpool Street to Braintree, and from Braintree to Witham at 23.04.

A new midnight service from Braintree to Witham will begin in October when a third train which currently rides empty starts taking passengers.

Vice chairman Rod Lane said :"It has taken a lot of work to persuade the company that allowing trains to travel empty when they could take passengers is bad business. We hope to create even more services in the future using trains which would otherwise run empty ."

Published Thursday, May 22, 2003

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