MORE trains are on the way offering thousands of seats to beleagured commuters using stations in north Essex.

New timetables for trains running from London Liverpool Street to stations including Clacton and Colchester, will have a “wow factor” on commuters, it is claimed.

A total of 17 new trains with four carriages will increase National Express East Anglia’s stock from December, and will mainly be used to pick up passengers at smaller towns and villages.

Each train will have around 300 seats, meaning around 5,100 passengers who previously had to stand on crammed commuter trains will get more space.

The news comes as National Express announced it was looking to continue running train services in Essex beyond March 31, 2011, when its licence was due to expire.

Full details are expected to be unveiled later this summer, but it is understood commuters using stations including Clacton and Manningtree will benefit from more trains.

Derek Monnery, Essex Rail Users’ Federation chairman, said he was impressed with the latest proposed timetable.

He said: “I think for a lot of commuters it will be a wow factor because it will be quite a significant improvement.

“Bearing in mind that a lot of these trains will make two journeys in the rush hour, it will make a lot of difference.

“The timetable, to my view, is the best thing they have done in the whole franchise.”

However, Witham will lose its direct services to Bury St Edmunds, Peterborough, Lowestoft and Harwich.

National Express East Anglia spokesman Peter Meades said: “We have had positive and constructive discussions with rail user groups and other stakeholders concerning the timetable changes planned for December 2010.”

Last November, the former Labour government announced National Express would be stripped of its East Anglia franchise, instead of extending it for a further three years.

But the new coalition government has revealed it will review its franchising policy.

In a statement, National Franchise said: “The cancellation of the reletting process for our current franchises enables us to explore opportunities to continue to deliver our industry-leading rail performance beyond early 2011.”

Mr Monnery said the new government had not given themselves a lot of time to go through the process of finding a suitable replacement.

And he warned that National Express would be perfectly within their rights to demand more money to take the franchise on for longer.

He said: “There is a very big danger that come March 31, National Express will go and there won’t be anybody to run the trains.

“I think they will be very hard-pressed to get somebody new into position and raring to go on April 1.”