THE delivery of a phase of Greater Anglia’s £1.4 billion trains has been delayed.

Manufacturer Bombardier said the first of a new fleet of high-speed trains are now expected to enter service by spring and not the end of this year as originally expected.

This is because the development of software for the 111 trains had taken longer than anticipated.

Ten car and five car Bombardier trains will be used on the Ipswich, Clacton and Colchester lines.

In August, Greater Anglia announced testing had begun with the first of the newly-built trains being put through its paces at 110mph.

The service plans to replace all of its existing trains with brand new trains which will all be longer and will have more seats.

All new trains, which will travel at 100mph, will have USB and plug points, Wifi and air conditioning.

There will also be improved passenger information systems and accessible seating areas and toilets.

The Bombardier trains will also be the first to have underfloor heating.

But Greater Anglia has seen a string of delays and cancellations with its new trains.

It has now been told extra staff have been assigned to the job to speed up works.

The first of the trains, which will run into London Liverpool Street, were expected to come into service at the end of the year, with all of them in use by the end of 2020.

A Greater Anglia spokesperson said staff had been assured action was being taken.

He said: “Our Bombardier trains are expected to enter passenger service in spring 2020.

“The manufacturer, Bombardier, needed longer than they expected to complete software development.

“They have assured us production is being ramped up, with extra staff at their Derby factory so our customers can benefit from these state-of-the-art trains as quickly as possible.”

A spokesman for Bombardier added: "Our British-built AVENTRA trains for Greater Anglia are now expected to enter passenger service in Spring 2020.

"The delay has been caused by a range of factors and we are working closely with Greater Anglia to ensure the effect of the delay is minimised."