This is just sad. I know people go a bit overboard with some of the comparisons they make about TOCs, but this really does have the hallmarks of one of those unfortunate nation states where everything from the mouth of their propaganda department is a lie, everybody knows it's a lie but has to go about their business regardless. It does make me wonder what we're in for further South once the 720 rollout begins and the legacy stock I imagine will also go prematurely off-lease.
In relation to the 720s, you will notice from the article on the local press, that they didn't even want to admit what the real problem was, putting it down to a production slowdown, rather than the fact that it's related to software problems, which is already seeking to try and deflect on that fleet.
Greater Anglia at the moment feel like an out of touch government that has been in power too long. They have forgotten what made them such a breath of fresh air when they took over from National Express and have become so obsessed with PR and image protection and looking after themselves, that everything else appears to come as an afterthought.
One of the best things about British Railways I always used to think was the fact that we have very open real time running information and honest updates through the likes of JourneyCheck and transparent information being given at stations etc. Now I see an increasing number of passengers rolling eyes at announcements, laughing or smirking at such information, which I can never remember ever seeing before.
It remains to be seen if JourneyCheck even remains, since Abellio haven't bothered at all with one for EMT, the West Midlands one has been changed in layout to only show the next 6 hours and to make cancellations less apparent, by putting all the updates together, rather than in categories. It would be probably good for their image to remove it, as it will help them hide the scale of disruption.