National Express East Anglia.html



Franchise(s):	Greater Anglia 1 April 2004 - 31 March 2011 (optionally 31 March 2014)
Main region(s):	East of England
Other region(s):	London
Fleet size:	267
Stations called at:	167
National Rail abbreviation:	LE
Parent company:	National Express Group
Web site:	www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com

National Express East Anglia is a train operating company and brand name of London Eastern Railway Ltd in the United Kingdom. It is part of the National Express Group and was branded as ‘one’ from 1 April 2004 to 26 February 2008.¹ It provides local, suburban and express services from Liverpool Street station in the City of London to destinations in the railway franchise known as the Greater Anglia network, stretching from north and east Greater London to Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk in East Anglia.

History

The franchise began on 1 April 2004 and is due to run until 31 March 2011. It combined the services previously operated by Anglia Railways, First Great Eastern and the West Anglia (WA) division of WAGN. The large franchise was created in order to improve efficiency and reliability as part of a move to reduce the number of train operating companies providing services from a single London terminal. As a result of the new franchise, the number of operators on the Great Eastern Main Line was reduced, with the company operating most services on the line.²

Brand identity

A Class 90 locomotive in the previous 'one' livery, prior to rebranding.

The area names from the former franchises were initially retained by the new franchise. However, all services other than Stansted Express were later branded simply ‘one’, reflecting the union of the three smaller franchises into one single franchise. This led to passenger confusion as they were unable to establish for example whether the announcer was saying the 07:20 "one" service would be delayed, or the 07:21 service. On 12 November 2007 it was announced that, as part of a company-wide re-branding exercise, National Express would change the name of the company to National Express East Anglia on 27 February 2008.¹ On 11 December 2007 the first Class 90 locomotive to have been re-liveried was rolled out of the Crown Point depot at Norwich and was pictured in service the next day.³

Services

In addition to its domestic services the company is also a partner, with Stena Line and Nederlandse Spoorwegen, in the Dutchflyer service. All the London services use Liverpool Street as their terminus . This station is visited by 123 million people a year.⁴

Former Anglia franchise

• Intercity services to Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich as well as local services in Suffolk and Norfolk
• Bittern Line (Norwich–Cromer–Sheringham)
• Breckland Line (Norwich-Ely (continuing to Cambridge)
• East Suffolk Line (Ipswich–Lowestoft)
• Ely to Peterborough Line (Ely-Peterborough)
• Felixstowe Branch Line (Ipswich–Felixstowe)
• Ipswich to Ely Line (Ipswich–Bury St. Edmunds, continuing to Ely/Newmarket–Cambridge)
• Wherry Lines (Norwich–Great Yarmouth / Lowestoft)

Former Great Eastern franchise

• Mainline services to Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Clacton-On-Sea
• Mainline ‘metro’ service Liverpool Street-Shenfield
• Upminster Branch Line (Romford–Upminster)
• Shenfield to Southend Line (Shenfield–Southend Victoria)
• Crouch Valley Line (Shenfield–Wickford–Southminster)
• Braintree Branch Line (Witham–Braintree)
• Gainsborough Line (Marks Tey–Sudbury)
• Sunshine Coast Line (Colchester–Clacton-On-Sea or Walton-on-the-Naze)
• Mayflower Line (Manningtree–Harwich)

Former West Anglia franchise

• Lea Valley Lines (London to Seven Sisters / Tottenham / Chingford / Enfield / Cheshunt). Also services on the Hertford East Branch Line
• Local services from Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
• Stratford to Stansted Airport
• West Anglia Main Line London – Harlow – Cambridge (and limited service to King's Lynn)

Stansted Express sub-brand

• Express services between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport

National Express' branding for the Stansted Express

Rolling stock

The company operates a fleet of Class 153, 156 and 170 DMUs for the local lines, with Class 315, 317, 321 and 360 EMUs for the mainline commuter services, and Class 90 locomotives with Mark 3 coaching stock for the intercity services.

Much of the rolling stock is in need of modernisation; class 150s have been replaced by 153s and 156s from Central Trains. The Class 170s are used predominantly on longer services, as they have slower acceleration than the Class 153 and 156 stock, meaning they cannot stick to the timetables of the many local lines.

As of July 2008, the Class 360s are being debranded, and are wearing a lilac livery with white doors. The 'Great Eastern' vinyls have been taken off. The Class 315, Class 317 (those in the ‘one’ livery) and Mark 3 units are also being debranded - ‘one’ logos have been removed, and the distinctive "rainbow" car ends painted over with the same blue as the rest of the body, and more recently have an interim National Express East Anglia branding on, the same style as used on former GNER Mk3s and Mk4s. Class 321s and Class 360s are also receiving the interim National East Anglia branding.The first ever class 321 No 321303 has now been released from wabtec rail in nxea livery also 321304 has been sent up to wabtec for refurbishment. Also the Class 360s and 317s along with the rest of the fleet will be receiving a refurbishment program.

Current fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 47		diesel locomotive	100	160	Hired from Cotswold Rail	Train Rescue Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft- Norwich/London Liverpool Street (Summer Only)	1963-1968
Class 90		electric locomotive	110†	177†	15	Great Eastern Main Line London to Norwich	1987 - 1990
Class 153 Super Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	75	120	5	Ipswich-Cambridge, Ipswich-Lowestoft/Felixstowe, Norwich-Great Yarmouth, Norwich-Lowestoft, Norwich-Sheringham, Sudbury-Marks Tey	1987 - 1988
Class 156 Super Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	75	120	9	Ipswich-Cambridge, Ipswich-Lowestoft/Felixstowe, Norwich-Great Yarmouth, Norwich-Lowestoft, Norwich-Sheringham, Sudbury-Marks Tey	1987 - 1989
Class 170 Turbostar		diesel multiple unit	100	160	12	Cambridge - Norwich and Liverpool Street - Peterborough/Lowestoft	1999 - 2002
Class 315		electric multiple unit	75	120	61	Liverpool Street - Shenfield/Southend/Southminster, Romford - Upminster, plus West Anglia Metro Services, and the Lea Valley	1980
Class 317		electric multiple unit	100	160	60	Stansted Express, Liverpool Street - Cambridge/Hertford East/Enfield Town, and Hertford East/Broxbourne - Stratford	1981 - 1987
Class 321		electric multiple unit	100	160	77	Mainline routes between Ipswich, Walton, Colchester, Braintree, Southminster, Southend, Witham and London, Colchester - Colchester Town, occasionally replacing 360's from London to Clacton/Harwich	1986-88
Class 360 Desiro		electric multiple unit	100	160	21	Mainline routes between Ipswich, Clacton, Colchester, Harwich and London	2000 - 2003
Mk3 Coach		Passenger Rolling stock	125†	200†	Over 100	Great Eastern Main Line London to Norwich	1975 - 1988
		Driving Van Trailer	110†	177†	about 15	Great Eastern Main Line London to Norwich	1988

Past fleet

Class	Image	Type	Built	Withdrawn
Class 86		electric locomotive	1963 - 1967	2005
Class 150		Diesel multiple unit	1983 - 1985	2004
Class 312		electric multiple unit	1966 - 1974	2004
Mark 2 coach		Passenger Rolling Stock	1964 - 1975	2005
		DBSO Control Car	1979	2006

Diagrams

Future fleet

The Government's rolling stock plan will see the franchise take on ten additional Class 321s from London Midland. National Express will also secure the order of new build EMUs for its services in West Anglia to Stansted Airport, which will allow the release of a number of Class 317 units.⁵

Ticketing

Unlike many other operators in the London area, the company allows Oyster card pay as you go to be used on a limited number of its services and has announced roll-out plans for the remaining stations in Greater London.⁶

Performance

Infrastructure problems have caused problems with performance. According to Network Rail, the main problems have been track circuit failures, broken rails, track faults, points failures and overhead line equipment (OLE) failures.⁷ Network Rail, who are responsible for the infrastructure, intended to improve performance by work carried out during a planned closure of Liverpool Street station over Christmas and New Year 2007/8. This allowed much of the outer London overhead line equipment to be replaced by modern, self-tensioning lines.⁷ The work was carried out, but over-ran at short notice by some 24 hours, causing ridicule in the national press.⁸

Detailed figures (from the January edition of Modern Railways) of the miles covered per 5-minute delay for the year ending October 2008 showed that all of the operator's trains had improved over the previous year. The most reliable trains in the fleet were again the Class 360 Desiros (mainly Clacton - Liverpool Street), which achieved over 38,000 miles per 5-minute delay. The least reliable were the Shenfield / West Anglia Metro trains which, although improving over the year by 71%, only achieved some 10,000 miles per 5-minute delay. The 'Inter-City' Class 90 locomotive-hauled Norwich - Liverpool Street trains were little better at 10,400 miles per 5-minute delay.

For the 12 months to 8 December 2007, the average punctuality for all services was 89.6%.⁹ Where delays occur the company has paid compensation to those who request it as part of their Passengers' Charter.¹⁰ The latest performance figures for the first quarter of the 2008-9 year released by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) were 91.4% for the public performance measure (PPM)¹¹ for the quarter and 90.2% for the moving annual average (MAA)¹¹ for the twelve months up to the end of the first quarter. Both of these measures are slightly down on the previous year.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: National Express East Anglia

• National Express East Anglia Official website
• Keith Briggs - Colchester train performance data
• Keith Briggs - Ipswich train performance data
• NXEA Cheats - a National Express money saver website