National Express East Anglia

Not to be confused with National Express East Coast.

This article is about the company that formerly operated services along these routes. For the present company, see Greater Anglia.

National Express East Anglia

Info
Franchise(s):	Greater Anglia 1 April 2004 - 5 February 2012
Main region(s):	East of England
Other region(s):	London
Stations called at:	168
National Rail abbreviation:	LE
Parent company:	National Express Group
Web site:	www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com
Route map

National Express East Anglia (commonly abbreviated to NXEA) was a British train operating company. The franchise was handed over to Dutch operator Abellio on 5 February 2012. It was part of the National Express Group and was branded as 'One' from 1 April 2004 to 26 February 2008. It provided 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 the East of England (East Anglia).

History

The franchise began on 1 April 2004 and ran until 5 February 2012. 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.

On 26 November 2009, the Department for Transport announced that National Express East Anglia was to lose its franchise in March 2011 rather than be granted an extension to operate it until 2014, which had previously been an option. The decision follows the failure of sister company National Express East Coast, even though National Express East Anglia had met all of its targets required for the franchise to be extended.

From December 2010 the through service to London from Lowestoft and Peterborough ceased operation.

On 18 June 2010, following the 2010 General Election, the Department for Transport announced that the replacement process for the two remaining National Express franchises would be "put on hold". This could result in the National Express franchise continuing to operate after 31 March 2011, the date the DfT initially stated that National Express would lose the franchise on.

On 24 March 2011 it was announced that National Express was unsuccessful in acquiring the rights to continue the franchise, resulting in the company losing the right to continue running its services. The current franchise ended on 5 February 2012. The new franchise will run for 17 months, with an optional one-year extension. The short period is to allow for the publishing of proposed changes to rail franchises and their implementation. The bidders were Abellio (Greater Anglia Limited), Go-Ahead and Stagecoach.

On 20 October 2011 it was announced that Abellio Greater Anglia had won the franchise.

Brand identity

Mk 3 Coaches at Liverpool street

'One' brand

Diesel locomotive 47818 at Cambridge on 23 August 2004. Owned by Cotswold Rail but hired to 'One', this locomotive was used extensively over the summer of 2004 to haul passenger trains between London Liverpool St and Norwich which had been diverted from their usual all-electrified route because of engineering work at Ipswich.

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.^{[citation needed]} On 12 November 2007 it was announced that, as part of a group-wide re-branding exercise, National Express would change the name of the company to National Express East Anglia on 27 February 2008. On 11 December 2007 the first Class 90 locomotive to be re-liveried was rolled out of Crown Point depot in Norwich and was pictured in service the next day.

National Express East Anglia had poor industrial relations at the start of the franchise, with strikes by guards and drivers relating to ticket machines and rest day working respectively, but these issues were later resolved. Changes to the timetable were implemented in December 2005 in accordance with DfT requirements, which left some stations without any off-peak service, although a new route was introduced between Hertford East and Stratford. Other timetable changes resulted in reduced access to the Berney Marshes by means of Berney Arms railway station but an extra 3,000 seats on the West Anglia Route.

The former InterCity trains inherited by National Express East Anglia on the Great Eastern Main Line used locomotive-hauled Mark 2 sets of coaches. The Mark 2 sets were replaced with ex-Virgin Trains Mark 3 sets and all 116 Mark-3 coaches were refurbished. Replacing the Class 86 locomotives and Mark 2 sets with Class 90s and Mark 3 sets from the WCML was criticised as a result of their poorer condition resulting from a lack of maintenance and cleaning before they were withdrawn from service with Virgin.

National Express East Anglia also received criticism for its references to "newer" trains, since the Mk3s are in fact only a few years newer than the Mk2s, in some cases being introduced just one year later.^{[citation needed]} These changes did result in improvements though: the Class 90s were probably the main factor in the 17% improvement in the 'miles per five-minute delay' figure in the year up to October 2006, but this still left the operator behind all the other ex-InterCity services, in terms of performance, as reported in the January 2007 edition of Modern Railways.

A Class 90 powered DVT-headed main line service heads towards Norwich Thorpe on 12 April 2007

'National Express East Anglia' brand

It was announced on 12 November 2007 that, as part of a company-wide re-branding exercise, National Express was to change the name of One to National Express East Anglia with effect from February 2008.

Services

Class 379 No. 379001 at Norwich on a test run

In addition to its domestic services, the company was 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.

Former Anglia franchise

Great Eastern Class 321/3 No. 321311 at London Liverpool Street.

• Intercity Great Eastern Main Line services to Chelmsford, 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 continuing to London Liverpool Street)
• 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

Newly reliveried West Anglia Class 317/5 No. 317505 at London Liverpool Street

• Great Eastern Main Line to Chelmsford, Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea and Ipswich.
• 'Shenfield Metro' service Liverpool Street-Shenfield (service to be taken over by Crossrail in 2016)
• 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–Colchester Town–Clacton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze)
• Mayflower Line (Manningtree–Harwich)

Former West Anglia Great Northern (WAGN) franchise

Newly reliveried Stansted Express Class 317/7 No. 317719 at London Liverpool Street

• 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

National Express branding for the Stansted Express

• Express Rail Air Link Service between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport

Rolling stock

The company operated a fleet of Class 153, 156 and 170 DMUs for the local lines, with Class 315, 317, 321, 360, 379 EMUs for the mainline commuter services, and Class 90 locomotives with Mark 3 coaching stock for the intercity services.

Fleet at end of franchise

Class	Image	Cars per set	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
				mph	km/h
Class 47		N/A	diesel locomotive	100	161	Hired from Direct Rail Services	Train Rescue Norwich - Great Yarmouth (Summer Only), Norwich - Lowestoft (Summer Only)	1962–1968
Class 90		N/A	electric locomotive	110	177	15	London - Norwich	1987–1990
Class 153 Super Sprinter		1	diesel multiple unit	75	121	5	Ipswich - Felixstowe, Norwich - Great Yarmouth, Norwich - Lowestoft, Sudbury - Marks Tey	1987–1988
Class 156 Super Sprinter		2	diesel multiple unit	75	121	9	Ipswich - Saxmundham, Norwich - Great Yarmouth, Norwich - Lowestoft, Norwich - Sheringham, Sudbury - Marks Tey	1987–1989
Class 170 Turbostar		2 or 3	diesel multiple unit	100	161	12	Ipswich - Cambridge, Ipswich - Peterborough, Ipswich - Lowestoft, Norwich - Cambridge	1999–2002
Class 315		4	electric multiple unit	75	121	61	London - Shenfield, London - Hertford East London - Enfield Town, London - Cheshunt	1980–1981
Class 317/5		4	electric multiple unit	100	161	15	London - Stansted Airport, London - Cambridge, London - Hertford East, London - Chingford, Stratford - Bishop Stortford,	1981–1982
Class 317/6		4	electric multiple unit	100	161	24	London - Stansted Airport, London - Cambridge, London - Hertford East, London - Chingford, Stratford - Bishop Stortford, Romford - Upminster	1985–1987
Class 317/7		4	electric multiple unit	100	161	9 (Withdrawn when franchise ended)	London - Stansted Airport, London - Cambridge, London - Hertford East, London - Norwich, London - Harwich International	1981–1982
Class 317/8		4	electric multiple unit	100	161	12	London - Stansted Airport, London - Cambridge, London - Hertford East, London - Chingford, Stratford - Bishop Stortford	1981–1982
Class 321		4	electric multiple unit	100	161	94	London - Braintree, London - Ipswich, London - Southend Victoria, London - Clacton, Colchester - Walton-on-Naze, Manningtree - Harwich, Wickford - Southminster	1988–1990
Class 360/1 Desiro		4	electric multiple unit	100	161	21	London - Ipswich, London - Clacton, London - Colchester Town	2002–2003
Class 379 Electrostar		4	electric multiple unit	100	161	30	London - Stansted Airport London - Cambridge	2010–2011
Mark 3 Coach		N/A	Passenger Coach	125	201	120	London - Norwich Norwich - Great Yarmouth (Summer Only), Norwich - Lowestoft (Summer Only)	1975–1988
		N/A	Driving Van Trailer	110	177	15	London - Norwich Norwich - Great Yarmouth (Summer Only), Norwich - Lowestoft (Summer Only)	1988

Withdrawn fleet

Class	Image	Type	Built	Withdrawn
Class 86		Electric locomotive	1965–1966	2005
Class 150/2		Diesel multiple unit	1984–1987	2004
Class 312		electric multiple unit	1975–1978	2004
Mark 2 Coach		Passenger Coach	1964–1975	2005
		Driving Brake Standard Open	1979–1986	2006

Diagrams

Class 360:

Class 321:

Performance

Infrastructure problems have affected 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. Network Rail, which is responsible for the infrastructure, intended to improve performance by work carried out during a planned closure of London 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. The work was carried out, but over-ran at short notice by some 24 hours, causing ridicule in the national press.

Detailed figures (from the January edition of Modern Railways) of the miles covered per 5-minute delay for the year ending October 2009 showed that the most reliable trains in the fleet were again the Class 360 Desiros (mainly Clacton-on-Sea to London Liverpool Street), which achieved over 38,000 miles per five-minute delay. The 'workhorse' Class 321s by comparison returned some 21,500 miles per five-minute delay, while the 'Inter-City' Class 90 locomotive-hauled Norwich - Liverpool Street trains came in at some 14,000 miles per five-minute delay - this last figure being a 35% improvement on last year's 10,400. The Class 90 locomotives won the Silver Spanner award for InterCity rolling stock at the Annual National Rail Awards 2009.

For the twelve months to 8 December 2007, the average punctuality for all services was 89.6%. Where delays occur, the company has paid compensation to those who request it as part of its Passengers' Charter.

The latest performance figures for the fourth quarter of the 2010-11 year released by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) were 90.2% for the public performance measure (PPM) for the quarter and 90.2% for the moving annual average (MAA) for the twelve months up to the end of the fourth quarter. The PPM is up slightly compared to the previous quarter. Passenger satisfaction with the company in 2010 was the second lowest in the UK, at 79%.

Compensation

National Express East Anglia operated a Delay Repay scheme under the terms of its Passengers' Charter which is more generous than the minimum provided for by the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. However it does mean passengers have to remember to claim compensation whereas the majority of the other train operating companies automatically provide compensation on season ticket renewals.

Gallery

• 

  A One Class 315 unit trains at London Liverpool Street station

• 

  Catering staff dressed for a charity event, alongside a 'One'-branded train at Norwich station

• 

  A former One fleet Class 317 electric multiple unit in Cambridge station

• 

  A former First Great Eastern Class 321 unit at Marks Tey

• 

  Some 'One' Mark 3 Coaches at Liverpool street

• 

  A Peterborough to Whittlesea family return ticket

• 

  Willow Marsh Level Crossing

• 

  Station sign installed by predecessor WAGN, successively amended with 'One' Railway and National Express detailing.

• 

  Southbury Railway Station's main site

• 

  The name plate on unit 90006

• 

  A Class 170 National Express East Anglia DMU at Lowestoft, in old Anglia Railways livery

• 

  Engine 90012 at Liverpool Street in National Express East Anglia colours

• 

  Refurbished Class 317/6 EMU in the former West Anglia Great Northern (W.A.G.N.) Railway livery at London Liverpool Street

• 

  Loco 86227, named 'Golden Jubilee', at Ipswich station in former Anglia Railways livery

External links

• National Express East Anglia Official website

Preceded by Anglia Railways Anglia franchise	Operator of Greater Anglia franchise 2004 - 2012	Succeeded by Greater Anglia
Preceded by First Great Eastern Great Eastern franchise
Preceded by WAGN West Anglia Great Northern franchise