National Express East Anglia

File:One-logo.gif
Overview
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
Parent company	National Express Group
Reporting mark	LE
Other
Website	www.onerailway.com

One Railway (or simply One) is the brand name of London Eastern Railway Ltd, a British company which operates local, suburban and express services from London Liverpool Street in the City of London to East and North London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and East Anglia, otherwise known as the Greater Anglia network. One is part of the National Express Group. It was announced on November 12th 2007 that, as part of a company-wide re-branding exercise, National Express intends to change the name of One to National Express East Anglia with effect from February 2008.

The Greater Anglia network was awarded to a single operator as part of a drive to reduce the number of train companies operating at each major terminus, in an effort to improve integration between services and reliability. On April 1, 2004 One took over all services formerly operated by Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern, as well as the "West Anglia" services of WAGN. The company is now the sole passenger operator on most of the Great Eastern Main Line. According to The Daily Telegraph, in March 2006, One operated the most overcrowded train in Britain, the 0802 from Cambridge to London Liverpool Street.

Unlike many other operators in the London area, One 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.

Services

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.

One emphasizes the bringing together and integration of what had been four separate services. The company initially used sub-branding to try to ease the transition from the former companies’ well-known names:

• One Anglia — InterCity services to Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich as well as local services in Suffolk and Norfolk. For further information on local lines see the following links.
  • 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)
• One Great Eastern — mainline services to Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Clacton.
  • Mainline ‘metro’ service London 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)
  • Sudbury Branch Line (Marks Tey–Sudbury)
  • Colchester to Clacton Line (Colchester-Clacton or Walton-on-the-Naze)
  • Mayflower Line (Manningtree–Harwich)
• One West Anglia — services to Cambridge, Enfield, Hertford East and Chingford, plus local services from Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport. There are also services from Stratford to Stansted Airport.
  • West Anglia Main Line (London–Harlow–Cambridge/Stansted)
  • Lea Valley Lines (London–Seven Sisters / Tottenham / Chingford / Enfield)
• One Stansted Express — express services between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport.

This sub-branding has now been largely discontinued as it was proving to be confusing to passengers, and all services (other than Stansted Express) are now simply branded One.

In addition to its domestic services, One is also a partner (along with Stena Line and Nederlandse Spoorwegen) in the Dutchflyer service.

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 150, 153 and 156 stock, meaning they cannot stick to the timetables of the many local lines.

Current fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 90		electric locomotive	110†	175	15	Great Eastern Main Line London to Norwich	1987 - 1990
Class 153 Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	75	120	8	Ipswich-Cambridge, Ipswich-Lowestoft/Felixtowe, 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/Felixtowe, 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 and West Anglia Metro Services	1980
Class 317		electric multiple unit	100	160	60	Stansted Express and Liverpool Street - Cambridge	1981 - 1987
Class 321		electric multiple unit	100	160	77	Mainline routes between Ipswich, Walton, Colchester, Braintree, Southminster, Southend, Witham and London	1988 - 1990
Class 360 Desiro		electric multiple unit	100	160	21	Mainline routes between Ipswich, Clacton, Harwich and London	2002 - 2003
Mk.3 Coach		Passenger Rolling stock		200	Over 100	Great Eastern Main Line	1975 - 1988

Past fleet

Class	Image	Type	Built	Withdrawn
Class 86		electric locomotive	1964 - 1975	2005
Class 150		Diesel multiple unit	1985 - 1987	2004
Class 312		electric multiple unit	1975 - 1978	2004
Mk.2 Coach		Passenger Rolling stock	1965 - 1966	2005

Performance

The One fleet includes Class 317 electric multiple units.

The Class 90 Powered DVT Headed Main Line Service Heads Towards Norwich Thorpe on the 12-04-07

The past

One 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 intercity trains inherited by One 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 Mk2s with Class 90s and Mk3s 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. One 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. These changes did result in improvements though: the class 90s were probably the main factor in the 17% improvement in the 'miles per 5-minute delay' figure in the year up to October 2006, but this still left One behind all the other ex-Intercity services, in terms of performance.

The present

Performance of the class 360 trains improved dramatically over the year up to October 2006, moving from 14,212 miles per 5-minute delay in the previous year, to one of the best in the Country at 31,563 miles. On the same measure, the class 321s deteriorated slightly from 21,620 to 21,098 miles - while the class 321s operated by Silverlink show what these trains are capable of, achieving a corresponding figure of 43,267 miles per 5-minute delay. The figures for the class 315 and 317 trains operated by One are more mixed and less easy to summarise. The reliability of the Class 156 Super Sprinters improved by 86%, leading to a 'Silver Spanner' award for the Crown Point depot at Norwich. Their miles per 5-minute delay figure of 5894 was however still some way behind the 8544 miles for the Class 156s of ScotRail.

Many of the delays experienced on the One network relate to the state of the railway infrastructure and how close they operate to capacity. Overhead line equipment is of serious concern to One - some of it is of 1940s vintage out as far as Shenfield. One has asked for an independent report to validate what Network Rail is doing and to ensure they are being treated fairly. Over Christmas and New Year 2007/8 there will be a major blockade on train services on the mainline in order for much of the outer London overhead line equipment to be replaced with modern, self tensioning lines. Problems with overhead line equipment were responsible for major delays on the One network on the 19th and 20th of April near Ingatestone. This resulted in major delays and cancellations as a result of single line working. Network Rail, the company responsible for the infrastructure, have admitted in their 2007 Great Eastern Business Plan that the majority of performance issues with One are Network Rail's responsibility - the infrastructure One uses - such as signalling equipment.[1]

For the 12 months ending October 13th 2007, the average punctuality for all 'one' services was 88.8%. A service is recorded as punctual if it arrives at its destination within 5 minutes of its scheduled time, or 10 minutes if it is an Intercity train. [2]

It is perhaps worth remembering that, in the year up to June 2007 (according to Modern Railways), some 120 million passengers used Liverpool Street Station. This makes it Britain's busiest station and twice as busy as Heathrow Airport.

Compensation

One have, however, always been keen to placate their passengers for disruption and operate a Delay Repay scheme under the terms of their Passengers' Charter which is more generous than the minimum provided for by the National Rail Conditions of Carriage[3]. 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. This has resulted in the creation of Delay-Repay.com a website dedicated to recording the delays encountered by One passengers and helping them claim compensation.

External links

• One website
• Colchester train performance data
• Ipswich train performance data
• Manningtree Rail Users Association
• delay-repay.com web site dedicated to recording One delayed trains and helping passengers claim compensation