| Info | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchise(s): | Greater Anglia 1 April 2004 - 5 February 2012 [1] |
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| Main region(s): | East of England | ||
| Other region(s): | London | ||
| Fleet size: | 296 (+1 on order) | ||
| Stations called at: | 168 | ||
| National Rail abbreviation: | LE | ||
| Parent company: | National Express Group | ||
| Web site: | www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com | ||
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National Express East Anglia (commonly abbreviated to NXEA)[2][3][4] is the brand name of London Eastern Railway Ltd, a British train operating company. The franchise is in its last few weeks, and will be handed over to Dutch operator Abellio in February 2012. It is part of the National Express Group and was branded as 'One' from 1 April 2004 to 26 February 2008.[5] 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 the East of England (East Anglia).
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The franchise began on 1 April 2004 and is due to run until 5 February 2012.[1] 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.[6]
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,[7] 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.[8]
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 will end on 5 February 2012.[1] 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 are Abellio (Greater Anglia Limited), Go-Ahead and Stagecoach.[9]
On the 20 October 2011 it was announced that Abellio Greater Anglia had won the franchise.[10]
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 group-wide re-branding exercise, National Express would change the name of the company to National Express East Anglia on 27 February 2008.[5] 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.[11]
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,[12] 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.[13] 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.
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.[14]
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.[15]
The company operates 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.
| 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 |
Class 360: Class 321:
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.[17] 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.[17] The work was carried out, but over-ran at short notice by some 24 hours, causing ridicule in the national press.[18]
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%.[19] Where delays occur, the company has paid compensation to those who request it as part of its Passengers' Charter.[20]
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)[21] for the quarter and 90.2% for the moving annual average (MAA)[22] 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%.[23]
National Express East Anglia operates 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.[24] 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.
| Preceded by Anglia Railways Anglia franchise |
Operator of Greater Anglia franchise 2004 - February 2012 |
Greater Anglia February 2012-July 2014 |
| Preceded by First Great Eastern Great Eastern franchise |
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| Preceded by WAGN West Anglia Great Northern franchise |
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