First Great Eastern

First Great Eastern

Info
Franchise(s):	Great Eastern 5 January 1997 - 31 March 2004
Main region(s):	London, East of England
Fleet size:	144
Stations called at:	61
National Rail abbreviation:	GE
Parent company:	FirstGroup
Web site:	www.firstgroup.com

First Great Eastern^[1] was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup that operated the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004.

Services

First Great Eastern operated all stops and limited stops services on the Great Eastern Main Line from London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria, Southminster, Braintree, Colchester Town, Clacton-on-Sea, Walton-on-the-Naze, Harwich Town and Ipswich. It also ran services on the Romford to Upminster Line and Gainsborough Line from Marks Tey to Sudbury.^[2]

Class 360 Desiro 360111 at Ipswich

First Great Eastern logo

Rolling stock

First Great Eastern inherited a fleet of Class 312, Class 315 and Class 321s from British Rail. A diesel multiple unit was hired from Anglia Railways for the Marks Tey to Sudbury service due to it not being electrified, a Class 150 being used on weekdays and a Class 153 on weekends. Prior to this arrangement, a Class 121 Bubble Car was hired from Silverlink.

A franchise commitment was the replacement of the Class 312s. In May 2001 First Great Eastern ordered 21 Class 360 Desiros with the first entering service in August 2003.^[3]

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 150		diesel multiple unit	75	120	Hired from Anglia Railways	Marks Tey - Sudbury	1984–1987
Class 153		diesel multiple unit	75	120	Hired from Anglia Railways	Marks Tey - Sudbury	1987-1988
Class 312		electric multiple unit	90	145	24	Colchester - Walton-on-the-Naze Harwich Town - Manningtree London Liverpool Street - Clacton-on-Sea and Ipswich (peak times only)	1975-1978
Class 315		electric multiple unit	75	120	43	London Liverpool Street - Shenfield and Southminster Romford - Upminster	1980-1981
Class 321		electric multiple unit	100	160	77	London Liverpool Street - Braintree, Southend Victoria, Ipswich, Walton-on-the-Naze, Colchester Town, Clacton-on-Sea Wickford - Southminster (Sundays only)	1988-1990
Class 360 Desiro		electric multiple unit	100	160	21	London Liverpool Street - Clacton-on-Sea and Harwich Town London Liverpool Street - Ipswich (peak times only)	2002–2003

Depot

First Great Eastern's fleet was maintained at Ilford depot.

Demise

In 2002, as part of a franchise reorganisation by the Strategic Rail Authority, it was announced that the Great Eastern franchise would be merged into the Greater Anglia Rail Franchise.^[4] In December 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the Greater Anglia Rail Franchise to National Express, and the services operated by First Great Eastern were transferred to One on 1 April 2004.^[5] The current operator of the Greater Anglia rail franchise is Greater Anglia.^[6]

References