First Great Eastern[1] was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004.
 | |
 Class 360 Desiro at Ipswich in 2004 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Franchise(s) | Great Eastern 5 January 1997 – 31 March 2004 |
| Main region(s) | East London East of England |
| Fleet size | 144 |
| Stations called at | 61 |
| Parent company | FirstGroup |
| Reporting mark | GE |
| Successor | One |
Services
editFirst 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]
Rolling stock
editFirst Great Eastern inherited a fleet of Class 312, Class 315 and Class 321s from British Rail. A Class 153 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.[3]
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.[4][full citation needed]
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| 121 Bubble Car | 
|
diesel multiple unit | 70 | 112 | Hired from Silverlink |
Marks Tey–Sudbury | 1960 |
| 150 | 
|
75 | 120 | Hired from Anglia Railways |
1984–1987 | ||
| 153 | 
|
1987–1988 | |||||
| 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 |
| 315 | 
|
75 | 120 | 43 | London Liverpool Street–Shenfield and Southminster Romford–Upminster |
1980–1981 | |
| 321 | 
|
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 | |
| 360/1 Desiro |
|
21 | London Liverpool Street–Clacton-on-Sea and Harwich Town London Liverpool Street–Ipswich (peak times only) |
2002–2003 | |||
Depot
editFirst Great Eastern's fleet was maintained at Ilford depot.
Demise
editIn 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 franchise.[5][full citation needed] In December 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the Greater Anglia franchise to National Express, and the services operated by First Great Eastern were transferred to One (later National Express East Anglia) on 1 April 2004.[6]
References
edit- ^ Companies House extract company no 3007936 Great Eastern Railway Limited
- ^ First Great Eastern route map August 2003
- ^ "Bubble cars revived, depot opens to solve Great Eastern branch crisis". Rail Magazine. No. 312. 27 August 1997. p. 10.
- ^ Rail Magazine. No. 312. 30 August 2003. p. 9.
{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Rail Magazine. No. 426. 9 January 2002. p. 4.
{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "National Express wins rail franchise". The Daily Telegraph. London. 22 December 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
External links
edit
Media related to First Great Eastern at Wikimedia Commons