First Great Eastern

Class 360 Desiro at Ipswich station in January 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
National Rail abbreviation:	GE
Parent company:	FirstGroup

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. All services called at Stratford.

Logo used from 1997 to 1999

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]

Rolling stock

First 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]

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		diesel multiple unit	75	120	Hired from Anglia Railways	Marks Tey - Sudbury	1984–1987
153		diesel multiple unit	75	120	Hired from Anglia Railways	Marks Tey - Sudbury	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		electric multiple unit	75	120	43	London Liverpool Street - Shenfield and Southminster Romford - Upminster	1980-1981
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
360/1 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 franchise.^[5] 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.^[6]

References

External links

Media related to First Great Eastern at Wikimedia Commons