Anglia Railways

Anglia Railways
A Class 86 at Stowmarket
Overview
FranchisesAnglia:
5 January 1997 – 31 March 2004
Main routeGreat Eastern Main Line
Other routesBittern Line,
Breckland Line,
East Suffolk Line,
Ely to Peterborough Line,
Felixstowe Branch Line,
Ipswich to Ely Line,
London Crosslink,
Mayflower Line,
Wherry Lines
Stations called at64
Parent companyGB Railways (1997–2003),
FirstGroup (2003–2004)
Reporting markAR
PredecessorInterCity,
Regional Railways
SuccessorNational Express East Anglia
Other
Websitewww.angliarailways.co.uk

Anglia Railways was a train operating company that operated the Anglia franchise in the East of England from January 1997 until March 2004; it was owned by GB Railways and later FirstGroup.

History

The Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to GB Railways; it commenced on 5 January 1997.[1] In June 1998, Anglia Railways unveiled a turquoise and white livery.[2][3][4] Prior to 1997, trains in the area were operated by British Rail sectors of InterCity, Regional Railways and Network SouthEast.

On 1 April 2004, operations passed to National Express East Anglia.

Services

Anglia Railways operated the following routes:[5]

A franchise commitment was to increase the hourly London Liverpool Street-Norwich services to half-hourly.[6] The half-hourly service was introduced in 2000 with some extended to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

With funding from the Strategic Rail Authority's Rail Partnership Funding, Anglia Railways introduced a new experimental service from the Great Eastern Main Line to Basingstoke, via the North London Line, branded London Crosslink. It operated from 22 May 2000 until 28 September 2002, due to poor patronage.[7][8]

A more successful new service with Rail Partnership Funding was introduced on 29 September 2002 from Norwich to Cambridge on the Breckland Line; the route continues to operate.[9]

Rolling stock

Anglia Railways inherited a fleet of Class 86s, Mark 2 coaches, Driving Brake Standard Opens, Class 150s and Class 153s from British Rail. As part of the franchise, the fleet of Mark 2 coaches had a complete mechanical and interior refurbishment. On 10 June 1998, it unveiled its turquoise and white livery.[2] In June 1998, preserved Class 201 diesel-electric multiple unit no. 1001 commenced an eleven-month lease, operating services on the Wherry Lines.[10]

To meet a franchise commitment to operate two services per hour between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, eight three-car Class 170 Turbostar units were delivered in 1999/2000.[11] These units were used on new services from Liverpool Street to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft; they were also used on London Crosslink services and, from September 2000, were hired to GB Railways' Hull Trains subsidiary to work services between London King's Cross and Hull Paragon

Due to the late delivery of these units, Class 317s and Class 322s were hired from West Anglia Great Northern for a time.[12][13][14] A further four two-car Class 170s were delivered in 2002 and were used principally on the new Norwich to Cambridge services.

Anglia hired a Class 47 from Cotswold Rail, from June 2002, as a rescue locomotive and to haul Mark 2 sets on summer Saturday services to Great Yarmouth.[15]

In July 2002, Anglia hired a Class 90 from Freightliner for a few months, with a view to replacing the Class 86s.[16][17]

In October 2003, Anglia began operating three Class 90s from English, Welsh & Scottish Railway until the end of the franchise.[18][19]

Fleet at end of franchise
Class Image Type Top speed Number Built
mph km/h
47 Diesel locomotive 100 160 1, hired from
Cotswold Rail 		1966
86 Electric locomotive 15 1965–1966
90 110 177 3 1987–1990
150/2 Sprinter Diesel multiple unit 75 120 10 1984–1987
153 Super Sprinter 7 1987–1988
170/2 Turbostar 100 160 12 1999–2002
Mark 2 Passenger carriage 115 1964–1975
DBSO 13 1979–1986

Depot

Anglia Railways' fleet was maintained at Crown Point TMD in Norwich.

Franchise reorganisation

In 2002, as part of a franchise reorganisation by the Strategic Rail Authority, it was announced that the Anglia franchise would be merged into a new Greater Anglia franchise.[20] Having missed out on pre-qualifying for the Greater Anglia franchise, FirstGroup purchased GB Railways in August 2003.[21][22]

In December 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the new Greater Anglia franchise to National Express, with the services operated by Anglia Railways transferring to the One brand on 1 April 2004.[23]


References

  1. ^ "GB Railways wins Anglia". The Railway Magazine. No. 1149. January 1997. p. 11.
  2. ^ a b "Anglia Railways reveals new-look 86". Rail. No. 334. 1 July 1998. p. 12.
  3. ^ "New image for Anglia Railways". Rail Express. No. 27. August 1998. p. 6.
  4. ^ "Anglia Railways unveils new image". The Railway Magazine. No. 1168. August 1998. p. 13.
  5. ^ "Anglia Railways route map". Anglia Railways. 1 December 2003. Archived from the original on 18 December 2003.
  6. ^ "Anglia orders eight new Adtranz DMUs to be delivered by June 1999". Rail. No. 327. 25 March 1998. p. 7.
  7. ^ "Anglia launches Crosslink service". The Railway Magazine. No. 1191. July 2000. p. 6.
  8. ^ "Farewell Crosslink: Seven passengers was not enough". Rail. No. 446. 16 October 2002. p. 18.
  9. ^ "Rail Strategy" (PDF). Cambridgeshire Council. 26 May 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2006.
  10. ^ "Hastings DEMU hired by Anglia for 11 months". Rail. No. 333. 17 June 1998. p. 10.
  11. ^ "Anglia's first Turbostar delivered". Rail. No. 359. 16 June 1999. p. 47.
  12. ^ "All change in East Anglia". The Railway Magazine. No. 1181. September 1999. p. 11.
  13. ^ "WAGN helps out Anglia as Class 170/2s are late". Rail Express. No. 38. July 1999. p. 10.
  14. ^ "New link launched from Hull to London". Rail. No. 392. 20 September 2000. p. 14.
  15. ^ "47714 returns to the main line with Anglia". Rail. No. 438. 26 June 2002. p. 58.
  16. ^ "Anglia could take Class 90s to replace 86/2s". Rail. No. 441. 7 August 2002. p. 54.
  17. ^ "Class 90s set for Anglia Railways". The Railway Magazine. No. 1218. October 2002. p. 68.
  18. ^ "EWS starts Anglia Class 90 hire". Rail. No. 473. 29 October 2003. p. 74.
  19. ^ "Anglia opts for EWS Class 90s". The Railway Magazine. No. 1232. December 2003. p. 63.
  20. ^ "SRA wants fewer London operators to improve capacity". Rail. No. 426. 9 January 2002. p. 5.
  21. ^ "GB Rail Offer Unconditional". FirstGroup. 14 August 2003.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  22. ^ "First Group buys GB for $22million". The Railway Magazine. No. 1229. September 2003. p. 10.
  23. ^ "National Express wins rail franchise". The Daily Telegraph. 22 December 2003.
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