Anglia Railways
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox Rail companies Anglia Railways<ref>Companies House extract company no 3006570 Anglia Railways Train Services Limited</ref> was a train operating company in England, owned by GB Railways and later FirstGroup, that operated the Anglia franchise from January 1997 until March 2004.
HistoryEdit
The Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to GB Railways, with the franchise commencing on 5 January 1997.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In June 1998, Anglia Railways unveiled a turquoise and white livery.<ref name="Rail334">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Prior to 1997, the trains were run by British Rail sectors of InterCity, Regional Railways and Network SouthEast. After March 2004, the trains were run by National Express East Anglia.
ServicesEdit
Anglia Railways operated InterCity services on the Great Eastern Main Line from London Liverpool Street to Harwich International and Norwich. It also operated regional services between Ipswich & Felixstowe, Ipswich & Lowestoft, Ipswich & Ely, Harwich International / Ipswich & Cambridge, Ely & Peterborough, Norwich & Ely, Norwich & Sheringham, Norwich & Great Yarmouth and Norwich & Lowestoft.<ref>Anglia Railways route map December 2003 Anglia Railways</ref>
A franchise commitment was to increase the hourly London Liverpool Street and Norwich services to half-hourly.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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 introduced a new experimental service from the Great Eastern Main Line via the North London Line to Basingstoke branded London Crosslink. It operated from 22 May 2000 until ceasing on 28 September 2002 due to poor loadings.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
A more successful new service with Rail Partnership Funding was introduced on 29 September 2002 from Norwich to Cambridge. This continues to operate.<ref>Rail Strategy Template:Webarchive Cambridgeshire Council</ref>
Rolling stockEdit
Anglia Railways inherited a fleet of Class 86s, Mark 2 carriages, Driving Brake Standard Opens, Class 150s and Class 153s from British Rail. As part of the franchise, the fleet of Mark 2 carriages had a complete mechanical and interior refurbishment. On 10 June 1998, it unveiled its turquoise and white livery.<ref name="Rail334" /> In June 1998, preserved Class 201 unit 1001 commenced an eleven-month lease operating services from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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. Due to late delivery of these units, Class 317s and Class 322s were hired from West Anglia Great Northern for a time.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In July 2002, Anglia hired a Class 90 from Freightliner for a few months with a view to replacing the Class 86s.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In October 2003, Anglia began operating three Class 90s from English, Welsh & Scottish Railway until the end of the franchise.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||
| 47 | File:Anglia 47 Norwich.JPG | Diesel locomotive | 100 | 160 | 1, hired from Cotswold Rail |
1966 |
| 86 | File:86227 'Golden Jubilee' at Ipswich.JPG | Electric locomotive | 15 | 1965–1966 | ||
| 90 | File:90016 at London Liverpool Street.JPG | 110 | 177 | 3 | 1987–1990 | |
| 150/2 Sprinter | File:150245 at Cambridge.JPG | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 10 | 1984–1987 |
| 153 Super Sprinter | File:153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge.JPG | 7 | 1987–1988 | |||
| 170/2 Turbostar | File:170205 at Ely.JPG | 100 | 160 | 12 | 1999–2002 | |
| Mark 2 | File:Greatyarmouth34.jpg | Passenger carriage | 115 | 1964–1975 | ||
| File:Rail-dbso-amoswolfe.jpg | DBSO | 13 | 1979–1986 | |||
DepotEdit
Anglia Railways' fleet was maintained at Crown Point TMD in Norwich.
DemiseEdit
In 2002, as part of a franchise reorganisation by the Strategic Rail Authority, it was announced that the Anglia Railways franchise would be merged into the Greater Anglia franchise.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Having missed out on pre-qualifying for the Greater Anglia franchise, FirstGroup purchased GB Railways in August 2003.<ref>GB Rail Offer Unconditional Template:Webarchive FirstGroup 14 August 2003</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In December 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the Greater Anglia franchise to National Express with the services operated by Anglia Railways transferring to One on 1 April 2004.<ref>National Express wins rail franchise The Daily Telegraph 22 December 2003</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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