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National Express East Anglia

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File:One-logo.gif
Franchise(s)Greater Anglia
1 April 2004 - 31 March 2011
(optionally 31 March 2014)
Main region(s)East of England
Other region(s)London
Fleet size267
Parent companyNational Express Group
Other
Websitewww.onerailway.com

One Railway (‘one’) is the brand name of London Eastern Railway Ltd, a British company which operates local, suburban and express services from London Liverpool Street in the City of London to East and North London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and East Anglia, otherwise known as the Greater Anglia network. ‘one’ is part of the National Express Group.

The Greater Anglia network was awarded to a single operator as part of a drive to reduce the number of train companies operating to major termini, in an effort to improve integration between services and reliability. On April 1, 2004 ‘one’ took over all services formerly operated by Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern, as well as the ‘West Anglia’ services of WAGN. The company is now the sole passenger operator on most of the Great Eastern Main Line. According to The Daily Telegraph, in March 2006, ‘one’ operated the most overcrowded train in Britain, the 0802 from Cambridge to London Liverpool Street[1].

The extensively and expensively marketed name of the new franchise has also been a source of criticism and confusion. In May 2004, the BBC[2] reported that the company was changing station announcements at Cambridge station by removing the name of the train operating company. Passengers had complained that it was difficult for passengers in the station to differentiate P.A. announcements for the "10:41 train" or the "10:40 ‘one’ train".

Unlike many other operators in the London area, 'one' allows Oyster card pay as you go to be used on a limited number of its services and has announced roll-out plans for the remaining stations in Greater London.

Services

Diesel locomotive 47818 at Cambridge on 23 August 2004. Owned by Cotswold Rail but hired to ‘one’, this locomotive was used extensively over the summer of 2004 to haul passenger trains between London Liverpool St and Norwich which had been diverted from their usual all-electrified route because of engineering work at Ipswich.

"one" emphasizes the bringing together and integration of what had been four separate services. The company initially used sub-branding to try to ease the transition from the former companies’ well-known names:

This sub-branding has now been largely discontinued as it was proving to be confusing to passengers, and all services (other than Stansted Express) are now simply branded ‘one’.

In addition to its domestic services, ‘one’ is also a partner (along with Stena Line and Nederlandse Spoorwegen) in the Dutchflyer service.

Rolling stock

The company operates a fleet of Class 153, 156 and 170 DMUs for the local lines, with Class 315, 317, 321 and 360 EMUs for the mainline commuter services, and Class 90 locomotives with Mark 3 coaching stock for the intercity services.

Much of the rolling stock is in need of modernisation; class 150s have been replaced by 153s and 156s from Central Trains. The Class 170s are used predominantly on longer services, as they have slower acceleration than the Class 150, 153 and 156 stock, meaning they cannot stick to the timetables of the many local lines.

Current fleet

Class Image Type Top speed Number Routes operated Built
mph km/h
Class 47 diesel locomotive 95 150 5 Thunderbirds 1962 - 1968
Class 90 electric locomotive 110† 175 15 Great Eastern Main Line London to Norwich 1987 - 1990
Class 153 Sprinter diesel multiple unit 75 120 8 Norwich-Great Yarmouth & Sheringham, Norwich-Lowestoft 1987 - 1988
Class 156 Super Sprinter diesel multiple unit 75 120 9 Ipswich-Cambridge , Norwich-Great Yarmouth, Norwich-Sheringham 1987 - 1989
Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple unit 100 160 12 Cambridge - Norwich and Liverpool Street - Peterborough/Lowestoft 1999 - 2002
Class 315 electric multiple unit 75 120 61 Liverpool Street - Shenfield/Southend/Southminster and West Anglia Metro Services 1980
Class 317 electric multiple unit 100 160 60 Stansted Express and Liverpool Street - Cambridge 1981 - 1987
Class 321 electric multiple unit 100 160 77 Mainline routes between Ipswich, Walton, Colchester, Braintree, Southminster, Southend, Witham and London 1988 - 1990
Class 360 Desiro electric multiple unit 100 160 21 Mainline routes between Ipswich, Clacton, Harwich and London 2002 - 2003
Mk.3 Coach Passenger Rolling stock 125† 200 Over 100 Great Eastern Main Line 1975 - 1988

† The maximum allowed speed on the Great Eastern Main Line is 100mph, therefore these vehicles never achieve their stated maximum speed on this line

Past fleet

 Class   Image   Type   Built   Withdrawn 
Class 86 electric locomotive 1964 - 1975 2005
Class 312 electric multiple unit 1975 - 1978 2004
Mk.2 Coach Passenger Rolling stock 1965 - 1966 2005
Mk.2 Coach DBSO Control car 1979, 1985/86 2006

Performance

The ‘one’ fleet includes Class 317 electric multiple units.
The Class 90 Powered DVT Headed Main Line Service Heads Towards Norwich Thorpe on the 12-04-07

The Past

‘one’ had poor industrial relations at the start of the franchise, with strikes from guards and drivers relating to ticket machines and rest day working respectively, but these issues were later resolved.

Changes to the timetable were implemented in December 2005 in accordance with DfT requirements [3], which left some stations without any off-peak service, although a new route was introduced between Hertford East and Stratford. Other timetable changes resulted in reduced access to the Berney Marshes by means of Berney Arms railway station but an extra 3,000 seats on the West Anglia Route [4].

The intercity trains inherited by 'one' used locomotive-hauled Mark 2 or Mark 3 sets of coaches. The Mark 2 sets were replaced with ex-Virgin Trains Mark 3 sets and all 116 Mark 3 coaches were refurbished. Replacing the Class 86 locomotives and Mk2s with Class 90s and Mk3s from the WCML was criticised as a result of their poorer condition resulting from a lack of maintenance and cleaning before they were withdrawn from service with Virgin. ‘one’ also received criticism for its references to "newer" trains, since the Mk3s are in fact only a few years newer than the Mk2s, in some cases being introduced just one year later.[5] These changes did result in improvements though, the class 90s were probably the main factor in the 17% improvement in the 'miles per 5-minute delay' figure in the year up to October 2006, but this still left 'one' behind all the other ex-Intercity services, in terms of performance.

The Present

Performance of the class 360 trains improved dramatically over the year up to October 2006, moving from 14,212 miles per 5-minute delay in the previous year, to one of the best in the Country at 31,563 miles. On the same measure, the class 321s deteriorated slightly from 21,620 to 21,098 miles - while the class 321s operated by Silverlink show what these trains are capable of, achieving a corresponding figure of 43,267 miles per 5-minute delay. The figures for the class 315 and 317 trains operated by 'one' are more mixed and less easy to summarise. The reliability of the Class 156 Super Sprinters improved by 86%, leading to a 'Silver Spanner' award for the Crown Point depot at Norwich. Their miles per 5-minute delay figure of 5894 was however still some way behind the 8544 miles for the Class 156s of ScotRail.

Many of the delays experienced on the 'one' network relate to the state of the railway infrastructure and how close they operate to capacity. Overhead line equipment is of serious concern to 'one' - some of it is of 1940s vintage out as far as Shenfield. 'One' has asked for an independent report to validate what Network Rail is doing and to ensure they are being treated fairly. Over Christmas and New Year 2007/8 there will be a major blockade on train services on the mainline in order for much of the outer London overhead line equipment to be replaced with modern, self tensioning lines. Problems with overhead line equipment were responsible for major delays on the 'one' network on the 19th and 20th of April near Ingatestone. This resulted in major delays and cancellations as a result of single line working. Network Rail, the company responsible for the infrastructure, have admitted in their 2007 Great Eastern Business Plan that the majority of performance issues with 'one' are Network Rail's responsibility - the infrastructure 'one' uses - such as signalling equipment.[1]

In the four weeks to April 28 2007 punctuality increased to 91.7% for mainline services. This includes services to Clacton, Harwich and Braintree, as well as the intercity route. [2]

Compensation

'one' have however, always been keen to placate their passengers for disruption and operate a Delay Repay scheme under the terms of their Passengers' Charter which is more generous than the minimum provided for by the National Rail Conditions of Carriage[3]. However it does mean passengers have to remember to claim compensation where as the majority of other TOCs automatically provide compensation on season ticket renewals. This has resulted in the creation of Delay-Repay.com a website dedicated to recording the delays encountered by 'one' passengers and helping them claim compensation.


It is perhaps worth remembering that, in the year up to June 2007 (according to Modern Railways), some 120 million passengers used Liverpool Street Station. This makes it Britain's busiest station and twice as busy as Heathrow Airport.

References

  1. ^ Daily Telegraph, 2006
  2. ^ BBC News, 2004
  3. ^ Hoddesdon & Broxbourne Mercury, 2006
  4. ^ ‘one’, 2005[dead link]
  5. ^ Stakeholders view new Mark 3 carriages, 6 March 2006
Wikimedia Commons has media related to one (train operating company).


Preceded by
Anglia Railways
Anglia franchise
 Operator of Greater Anglia franchise
2004 - present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
First Great Eastern
Great Eastern franshise
Preceded by
wagn
West Anglia Great Northern franchise


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