Anglia Railways was a train operating company in England, owned by

GB Railways GB Railways was the parent company of a number of train operating companies, running the Anglia Railways franchise from January 1997 and launching Hull Trains and GB Railfreight. GB Railways was also involved in the management of the Estonian r ...

and later

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Director of Passenger Rail Franchising The Director of Passenger Rail Franchising was a statutory office in the United Kingdom created in 1993 by the Railways Act 1993 and usually called the Franchising Director. It lasted from 5 November 1993 until 31 January 2001 when it was sup ...

with the franchise commencing on 5 January 1997. In June 1998, Anglia Railways unveiled a turquoise and white livery. Prior to 1997 the trains were run by British Rail sectors of

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

and

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...

. After March 2004 the trains were run by

National Express East Anglia National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...

Services

Anglia Railways operated

services on the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

from

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

to Harwich International and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. 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. A franchise commitment was to increase the hourly London Liverpool Street and

services to half-hourly. The half-hourly service was introduced in 2000 with some extended to

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is an English seaside town within the county of Norfolk, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban Distr ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

and Lowestoft. With funding from the Strategic Rail Authority's Rail Partnership Funding, Anglia introduced a new experimental service from the

via the North London Line to

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

branded

London Crosslink London Crosslink was a passenger train service operated by Anglia Railways between Norwich and Basingstoke, using the North London Line to bypass central London. Class 170 ''Turbostar'' diesel multiple units were used, and the service operat ...

. It operated from 22 May 2000 until ceasing on 28 September 2002 due to poor loadings. A more successful new service with Rail Partnership Funding was introduced on 29 September 2002 from Norwich to Cambridge. This continues to operate.

Rolling stock

Anglia Railways inherited a fleet of Class 86s, Mark 2 carriages,

Driving Brake Standard Open A Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO) is a type of railway carriage in Great Britain, converted to operate as a control car; this is not to be confused with DVTs, such as those in InterCity 225 sets. Fourteen such vehicles, numbered 9701 t ...

s, 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. In June 1998, preserved Class 201 unit 1001 commenced an eleven-month lease operating services from

and Lowestoft. To meet a franchise commitment to operate two services per hour between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, eight three-car Class 170

Turbostar The Bombardier Turbostar (sold as the ADtranz Turbostar until 2001) is a family of diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger trains that was built by ADtranz and later Bombardier Transportation at Derby Litchurch Lane Works in the United Kingdom ...

units were delivered in 1999/2000. These units were used on new services from Liverpool Street to

, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and on London Crosslink services, as well as being hired to

Hull Trains Hull Trains is an open-access railway operator in England owned by the multinational transport company FirstGroup. It operates long-distance passenger services between Hull / Beverley and London King's Cross. It has a track-access agreement u ...

subsidiary to work services between London King's Cross and Hull from September 2000. Due to late delivery of these units,

Class 317 The British Rail Class 317 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited in two batches, 48 sets being produced in 1981–82 and 24 sets in 1985–87. They were the first of several classes ...

s and Class 322s were hired from

West Anglia Great Northern West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to ''WAGN'', was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between Apri ...

for a time. A further four two-car Class 170s were delivered in 2002, and were principally used on the new Norwich to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

services. Anglia hired a Class 47 from

Cotswold Rail Cotswold Rail was an English company, based in Gloucester, which arranged the spot-hire of shunting and mainline locomotives. History Cotswold Rail was founded in 2000, initially as a broker for rolling stock. In June 2000, it offered 13 C ...

from June 2002 as a rescue locomotive and to haul Mark 2 sets on summer Saturday services to Great Yarmouth. In July 2002, Anglia hired a Class 90 from Freightliner for a few months with a view to replacing the Class 86s. In October 2003, Anglia began operating three Class 90s from English, Welsh & Scottish Railway until the end of the franchise.

Depot

Anglia Railway's fleet was maintained at

Crown Point TMD Crown Point TMD is a train maintenance depot in Norwich, England. History Work began on building Crown Point TMD in 1980. It was built on a triangular 12-acre site between the Great Eastern and Wherry Lines to the east of Norwich station. It ...

Demise

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. Having missed out on pre-qualifying for the Greater Anglia franchise,

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

with the services operated by Anglia Railways transferring to One on 1 April 2004.National Express wins rail franchise
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' 22 December 2003

References

External links

*
Company website
{{UK TOCs, defunct, state=collapsed Defunct train operating companies FirstGroup railway companies Railway companies established in 1997 Railway companies disestablished in 2004 1997 establishments in England 2004 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 2004 British companies established in 1997