First Great Eastern

Class 360 Desiro at Ipswich in 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
Parent company	FirstGroup
Reporting mark	GE
Successor	One

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.

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]

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][full citation needed]}

Fleet at end of franchise

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			75	120	Hired from Anglia Railways		1984–1987
153							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			75	120	43	London Liverpool Street–Shenfield and Southminster Romford–Upminster	1980–1981
321			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					21	London Liverpool Street–Clacton-on-Sea and Harwich Town London Liverpool Street–Ipswich (peak times only)	2002–2003

First Great Eastern's fleet was maintained at Ilford depot.

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][full citation needed]} In December 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the Greater Anglia franchise to National Express, and the services operated by First Great Eastern were transferred to One (later National Express East Anglia) on 1 April 2004.^[6]

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