'one'

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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 size:
Stations:
Parent company:	National Express Group
Web site:	www.onerailway.com

‘one’ is the brand name of London Eastern Railway Ltd, 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. In March 2006, ‘one’ earned the dubious distinction of operating 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". It is now believed that 'one' will cease to exist soon due to this confusion, as mentioned in The Sun newspaper, this will mean that the company will have to re-brand all their assets.

[edit] Services

Despite the choice of the brand name ‘one’ to emphasize 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:

• ‘one’ Anglia — InterCity services to Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich as well as local services in Suffolk and Norfolk. For further information on local lines see the following links.
  • Bittern Line (Norwich–Cromer–Sheringham)
  • Breckland Line (Norwich-Ely (continuing to Cambridge))
  • East Suffolk Line (Ipswich–Lowestoft)
  • Ely to Peterborough Line (Ely-Peterborough)
  • Felixstowe Branch Line (Ipswich–Felixstowe)
  • Ipswich to Ely Line (Ipswich-Bury St. Edmunds, continuing to Ely/Newmarket-Cambridge)
  • Wherry Lines (Norwich–Great Yarmouth / Lowestoft)

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’ Great Eastern — mainline services to Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Clacton.
  • Mainline ‘metro’ service to Shenfield
  • Upminster Branch Line (Romford–Upminster)
  • Shenfield to Southend Line (Shenfield-Southend Victoria)
  • Crouch Valley Line (Shenfield–Wickford–Southminster)
  • Braintree Branch Line (Witham–Braintree)
  • Sudbury Branch Line (Marks Tey–Sudbury)
  • Colchester to Clacton Line (Colchester-Clacton or Walton-on-the-Naze)
  • Mayflower Line (Manningtree–Harwich)
• ‘one’ West Anglia — services to Cambridge, Enfield, Hertford East and Chingford, plus local services from Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport. There are also services from Stratford to Stansted Airport.
  • West Anglia Main Line (London–Harlow–Cambridge/Stansted)
  • Lea Valley Lines (London–Seven Sisters / Tottenham / Chingford / Enfield)
• ‘one’ Stansted Express — express services between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport.

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.

[edit] 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 for the intercity services, supplemented by Class 47s leased from Cotswold Rail.

Some locals have criticised the move to replace the Class 150s with Central Trains' 153s and 156s, saying that the 150s were more comfortable. The Class 170s stick predominantly to 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.

[edit] Performance

As can be seen below ‘one’ has been criticised for poor performance, the condition of their rolling stock and for making unpopular timetable changes. However, performance data from Network Rail shows that in the year to 4 February 2006 their performance was slightly better than average (86.5% versus 85.8%).

‘one’ made a number of timetabling changes in December 2004, including expanding direct services to London from Lowestoft, Harwich and stations to Peterborough. However this led to some services being cut, such as the Ipswich to Cambridge service, resulting in overcrowding. This was so severe that it meant that the conductor could not get from one end of the train to the other, leading to lost revenue ^[3].

The ‘one’ fleet includes Class 317 electric multiple units.

Further changes to the timetable were implemented in December 2005 in order to "meet requirements laid down by the Department of Transport" ^[4], which left some stations without any off-peak service, although a new route has been introduced between Hertford East and Stratford. Changes to the Norwich to Great Yarmouth via Reedham line reduced access to the Berney Marshes by means of Berney Arms railway station. However, these changes introduced an extra 3,000 seats on the West Anglia Route ^[5]

‘one’ has been criticised for the condition of some of its rolling stock. The intercity trains use locomotive-hauled Mark 2 or Mark 3 sets. ‘one’ is gradually replacing the Mark 2 sets with Mark 3 sets, which are undergoing refurbishment. The decision to rapidly replace the Class 86s and Mk2s with Class 90s and Mk3s fresh from hard work on the West Coast Mainline has led to some criticism, since in many cases they were in worse condition than what they replaced, not helped by the run down in maintenance and cleaning by Virgin Trains before they were withdrawn. ‘one’ have 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.^[6]

‘one’ has had poor industrial relations since it started operating the franchise, with guards and revenue staff striking over the introduction of new machines, and in December 2005 drivers’ union ASLEF banned rest day working, although this has since been resolved.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: one (train operating company)

• ‘one’ website
• Colchester train performance data
• Ipswich train performance data
• Manningtree Rail Users Association