Wagn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The correct title of this article is wagn. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
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| Franchise(s): | West Anglia Great Northern: until April 2004 Great Northern only: April 2004 to April 2006 |
| Main region(s): | East of England |
| Other region(s): | Greater London (north and north-east) |
| Fleet size: | 145 |
| Stations: | 55 |
| Parent company: | National Express Group |
| Web site: | www.wagn.co.uk |
wagn was a franchise operator of commuter train services on the Great Northern route out of London King's Cross and Moorgate stations. In December 2005, wagn lost the franchise to run these routes, which was taken over on 1 April 2006 by FirstGroup plc as successful bidders for the new combined Thameslink-Great Northern franchise. FirstGroup operates under the new First Capital Connect brand.
WAGN stood for West Anglia Great Northern and initially, in addition to services from London King's Cross, it also operated services from London Liverpool Street to Enfield, Hertford East, Stansted Airport, and Cambridge: these services formed the 'West Anglia' (WA) part of the WAGN brand. In April 2004 West Anglia services were absorbed into the new 'one' franchise operating all services from Liverpool Street, with the Great Northern (GN) lines being retained as the new "Great Northern lines only" wagn. At this point, wagn stopped referring to itself as West Anglia Great Northern and instead as ‘wagn’, spelling each letter out for automated announcements. The public, however, frequently used the term "wagon" to refer to the company and its trains.
During the period when timetable reliability was at an all-time low, the expressions ‘We're All Going Nowhere’, ‘We Are Going Now’ and ‘Wait Ages Get Nowhere’ became popular with some more cynical travellers. Ironically, the Class 365 units were some of the most reliable trains in Britain with a MTBF of over 60,000 miles.
WAGN was originally owned by Prism Rail, which was subsequently absorbed by National Express Group.
[edit] External links
- "one" railway
- First Capital Connect
- BBC News, 13 Dec [[2005 - Franchise announcement]
| Preceded by: Network SouthEast As part of British Rail |
Operator of West Anglia/Great Northern franchise 1997-2004/2006 |
Succeeded by: 'one' West Anglia ---- First Capital Connect Great Northern |
| Defunct train operating companies: | |
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| InterCity: | Anglia Railways - Great Western Trains |
| London & South East: | Connex South Central - Connex South Eastern - First Great Eastern - First Great Western Link South Eastern Trains - Thames Trains - Thameslink - wagn |
| Regional: | Arriva Trains Merseyside - Arriva Trains Northern - First North Western - MTL - North Western Trains Northern Spirit - ScotRail - Valley Lines - Wales and Borders - Wales and West - Wessex Trains |
