First Great Eastern

First Great Eastern<ref>Companies House extract company no 3007936 Great Eastern Railway Limited</ref> was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004.

Logo used from 1997 to 1999

Services

First Great Eastern operated all stops and limited stops services on the Great Eastern Main Line from London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria, Southminster, Template:Stnlnk, 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.<ref>First Great Eastern route map August 2003</ref>

Rolling stock

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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template: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	Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink	1960
150			75	120	Hired from Anglia Railways		1984–1987
153							1987–1988
312		electric multiple unit	90	145	24	Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink and Template:Stnlink (peak times only)	1975–1978
315			75	120	43	Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink and Template:Stnlink Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink	1980–1981
321			100	160	77	Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink, Template:Stnlink, Template:Stnlink, Template:Stnlink, Template:Stnlink, Template:Stnlink Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink (Sundays only)	1988–1990
360/1 Desiro					21	Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink and Template:Stnlink Template:Stnlink–Template:Stnlink (peak times only)	2002–2003

Depot

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

Demise

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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template: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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>