First Great Eastern

Class 360 Desiro at Ipswich in 2004
Overview
Franchises	Great Eastern: 5 January 1997 – 31 March 2004
Main regions	East London, East of England
Fleet	144
Stations called at	61
Parent company	FirstGroup
Reporting mark	GE
Successor	One
Other
Website	www.ger.co.uk[a]

First Great Eastern^[1] was a train operating company that ran the Great Eastern franchise in the East of England from January 1997 until March 2004. It was owned by FirstGroup.

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 the Gainsborough Line from Marks Tey to Sudbury.^[2]

First Great Eastern inherited a fleet of Classes 312, 315 and 321 electric multiple units from British Rail. A Class 15x diesel multiple unit was hired from Anglia Railways for the Marks Tey to Sudbury service, due to the line not being electrified; a Class 150 was 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 from Siemens Mobility, with the first entering service in August 2003.^{[4][full citation needed]}

Fleet in March 2004, at the end of the 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 EMU 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 a new Greater Anglia franchise.^{[5][full citation needed]} In December 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the franchise to National Express and services were transferred to One (later National Express East Anglia) on 1 April 2004.^[6]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to First Great Eastern.