In April 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority announced Arriva, GB Railways and National Express had been shortlisted to bid for the new franchise.[5] In December 2003, the franchise was awarded to National Express with all the services operated by Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern along with those out of London Liverpool Street by West Anglia Great Northern, transferring to One on 1 April 2004.[6][7] The franchise was to run until March 2011, with provision for a three-year extension if performance targets were met.
One
The area names from the former franchises were initially retained as sub-brands by the new franchise, One Anglia, One Great Eastern and One West Anglia, however other than Stansted Express all services were soon branded as just One, reflecting the union of the three smaller franchises into one single franchise. This led to passenger confusion as they were unable to establish if announcements were for the 07:20 One service, or the 07:21 service resulting in the company's name being omitted from announcements.[8][full citation needed]
National Express East Anglia
In February 2008, as part of a group wide rebranding exercise, the franchise was redesignated again. This time it became National Express East Anglia.[9][10]
Following a change of government at the 2010 General Election, the Department for Transport announced all refranchising would be put on hold while a review was conducted into the franchising process.[13][14] As a result, National Express were granted an initial extension until October 2011, followed by another until February 2012.[15]
For eight weeks in summer 2004, Ipswich tunnel was closed with One running two Norwich to Liverpool Street services via Cambridge with Cotswold RailClass 47s.[16]
A franchise commitment was the replacement of the Class 86s and Mark 2 carriages with Class 90s and Mark 3 carriages that were being replaced by Virgin Trains with the Class 390 Pendolino. Initially the Mark 3s entered service in the same run-down condition in which they had left Virgin, before all were overhauled at Bombardier Transportation's Derby Litchurch Lane Works. The last Class 86s and Mark 2 carriages were withdrawn in late 2006.
In 2005, the Class 150s were exchanged with nine Class 156s from Central Trains. In 2009, National Express East Anglia received 17 Class 321s transferred from London Midland.
Another franchise commitment was the procurement of new stock for the Stansted Express service. This resulted in 30 four-carriage Class 379 Electrostars being ordered; the first entered service in March 2011.[20]
A Class 47 was hired from Cotswold Rail for use on rescue duties and to haul the initial weekday and later Summer Saturday only services from Norwich to Great Yarmouth. After Cotswold ceased trading in 2009, Direct Rail Services Class 47s were hired. DB Schenker often provided Class 90s to cover for unavailability of One's fleet.
Infrastructure problems have affected performance. According to Network Rail, the main problems have been track-circuit failures, broken rails, track faults, points failures and overhead line equipment (OLE) failures.[21] Network Rail, which is responsible for the infrastructure, intended to improve performance by work carried out during a planned closure of London Liverpool Street station over Christmas and New Year 2007/8. This allowed much of the outer London overhead line equipment to be replaced by modern, self-tensioning lines.[21] The work was carried out, but overran at short notice by some 24 hours, causing ridicule in the national press.[22]
Detailed figures (from the January edition of Modern Railways) of the miles covered per 5-minute delay for the year ending October 2009 showed that the most reliable trains in the fleet were again the Class 360 Desiros (mainly Clacton-on-Sea to London Liverpool Street), which achieved over 38,000 miles per five-minute delay. The 'workhorse' Class 321s by comparison returned some 21,500 miles per five-minute delay, while the 'Inter-City' Class 90 locomotive-hauled Norwich - Liverpool Street trains came in at some 14,000 miles per five-minute delay - this last figure being a 35% improvement on last year's 10,400. The Class 90 locomotives won the Silver Spanner award for InterCity rolling stock at the Annual National Rail Awards 2009.
Demise
In March 2011, the Department for Transport announced Abellio, Go-Ahead, and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the new Greater Anglia franchise.[23] In October 2011, the new franchise was awarded to Abellio with the services operated by National Express East Anglia transferring to Greater Anglia on 5 February 2012.[24][25]
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