Greater Anglia (2012–2025)
Greater Anglia Class 745 and Class 755 units side by side at Ipswich | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Franchises |
|
| Main region | East of England |
| Other region | Greater London |
| Fleet | |
| Stations called at | 150 |
| Stations operated | 134 |
| Parent company | Transport UK Group (60%) Mitsui & Co (40%) |
| Headquarters | London |
| Reporting mark | LE |
| Predecessor | National Express East Anglia |
| Successor | Greater Anglia |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
Transport UK East Anglia Limited, trading as Greater Anglia and earlier as Abellio Greater Anglia, was a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operated the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city services from its central London terminus at Liverpool Street station to Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, as well as many regional services throughout the East of England.
Abellio began operating the franchise, then known as the Greater Anglia franchise, replacing the National Express franchise on 4 February 2012. Initially, it traded under the same name until it rebranded as Abellio Greater Anglia in December 2013. Shortly after taking over operations, the company initiated a series of projects to improve service levels, including the procurement of new trains and the launch of the Norwich in 90 programme to reduce travel times between several major locations on its network. In May 2015, Greater Anglia's suburban rail services were transferred to London Overground and the precursor to Crossrail, TfL Rail.
The franchise was retendered as the East Anglia franchise and was awarded to Abellio in August 2016. The company resumed trading as Greater Anglia on 16 October 2016 when the new franchise commenced. In January 2017, Abellio announced that subject to gaining Department for Transport (DfT) approval, it had agreed to sell a 40% stake in the business to Mitsui. Since the completion of the sale in March 2017, Greater Anglia has incorporated several Japanese planning tools and practices. Trade unions have objected to some of the changes made by the company, leading to industrial action in 2017 and 2018 as a result of the dispute.
In December 2024, it was announced that Greater Anglia's passenger services would be among the first to be brought into public ownership as part of the government's re-nationalisation plan, following South Western Railway and c2c. This took effect on 12 October 2025, when services were taken over by the new operator of the same name.