Anglia Railways operated InterCity services on the Great Eastern Main Line from London Liverpool Street to Harwich International and Norwich. It also operated regional services between Ipswich & Felixstowe, Ipswich & Lowestoft, Ipswich & Ely, Harwich International / Ipswich & Cambridge, Ely & Peterborough, Norwich & Ely, Norwich & Sheringham, Norwich & Great Yarmouth and Norwich & Lowestoft. A franchise commitment was to increase the hourly London Liverpool Street and Norwich services to half-hourly. The half-hourly service was introduced in 2000 with some extended to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. With funding from the Strategic Rail Authority's Rail Partnership Funding, Anglia introduced a new experimental service from the Great EasternMain Line via the North London Line to Basingstoke branded London Crosslink. It operated from 22 May 2000 until ceasing on 28 September 2002 due to poor loadings. A more successful new service with Rail Partnership Funding was introduced on 29 September 2002 from Norwich to Cambridge. This continues to operate.
Rolling stock
Anglia Railways inherited a fleet of Class 86s, Mark 2 carriages, Driving Brake Standard Opens, Class 150s and Class 153s from British Rail. On 10 June 1998, it unveiled its turquoise and white livery. In June 1998, preserved British Rail Class 201 1001 commenced an eleven-month lease operating services from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. To meet a franchise commitment to operate two services per hour between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, eight three-carriage Class 170s were delivered in 1999/2000. A further four two-carriage Class 170s were delivered in 2002. Due to the new stock running late, West Anglia Great NorthernClass 317s and Class 322s were used for a time. The three-carriage Class 170s were used on new services from London Liverpool Street to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, on London Crosslink services as well as being hired to GB Railways' Hull Trains subsidiary to work London King's Cross to Hull services from September 2000. The two-carriage examples were principally used on the new Norwich to Cambridge services. Anglia hired a Class 47 from Cotswold Rail from June 2002 as a rescue locomotive and to haul Mark 2 sets on Summer Saturday services to Great Yarmouth. In July 2002, Anglia hired a Class 90 from Freightliner for a few months with a view to replacing the Class 86s. In October 2003, Anglia began operating three Class 90s from English Welsh & Scottish until the end of the franchise.
In 2002, as part of a franchise reorganisation by the Strategic Rail Authority, it was announced that the Anglia Railways franchise would be merged into the Greater Anglia franchise. Having missed out on pre-qualifying for the Greater Anglia franchise, FirstGroup purchased GB Railways in August 2003. In December 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the Greater Anglia franchise to National Express with the services operated by Anglia Railways transferring to One on 1 April 2004.
