West Anglia Great Northern

West Anglia Great Northern

Class 317 at Cambridge in 2004
Overview
Franchise(s)	West Anglia Great Northern: 5 January 1997 – 31 March 2004 Great Northern only: 1 April 2004 – 31 March 2006
Main region(s)	East of England
Other region(s)	Greater London (north and north-east)
Fleet size	145
Stations called at	55
Parent company	Prism Rail (1997–2000) National Express (2000–2006)
Reporting mark	WN
Successors	One First Capital Connect

West Anglia Great Northern,^[1] commonly shortened to WAGN, was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between April 2004 and March 2006. It was initially owned by Prism Rail, and was subsequently acquired by the British transport conglomerate National Express.

The West Anglia Great Northern franchise was created as part of the privatisation of British Rail, the recently founded company Prism Rail successfully bid for it, being awarded a seven year concession for its operation during December 1996. It took over operations from British Rail on 5 January 1997. The company set about overhauling its inherited rolling stock, such as the Class 313 and Class 317 electric multiple units. By 1999, WAGN was amongst the best performing franchises according to statistics compiled by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising. However, proposed open access services between Peterborough and Doncaster by WAGN were rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) due to a lack of capacity.

During July 2000, Prism Rail, along with WAGN, was acquired by the British transport conglomerate National Express via a £166 million deal. In January 2002, as part of a wider reorganisation of the various franchises conducted by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), it was announced that the franchise would be divided, and that the West Anglia portion would be merged into the Greater Anglia franchise. On 10 May 2002, a northbound WAGN service derailed at Potters Bar, resulting the deaths of seven people and the injury of a further 76; services were heavily disrupted and special measures were implemented in response. In December 2005, the Department for Transport (DfT) awarded the recently created Thameslink franchise to rival company FirstGroup, thus the services operated by WAGN were transferred to the new operator First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006.