The completion of the upgrade on all 61 members of the National Express east Anglia Class 315 fleet was marked with a naming of set No. 315857 Stratford Connections at Stratford station on 19 March 2008.

The fleet upgrade contract has been carried out by Bombardier transportation at its Derby Litchurch Lane facility. The work has included technical improvements as well as passenger saloon upgrades, this has included an improved décor, removing the original yellow door vestibule areas and replacing with a pink laminate, new seat covers, new flooring, upgraded sliding door mechanisms and the fitting of a very high-quality CCTV system recording the passenger actions in all vehicles. The download tapes from these are available to the police is trouble is reported onboard a train.

At this stage the Class 315s are not finished in the latest National Express white and grey colours, but are finished in the previous ‘one’ Anglia dark grey/blue and black colour scheme now offset by a white body length band bearing the National Express name.

National Express East Anglia Managing Director Andrew Chivers said he wanted to mark the completion with a naming event and it was agreed that as Stratford was now such a major interchange for the TOC operations that it was fitting to name the train with Stratford Connections. The name reflects the huge level of interchange available at the improved Stratford station, linking national network services with London Underground, Docklands Light Rail and soon Eurostar. The station will become the hub of activity for the 2012 Olympic Games with much work ongoing towards this project at the present time.

The trains name was unveiled by Dave Pryor of the Canary Wharf Transport Forum, a partnership of stakeholders and businesses in Canary Wharf, which National Express East Anglia is a partner.