a two-tone blue in 2006, retaining the white waist-band. They also carried a Southend Borough Council logo. A battery powered single passenger car, built by Castleline of Nottingham, entered service in November 1995 for service in winter. This car is numbered 1835, the year that Southend Pier first appeared on Admiralty charts. There are also several wagons for maintenance trains. 21st century On 9 October 2005, a fire severely damaged much of the pier head including the railway station. The station was temporarily re-sited, until a new and modern structure was opened on the original site in September 2009. Although the passenger trains were not damaged, two wagons used on maintenance trains were destroyed in the fire. In September 2016, the railway was out of action due to emergency engineering works, though the pier itself was still open to the public. The Pier Railway reopened in late 2016. Two new, Severn Lamb built, trains were scheduled to replace the 1986 built trains in 2021. The new trains began arriving at the pier on 28 September 2021. They are painted in the green and cream livery carried by the earlier electric trains. Operation The line is owned and operated by Southend-on-Sea City Council, and operates every day the pier is open. The normal service uses a single train, and runs every half-hour. At peak times a two train service is operated, providing a 15-minute interval service. Trains operate between stations known as Shore and Pier Head with no intermediate stops. The train service is provided by one diesel train and one battery-electric train. The diesel train consists of a diesel-hydraulic locomotive at the southern end, five trailer coaches and, at the northern end, a driver control unit with passenger space and is named Sir William Heygate. A second former diesel train, Sir John Betjeman, has been decommissioned, the locomotive parked at the pier end station, and the carriage bodies removed from their chassis and reused as waiting shelters at various places in the station and around the pier. The first battery-electric train was named Sir David Amess in tribute to the murdered MP, by Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at a ceremony to mark the granting of city status to Southend on 1 May 2022. A twin-track island platform is provided at each terminus, and there is a passing loop in mid-pier, but otherwise the line is single tracked.