Great North Eastern Railway, often referred to as GNER, was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland from April 1996 until December 2007.

During March 1996, Sea Containers was awarded the franchise to operate the East Coast services; it began operations on 28 April 1996. Initially receiving a favourable reception, the company brought in several service alterations and innovations, including the leasing of Class 373 Regional Eurostars along with the refurbishment of the InterCity 225 fleet. However, GNER's reputation and passenger numbers were both hit by a pair of derailments during the early 2000s, the Hatfield rail crash and the Great Heck rail crash. Plans to procure a fleet of tilting trains based on the Pendolino were mooted by the company, but were discarded amid a protracted and complex refranchising process.

During March 2005, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the East Coast franchise to GNER for a second time; however, the terms for this second franchise period were financially demanding, seeing the withdrawal of subsidies and enactment of charges to the British Government. Concerns over the viability of such payments, as well as the general financial condition of Sea Containers were well-founded, with the latter entering bankruptcy in November 2006. Following its inability to fulfil agreed payments, GNER was stripped of the franchise during December 2006, although it continued to run services on the route for another year via a management contract. The final northbound GNER train was the 20:30 London King's Cross – Newcastle on 8 December 2007; the company was replaced by the new franchisee National Express East Coast one day later.

The creation of the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) is closely associated with the privatisation of British Rail that was enacted during the mid 1990s; as a result of new government policies, railway operations were to be operated by various private sector companies working under a franchise arrangement. Accordingly, the InterCity East Coast franchise was one such franchise created to take over operations of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) from British Rail. According to industry periodical Rail, the East Coast franchise was commonly viewed as one of the better franchises to bid for, as the ECML had been electrified only a few years before hand and was being served by the newest intercity stock in British Rail's inventory, the InterCity 225; the line also had a well-established reputation for its high-speed services.

Accordingly, numerous private companies submitted bids to the Office for Passenger Rail Franchising. One such firm was the Bermuda-based transport and container leasing company Sea Containers, whose bid was announced as the winner during March 1996, leading to a seven-year franchise upon the East Coast being awarded to their newly created subsidiary GNER. The initials GNER were reminiscent of the historic London and North Eastern Railway (LNER, no relation to the current train operating company), the company that operated the route before being nationalised as part of British Railways in 1948. Additionally, the name combined the initials of two of the LNER's predecessor companies, the Great Northern Railway (GNR), who had built King's Cross station, and the Great Eastern Railway (GER). GNER made further links to the past companies by adopting a dark-blue livery with red trimming lines for its trains, similar to that used by the GER, and using a Victorian coat of arms-style crest on their trains.

The company's image was professionally designed by Vignelli Associates, an Italian design house; it was responsible for the train liveries and interiors, staff uniforms and overall corporate identity. Their website states "The Great North Eastern Railway logo emphasises the NE. The train has a new livery, dark blue with a bright red stripe containing all necessary information. It has a crest, a required tradition, and sober interiors for both first and tourist class."

Operations commenced on 28 April 1996. From its onset, GNER's management had pledged to bring about substantial changes and improvements upon the ECML. Amongst its franchise promises was that the train mileage operated in the 1995/1996 period would be initially maintained for period of two years, along with a stated ambition to increase it in the long term; furthermore, all existing rolling stock would undergo refurbishment, and that all trains would feature an onboard buffet and trolley service. The stations of the route were also to receive improvement packages; these were typically focused on improving access and security alike, while neighbouring car parks were also expanded wherever reasonable to do so.

During January 1997, Sea Containers Chairman James Sherwood announced that GNER intended to procure a pair of two new-build tilting trains; these were claimed to enable the London-Edinburgh journey to be reduced to only 3 hours and 30 minutes, in part achieved via their increased maximum speed of 140mph (225kmh). While GNER's Chief Executive Christopher Garnett stated that he expected the delivery of these new trains within two years, an order having been reportedly placed during October 1997, no such tilting trains were ever introduced appear. The original fleet would be supplemented by additional rolling stock to bolster capacity; such stock included the one-off Class 89 locomotive and a number of Class 373 Regional Eurostars.