During September 2021, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced it would be terminating the South Eastern franchise then-operated by the Govia-owned Southeastern as a result of revenue declaration discrepancies involving £25million of public money were discovered.[6][7][8] On 17 October 2021, an operator of last resort (OLR), SE Trains Limited, took over operations under the Southeastern brand; at the time, the DfT stated the OLR would manage the franchise for a six-year period, the end-date being set as 17 October 2027.[3]
Southeastern has been one of several train operators impacted by the 2022–2023 United Kingdom railway strikes, which are the first national rail strikes in the UK for three decades.[9] Its workers are amongst those who are participating in industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions.[10] These actions have let to Southeastern occasionally being unable to provide a full service level, and due to the often abrupt nature of the industrial action, which has included overtime bans and strikes, has sometimes not been able to arrange for rail replacement buses in time.[11][12]
On 1 June 2023, both e-scooters and electric skateboards were banned from being carried onboard Southeastern trains; the reason for the ban was that the lithium-ion batteries that power these compact vehicles posed a fire safety risk. Most electric bicycles may still be taken onboard however.[13] Over the summer of 2023, Southeastern opened multiple new secure cycle hubs at railway stations across Kent as part of wider efforts to making its stations more accessible to cyclists.[14] These additions came amid a £4.4 million station improvement programme covering both Kent and south east London headed by both Southeastern and Network Rail.[15]
During late 2023, Southeastern introduced digital season tickets, referred to as sTickets, enabling customers to purchase and store season tickets on their smartphones. They can be bought through Southeastern's website as well as its mobile application, incorporates anti-fraud measures, and is valid for travel across south-east London, Kent, and East Sussex.[16] Several other fare changes were made around this time, including the abolition of super off-peak tickets and various price rises.[17] Around the same time, Southeastern scrapped its plans to close many of its manned ticket offices across its network.[18][19]
Upon its takeover of the franchise, Southeastern initially operated the same routes and services as its predecessor. During December 2022, a new timetable was introduced that reportedly aimed to reduce congestion, improve reliability and better match demand following the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] One year later, it was announced that Southeastern was to put on an addition 100 trains per week as a result of timetable changes based on customer feedback and travel pattern analysis across Kent, East Sussex and south-east London.[22][23]
Several parties have called for the transfer of Southeastern's metro services to Transport for London (TfL).[24] Prior to the OLR taking over operations, TfL itself had announced its intention to take over the London suburban parts of the franchise and integrate them into a wider metro network.[25][26] Officials such as the Mayor of LondonSadiq Khan have publicly supported this move.[27][28]
As of December 2023, the weekday off-peak service pattern, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), is:[29]
At the commencement of operations, Southeastern retained the same electric multiple units as its predecessor. It promptly launched a refurbishment programme covering most of its existing rolling stock; £27 million alone was allocated to the refurbishment of its 29 Class 395 Javelin high-speed trains.[42][43] By May 2013, Southeastern had reportedly completed work on half of its 112-strong Class 375 Electrostar fleet under a £10 million upgrade programme; internal changes included the addition of new USB ports, at-seat electrical sockets, LED lighting, and energy meters.[44]
The previous franchisee had finalised a leasing arrangement for the entire Class 707 fleet and was in the process in the process of launching the type into service when the OLR took over.[45][46] Southeastern has continued this deal, thus the remainder of the 30 Class 707s shall enter service as they are released by South Western Railway.[2]
Various initiatives have been explored to improve train performance and capabilities and effectiveness. Southeastern formed a team with Siemens Mobility and Eversholt Rail to jointly develop a fully automated vehicle inspection system to inspect its vehicles; this technology, which uses numerous high sensitivity cameras and optical laser sensors, is to be first used at the operator's Ramsgate depot, and will be active from 2025.[47]
Southeastern has also examined the prospects for replacing older portions of its train fleet. In November 2022, the operator launched the process of procuring new trains via the issuing of a tender. Southeastern has sought between 350 and 640 new carriages for its services; these are projected to be introduced sometime during the mid-2020s.[48][49]
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by the British Railways Board, from 1965 using the brand name British Rail. Northern Ireland, which is bordered by the Republic of Ireland, has a different system. National Rail services share a ticketing structure and inter-availability that generally do not extend to services which were not part of British Rail.
c2c is a British train operating company owned by Trenitalia that operates the Essex Thameside railway contract. It manages 25 stations and its trains call at 28. c2c provides commuter services from its London Fenchurch Street terminus to parts of East London and south Essex along the London, Tilbury and Southend line. At weekends it also operates from London Liverpool Street.
Southern is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) train operating company on the Southern routes of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise in England. It is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead and Keolis, and has operated the South Central franchise since August 2001 and the Gatwick Express service since June 2008. When the passenger rail franchise was subsumed into GTR, Southern was split from Gatwick Express and the two became separate brands, alongside the Thameslink and Great Northern brands.
Lewisham is an interchange station in Lewisham, south-east London for Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and National Rail services.
Dartford railway station serves the town of Dartford in Kent, England. It is 17 miles 12 chains (27.6 km) down the line from London Charing Cross. Train services from the station are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink. Southeastern also manages the station. Dartford is a major interchange station in the North Kent region of the Southeastern network. Ticket barriers control access to the platforms.
A train operating company (TOC) is the term used on the railway system of Great Britain for a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993.
Eden Park railway station serves Eden Park in the London Borough of Bromley in south east London, in Travelcard Zone 5. It is therefore possible to use an Oyster card at the station. It is 12 miles 34 chains (20.0 km) down the line from London Charing Cross. The station and all trains serving it is operated by Southeastern on the Hayes line. The trains are electric, powered by a third rail.
West Wickham railway station serves West Wickham in the London Borough of Bromley. It is located in Southeast London and is in Travelcard Zone 5. It is 13 miles 19 chains (21.3 km) down the line from London Charing Cross.
Sevenoaks railway station is a railway station on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the town of Sevenoaks, Kent. It is 22 miles 9 chains (35.6 km) down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between Dunton Green and Hildenborough stations. Trains calling at the station are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink.
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern, was a British train operating company owned by Govia that operated passenger rail services in South East England. It was the key operator of commuter and regional services in South East London and Kent, and also served parts of East Sussex.
The South Eastern franchise, also known as the Integrated Kent franchise, is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services between London and Kent in South East England.
Greater Anglia is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and intercity services from its Central London terminus at London Liverpool Street to Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire as well as many regional services throughout the East of England.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the TSGN rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs trains under the sub-brands Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express. GTR is a subsidiary of Govia, which is itself a joint venture between the British Go-Ahead Group (65%) and French company Keolis (35%).
Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva, was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operator Northern Rail. A subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains, Northern was the largest train franchise in the United Kingdom in terms of the size of the network and the number of weekly services run. Its trains called at 528 stations, about a quarter of all stations in the country; of these stations 476 were operated by Northern. On 1 March 2020, Arriva Rail North Limited ceased to operate and all operations were handed to HM Government's Operator of Last Resort.
The British Rail Class 707 Desiro City is an electric multiple unit passenger train. Siemens Mobility built 30 five-carriage sets, initially leased by South West Trains. SWT's franchise successor South Western Railway began phasing them out from September 2021. Twenty-eight sets are now in service with Southeastern having been transferred from South Western Railway by late 2023, with two sets remaining at South Western Railway.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four companies which operated between 1923 and 1948.
East Midlands Railway is a British train operating company owned by Transport UK Group, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.
Northern Trains, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail North had its franchise terminated at the end of February 2020.
Transport for Wales Rail Limited, branded as Transport for Wales and TfW Rail, is a Welsh publicly owned train operating company, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh Government-owned company. It commenced operations of the day to day services of the Wales & Borders franchise on 7 February 2021, as an operator of last resort, succeeding KeolisAmey Wales.
DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL) is a holding company established by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom to act as operator of last resort for rail franchises that are nationalised.
References
1 2 3 Russell, David (May 2024). "GTR to lease Class 379s from Porterbrook". Units. Rail Express. No.336. p.22.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
