Southeastern (train operating company)

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Image:South_eastern_logo.jpg
Franchise(s): Integrated Kent Franchise
2006-01-04 - 2014-03-31
Main region(s): Greater London
Other region(s): Kent, East Sussex
Fleet size: approx. 400
Stations called at: 182
National Rail abbreviation: SE
Parent company: Govia (Go-Ahead Group / Keolis)
Web site: www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/

Southeastern is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It began operations in south-east England on 1 April 2006, replacing the former publicly-owned operator South Eastern Trains and serves the commuter routes to south-east London, Kent, and parts of East Sussex. The London termini of its services are Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street, and Victoria. Southeastern operate on 773 miles (1237 km) of track, with 182 stations. 82% of its train services run into London.

It is owned by Govia, which is itself jointly owned by Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, who also operate the neighbouring Southern operating company which overlaps with Southeastern in some areas. The company’s formal name, under which it mounted its bid for the franchise, is London and South Eastern Railway. Although it continued to use the logo and livery of its predecessor for its first year of operations, a new company logo was adopted early in 2007 and stations, beginning with Waterloo East, have begun to be re-painted under the new corporate colour scheme. In August 2007, a Class 508 train was painted in a new trial livery, although the company has stated that the exact design is yet to be finalised.[1]

Contents

Since the privatisaton of British Rail, the franchise to run trains in this area has changed hands three times. The first company to win the franchise on 14th October 1996 was Connex, who operated it under the name Connex South Eastern. The company gained bad publicity, and their franchise was cut short on 9th November 2003. Train services were then taken over by South Eastern Trains, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority/Department for Transport, until an alternative bidder could be found.

The railway lines of Kent, Southeastern's franchise area.
The railway lines of Kent, Southeastern's franchise area.

From London termini (Victoria, London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross, Blackfriars, and Cannon Street) unless otherwise stated;

The suburban services run to:

Following the completion of High Speed 1, Southeastern will operate high-speed domestic services on it, including the Olympic Javelin service that is to run during London's 2012 Summer Olympics.

A fleet of twenty-nine six-carriage Shinkansen-derived high-speed ‘A-trains’ have already been ordered from Hitachi for this route.[2] This is Hitachi’s first train sale in Britain. They will be known as Class 395 when in service.

High-speed services are expected to begin in December 2009, but the first four trains are to be delivered in 2007 for testing and driver training.[3]

The new company have made a point of advertising part-owner SNCF’s experience operating and integrated high-speed train services on the French TGV network.

The first train will be named after Dame Kelly Holmes, a British gold-medal athlete, with further trains to be named after British personalities associated with speed.

The colour scheme for the high speed trains will be dark blue - using the same corporate colour as their logo.

Current plans call for the company to operate up to ten high-speed trains per hour at peak times, with four trains per hour off-peak.[4] These trains will only run at high speed on the CTRL itself; at some point each will switch over to conventional track and need to run at reduced speeds alongside conventional trains. In the table below, stations falling on the high-speed portion of the trip are boldfaced.

Peak hours
Route Frequency Stations called
London – Ebbsfleet 2 tph London St Pancras, Stratford, Ebbsfleet
London – Rochester 3 tph London St Pancras, Stratford, Gravesend, Higham, Strood, Rochester
London – Broadstairs 3 tph London St Pancras, Stratford, Ebbsfleet, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Whitstable, Herne Bay, Birchington on Sea, Margate, Broadstairs
London – Folkestone/Margate 2 tph London St Pancras, Ebbsfleet, Ashford International (train divides) Wye, Canterbury West, Sturry, Minster, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate
Sandling, Folkestone West, Folkestone Central
Off-peak hours
Route Frequency Stations called
London – Sittingbourne 2 tph London St Pancras, Stratford, Ebbsfleet, Gravesend, Higham, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Sittingbourne
London – Margate 1 tph London St Pancras, Ashford International, Wye, Canterbury West, Sturry, Minster, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate
London – Folkestone 1 tph London St Pancras, Ashford International, Sandling, Folkestone West, Folkestone Central

However, these plans remain open to adjustment. For example, in July 2006 it was announced that the Shakespeare Tunnels would be upgraded by Network Rail to allow high speed trains to reach Dover Priory.[5] There is currently a campaign for the off-peak services on the Chatham main line to terminate at Faversham rather than Sittingbourne. A decision on this is expected in December 2007.

Due to the opening of the second phase of the CTRL in November 2007, improvments to the services provided are scheduled to begin from December 2007, due to train paths becoming available.[6]

  • An additional evening peak train from Charing Cross to Tunbridge Wells;
  • An additional evening service from Cannon Street to Faversham with connections to the Thanet coast;
  • Improved frequency of services between Beckenham Junction and Victoria and Orpington and Victoria, improving links to Bromley South;
  • Contra peak improvements on many Metro routes and on the main line via Tonbridge; and
  • Improvements made to Saturday services so they mirror, where possible, the Monday to Friday off peak pattern

Like its sister franchise Southern, Southeastern is committed to introducing Oyster Pay As You Go (PAYG) on its London routes but is yet to implement.

Southeastern operate a fleet of about four hundred trains, all of which are electrical multiple units.

 Class  Image  Top speed   Number  Cars per set  Routes operated   Built   Notes 
 mph   km/h 
Class 375/3 Express Electrostar 100 160 10 3 Outer suburban and Express routes. 2001-2002
Class 375/6 Express Electrostar 100 160 30 4 Outer suburban and Express routes. 1999-2001 Dual Voltage
Class 375/7 Express Electrostar 100 160 15 4 Express routes. 1999-2001
Class 375/8 Express Electrostar 100 160 30 4 Express routes. 1999-2001
Class 375/9 Outer Suburban Electrostar 100 160 27 4 Outer suburban routes. 2001-2003
Class 376 Suburban Electrostar 75 120 36 5 Metro routes 2004-2005
Class 465/0 Networker 75 120 50 4 Metro & Outer suburban Routes 1991-1993
Class 465/1 Networker 75 120 47 4 Metro & Outer suburban Routes 1993
Class 465/2 Networker 75 120 15 4 Metro & Outer suburban Routes 1993
Class 465/9 Networker 75 120 34 4 Metro & Outer suburban Routes 2005-2006
Class 466 Networker 75 120 43 2 Metro & Outer suburban routes 1993-1994
Class 508/2 75 120 6 3 Medway Valley Line, Horsham to Tunbridge Wells (via Gatwick and Redhill) and Sheerness Line 1979-1980

 Class   Image   Top speed   Number   Cars per set   Routes operated   Built 
 mph   km/h 
Class 395 140 225 29 6 High Speed 1 services 2006-2009


Preceded by
South Eastern Trains
South Eastern franchise
Operator of Integrated Kent franchise
2006 — present
Incumbent
New creation




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