Southeastern

**London and South Eastern Railway Limited**, trading as **Southeastern**, is a British train operating company owned by Govia that operates passenger rail services in South East England. It is the key operator of commuter and regional services in South East London and Kent but also serves parts of East Sussex.

Southeastern trains operate on three main routes: the Southeastern Main Line from London Cannon Street and London Charing Cross to Dover via Sevenoaks; the Chatham Main Line between London Victoria and Dover/Ramsgate via the Medway towns; and High Speed 1 from London St Pancras.

Southeastern began operations on 1 April 2006 as the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent franchise (IKF), replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South Eastern franchise. Southeastern has received a number of extensions since, with the franchise scheduled to end on 1 April 2020 until a new contract was agreed on 30 March 2020, running for up to 2 years.

## Overview

Southeastern serves the main London stations of Charing Cross, Victoria, Cannon Street, London Bridge, Waterloo East and St Pancras. The Southeastern network has a route mileage of 540, with 179 stations. About 70% of its services run to and from London.

It is owned by Govia, a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, which also operates the neighbouring Southern franchise that overlaps with Southeastern in some areas.

## History

In December 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority announced that Danish State Railways/Stagecoach, FirstGroup, Govia and MTR/Sea Containers had been shortlisted to bid for the new Integrated Kent franchise, which would replace the South Eastern franchise and include services on High Speed 1 operating from St Pancras. In November 2005 the Department for Transport (DfT) announced Govia had been awarded the franchise; the services operated by South Eastern Trains transferred to Southeastern on 1 April 2006.

The franchise was let for an initial eight years, with a two-year option dependent on performance targets being met. The opening of the second phase of High Speed 1 in November 2007 made available train paths on the traditional network previously used by Eurostar, allowing Southeastern to increase certain services in December 2007. In December 2008, as part of the franchise agreement, responsibility for the Redhill to Tonbridge Line passed to Southern. Southeastern high-speed services began full operations on 14 December 2009. Having met the performance criteria, in March 2011 the DfT granted Govia a two-year franchise extension until March 2014.

Following the DfT's review after the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise process, extensions were granted to the franchises due for renewal with Southeastern's franchise extended until June 2018. It was later extended until December 2018.

In March 2009 the bay platforms at London Blackfriars closed for reconstruction as part of the Thameslink Programme. Southeastern services previously terminating at Blackfriars, mostly from Sevenoaks via the Catford loop, were extended to Kentish Town, St Albans, Luton or Bedford. When the station fully reopened with new bay platforms in May 2012 these services continued to run, but in the evening and at weekends (when the station had been closed) instead of terminating at Victoria services now terminate at Blackfriars.

Following the Department for Transport's review after the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise process, extensions were granted to the franchises due for renewal in the near future. In 2013, the coalition government extended Southeastern's franchise, without competitive tender, from March 2014 to June 2018. and in 2016 further extended it until December 2018. The Invitation to Tender, detailing the improvements that must be made by the new franchisee, will be released in September 2017 and the contract will be awarded in August 2018.

Amidst a background of ongoing rail strikes nationwide, in September 2017, Southeastern cleaning staff, outsourced to employment agency Wettons, voted to stage industrial action in a row over pay and working conditions. The first strike by RMT-affiliated Wettons cleaning staff at Southeastern took place for 24 hours from 2030–2030 on 19–20 October 2017. There has been no further industrial action since, although negotiations between the RMT, Southeastern and Wettons remain ongoing.

As part of the 2018 Thameslink Programme several of the routes formerly operated by SouthEastern changed into Thameslink routes, including services to Sevenoaks and Gillingham. These services using the Class 700 now run from Bedford through the London Core via London Bridge and onto the Kent Main Line or the North Kent Line. In addition the former Charing Cross / Cannon Street services which started and terminated at Gillingham were extended to Rainham.

## Southeastern sub-brands

### High speed

Southeastern introduced a full timetable of domestic high-speed services branded *Southeastern Highspeed* over High Speed 1 between London St Pancras and Ashford International on 13 December 2009; a limited preview service had been running since 29 June 2009. High-speed trains use High Speed 1 calling at Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International. Trains from London to the Medway towns and Faversham leave the high-speed line at Ebbsfleet and continue via the North Kent line and Chatham Main Line. Trains for Dover Priory and Margate leave the high-speed line at Ashford International. A limited peak-hour service now also operates between St Pancras and Maidstone West via Ebbsfleet and Strood.

When bidding for the franchise, Southeastern made a point of advertising part-owner SNCF's experience operating integrated high-speed train services on the French TGV network. A fleet of 29 six-coach Shinkansen-derived high-speed 'A-trains' were built in Japan by Hitachi for this route. Known as Class 395, this was Hitachi's first train sale in Britain. The colour scheme for the high-speed trains is dark blue. The services are marketed as Southeastern Highspeed, and some of the trains are named after British Olympians such as Steve Redgrave and Ben Ainslie.

At the same time there was the largest change to the timetable in the area in 40 years. With the fast trains now travelling over High Speed 1, the Charing Cross to Ashford stopping service was extended to Dover, Canterbury and Ramsgate.

Fares for journeys that include the High Speed 1 section of line (between St Pancras International and Gravesend) generally include a surcharge.

#### Javelin shuttle

"Olympic Javelin" redirects here. For the sport event, see Javelin throw at the Olympics.

Southeastern operated special high speed services using the Class 395 during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, branded as the **Olympic Javelin** or Javelin. As a result, the class is still sometimes referred to as the *Javelin*.

Announced as part of the successful London 2012 Olympic bid, it was an integral part of a plan to improve public transport in London in readiness for the Olympics, an area of the bid that was initially regarded as being poor by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The British Olympic Association applied to register *Javelin* as a UK trademark on 19 July 2005 and this was granted on 2 June 2006.

The service ran for the duration of both games, between St Pancras International station and Ebbsfleet International station, via Stratford International station, which is close to the Olympic Park. Eight trains per hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the usual East Kent highspeed service. Two of these were extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet was increased to twelve per hour.

At St Pancras there is interchange with the London Underground and with trains to/from the Midlands, Scotland, and the North of England. For track capacity reasons, Eurostar trains, which have never called at Stratford, did not do so during the games.[*failed verification*] It was expected that over 80% of Olympic spectators would travel to and from the venues by rail. Services to the Olympic Park were planned to offer a total capacity of 240,000 travellers per hour, some 25,000 of whom were expected to use the Javelin service.

### Mainline

Class 375 *Electrostar*
Southeastern is the key operator for Kent, and also serves East Sussex. 'Mainline' services connect central London with Dover, Folkestone, Hastings, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Ramsgate, Chatham, Maidstone and Canterbury. The backbone fleet on these services is the Class 375 Electrostar, although Class 377 Electrostars and Class 465/9 Networkers are also used on some routes.

In December 2009 Southeastern saw 'Highspeed' trains stopping at 'Mainline' stations, and some longer timings on 'Mainline' services as trains called at more stations. Services to Tonbridge were maintained at six trains per hour off-peak, two per hour going forward to Ashford and beyond, two per hour to Hastings, and two per hour terminating at Tunbridge Wells. With high-speed services reaching Faversham, the half-hourly Victoria to Faversham stopping service was replaced with an hourly service to Gillingham and additional stops on the "fast" services to London Victoria. On the Maidstone East Line, services from London Cannon Street to Ashford International via Maidstone East and from London Victoria to Maidstone East and to Canterbury West via Ashford were replaced by a half-hourly Victoria to Ashford service. The Strood to Paddock Wood service was extended to Tonbridge. The Sittingbourne to Sheerness on Sea branch line also comes under 'Mainline' services,[*citation needed*] but is mainly operated by Class 466 Networkers.

### Metro

Southeastern serves South-East London, South London and on into Kent, its central stations being London Blackfriars, London Bridge, Charing Cross, Cannon Street, London Victoria and Waterloo East. 'Metro' trains serve Greenwich, New Cross, Lewisham, Dartford, Gravesend, Woolwich Arsenal, Hayes, Peckham Rye, Bromley South, Bickley, Bexleyheath, Petts Wood, Orpington and Sevenoaks. Southeastern runs Class 376 Electrostar, and Class 466 and Class 465 Networkers for 'Metro' services, although a Class 375 Electrostar is used on occasion.

## Routes

Current weekday off-peak services, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph).

## Ticketing

Oyster cards are now valid from all Zone 1–9 stations served by the company, the travelcard zones having been extended to include stations such as Dartford after initial outcry by passengers being required to travel to Zone 6 stations such as Slade Green, Barnehurst or Crayford to "tap in" before continuing on their journey. Travelcards (including on Oyster) are however not valid on High Speed services, except between St Pancras International and Stratford International at a special pay-as-you-go fare.

## Performance

Figures released by NR (Network Rail) rate punctuality at 85% (Public Performance Measure) over period 12 of 2015/16, and 87.3% moving annual average (MAA) for the 12 months up to March 2016.

In late 2010 the company faced a barrage of criticism for its performance during extreme weather conditions in the south-east of England and there are also allegations that Southeastern deliberately runs reduced services to skew its official performance figures.

In 2014 a survey of UK rail passenger satisfaction showed Southeastern to be the lowest rated train operating company, with just forty percent of passengers believing that a good service is provided and a rating of only one out of five for value for money. Southeastern claimed that the reason for this is that people dislike going to work and that if the survey were to be retaken on a "sunny summer's day" the outcome would be better for the company.

However, in a survey (*Best and worst UK train companies*) carried out in February 2015 by *Which?* magazine, Southeastern continued to rank poorly, being rated as the second worst UK train operating train companies, with a customer score of just 44%. This was narrowly ahead of Thameslink and Great Northern, with 43%. Southeastern also achieved only 2/5 or 3/5 star ratings across the six specific categories assessed in the survey (such categories included *Punctuality*, *Reliability* and *Cleanliness of toilets*).

Southeastern performed poorly in performance and passenger satisfaction in 2016, with the 2016 survey by "Which?" magazine finding Southeastern to be the joint-worst performing train operating company in Britain, with a customer score of just 46%. The Spring 2016 National Rail Passenger Survey further underlined Southeastern's continuing poor performance and passenger satisfaction. The company issued a joint response with Network Rail on the day of publication, primarily blaming outside factors and survey methodology.

## Rolling stock

Southeastern operates a fleet of about 392 trains, all of which are electric multiple units.

### More fleet

In April 2020, Southeastern agreed to lease the Class 707 units from Angel Trains. They are to be transferred from South Western Railway for additional capacity on the Southeastern network and the Class 466s are being converted to three carriages.

### Past fleet

The transfer of some routes to Southern and Thameslink allowed Southeastern to withdraw its small fleet of Class 508 EMUs and replace them with Networker stock cascaded from other services.