Southeastern (train operating company)
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| Franchise(s): | Integrated Kent Franchise 1st April 2006 – 31st March 2014 |
| Main region(s): | Greater London |
| Other region(s): | Kent, East Sussex |
| Fleet size: | approx. 400 |
| Stations: | 182 |
| 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 Kent, parts of East Sussex, and operate south-east London commuter routes. 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.
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[edit] History of the franchise
Since the privatisation 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.
[edit] Future expansion
[edit] High-speed service along the CTRL
Following the completion of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (also known as "High-Speed 1" or HS1), 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.[1] 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.[2]
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.
[edit] Current routes
[edit] Main lines
From London termini (Victoria, London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross, Blackfriars, and Cannon Street) unless otherwise stated;
- North Kent Line: services via Dartford to Gillingham
- Chatham Main Line - services to the Kent Coast via Bromley South and Chatham, dividing at Faversham to Ramsgate and Dover
- Ashford via Maidstone East Line
- South Eastern Main Line - services the Kent Coast via Ashford and Sevenoaks
- Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line
- Kent Coast Line: Ashford to Ramsgate (via Folkestone and Dover)
- Hastings Line (Hastings via Tunbridge Wells)
- London Bridge to Tunbridge Wells (via Redhill and East Croydon) — uses part of the Brighton Main Line
- Horsham to Tunbridge Wells (via Gatwick and Redhill) — uses part of the Brighton Main Line (to be transferred to "Southern" during 2009).
[edit] Suburban lines
The suburban services run to:
- Sevenoaks: two services — one via Grove Park to Charing Cross, and one via Bromley South to Blackfriars.
- Hayes line to Charing Cross
- Orpington via Lewisham to Charing Cross and via Bromley South to Victoria.
- Dartford via: North Kent Line, the Bexleyheath Line, and the Dartford Loop Line to Charing Cross.
- Bromley North Line
[edit] Rural lines
- Medway Valley Line, some services extend to Tonbridge, and occasionally to Gatwick Airport
- Sheerness Line
[edit] Future routes
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[3]. These trains will only be allowed to 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 to allow high speed trains to reach Dover [4]; this is not reflected in the table above.
[edit] Ticketing
Like its sister franchise Southern, Southeastern is committed to introducing Oyster Pay As You Go (PAYG) on its London Routes.
[edit] Rolling stock
Southeastern operate a fleet of about four hundred trains, all of which are electrical multiple units.
| Class | Image | Top speed | Number | Cars per set | Seat layout | Number of seats | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||||
| Class 375/3 Express Electrostar | 100 | 160 | 10 | 3 | 2+2 | 176 seats (164 std + 12 first) | Outer suburban and Express routes. | 2001-2002 | |
| Class 375/6 Express Electrostar |  |
100 | 160 | 30 | 4 | 2+2 | 242 seats (218 std + 24 first) | Outer suburban and Express routes. | 1999-2001 |
| Class 375/7 Express Electrostar | 100 | 160 | 15 | 4 | 2+2 | 242 seats (218 std + 24 first) | Outer suburban and Express routes. | 2001-2002 | |
| Class 375/8 Express Electrostar | 100 | 160 | 30 | 4 | 2+2 | 242 seats (218 std + 24 first) | Outer suburban and Express routes. | 2004-2005 | |
| Class 375/9 Outer Suburban Electrostar |  |
100 | 160 | 27 | 4 | 2+3 | 277 seats (253 std + 24 first) | Outer suburban and Express routes. | 2003-2004 |
| Class 376 Suburban Electrostar |  |
75 | 120 | 36 | 5 | 2+2 | 344 seats (216 std + 12 tip-up + 116 perch) | Metro routes | 2004-2005 |
| Class 465/0 Networker |  |
75 | 120 | 50? | 4 | 3+2 (except 465014, which is 2+2) | 344 | Metro routes only | 1991-1993 |
| Class 465/1 Networker |  |
75 | 120 | 47? | 4 | 3+2 | 344 | Metro routes only | 1993 |
| Class 465/2 Networker |  |
75 | 120 | 15? | 4 | 3+2 | 344 | Metro routes only | 1993 |
| Class 465/9 Networker | 90 | 120 | 34? | 4 | 3+2 | 344 | Outer suburban routes only | 2005-2006 Converted from Class 465/2 |
|
| Class 466 Networker | 75 | 120 | 43 | 2 | 3+2 (except 466017, which is 2+2) | 168 | With 465/0, 465/1, 465/2 and 466 Metro routes only. With 465/9, Outer suburban routes only. |
1993-1994 | |
| Class 508 | 75 | 120 | 6 | 3 | ? | ? | Medway Valley Line and extension on to Tonbridge, and Gatwick Airport / Horsham, Sheerness Line | 1979-1980 | |
| Class 395 (Building) |
 |
140 | 225 | 28 (building) | 6 | ? | ? | CTRL-DS services | 2006-2009 |
[edit] References
- ^ £250 Million Contract Signed for New High Speed Train Fleet for Kent SRA, 1/6/05
- ^ The Channel Tunnel Rail Link Countdown to 2009 Govia, 2005.
- ^ Southeastern Newsletter Summer 2006
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/5179096.stm
[edit] See also
- Olympic Javelin
- South Eastern Trains
- Connex South Eastern
- Network SouthEast
- Southern Region of British Railways
- Southern Railway
- South Eastern and Chatham Railway
- South Eastern Railway
- London, Chatham and Dover Railway
[edit] External links
- Southeastern official web site
- alwaystouchout.com on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (includes information about the planned domestic services)
| Preceded by South Eastern Trains South Eastern franchise |
Operator of Integrated Kent franchise 2006-present |
Succeeded by N/A |
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains1 - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central2 - GNER - Heathrow Connect Hull Trains - Island Line3 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline1 - Northern Rail Northern Ireland Railways4 - 'one' - Silverlink1 - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains (VWC - VXC1) |
|---|---|
| International: | Enterprise4 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express5 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper6 - Night Riviera7 |
| 1 Ends November 2007 - 2 Starts 20 May 2007 - 3 Operated by South West Trains 4 Operated on the Irish railway network - 5 Operated by 'one' - 6 Operated by First ScotRail 7 Operated by First Great Western |
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| Future passenger train operators and franchises in Great Britain | |
|---|---|
| New Franchises: | Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - InterCity East Coast - London Overground1 West Midlands1 |
| Proposed open-access operators: |
Glasgow Trains2 - Grand Union2 - Humber & City2 - Wrexham & Shropshire3 |
| 1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Proposed - 3 Awaiting Approval | |
