Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway)

Southern

Overview
Franchise(s):	Network SouthCentral 26 August 2001 – 24 May 2003 South Central 25 May 2003 – 19 September 2009 Gatwick Express 22 June 2008 – 19 September 2009 South Central (incl Gatwick Express) 20 September 2009 – 25 July 2015 Part of Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern 26 July 2015 – September 2021
Main Region(s):	London, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent
Other Region(s):	Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire
Fleet size:	297
Stations called at:	213
Stations operated:	156
Route km operated:	666.3
National Rail abbreviation:	SN
Parent company:	Govia Thameslink Railway
Website:	www.southernrailway.com
Route map

A sign at Brighton station showing the name change from South Central to Southern in 2004.

Southern^[1] is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway train operating company on the Southern routes of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. It is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead and Keolis, and operated the South Central rail franchise since August 2001 and the Gatwick Express service since June 2008.

On 26 July 2015, the franchisee was subsumed into Govia Thameslink Railway, but the existing Southern and Gatwick Express brand identities have been retained alongside those of Thameslink and Great Northern.

Southern operates the majority of commuter services from its Central London terminals at London Bridge and London Victoria to South London and Sussex as well as regional services in parts of Hampshire, Kent and Surrey. It is also provides services between Milton Keynes and Croydon via the West London Line.

Major destinations served include Banstead, Beckenham Junction, Epsom Downs, Epsom, Leatherhead, East Croydon, Mitcham Junction, Sutton, East Grinstead, Uckfield, Caterham, Tattenham Corner, Redhill, Gatwick Airport, Crawley, Horsham, Littlehampton, Worthing, Bognor Regis, Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton, Eastbourne and Ore.

It also operates services from Brighton to Ashford, Brighton to Seaford, Brighton to Southampton and South Croydon to Milton Keynes.

History

Connex South Central was awarded the Network SouthCentral franchise by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising. Operations began on 26 May 1996.

In March 2000, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA) announced its intention to relet the franchise from May 2003 with Connex and Govia the shortlisted bidders.^[2][3] In October 2000 the SSRA announced that Govia had been awarded the franchise and would operate it from May 2003.^[4] Govia negotiated a deal with Connex to buy out the remainder of its franchise, and this was completed in August 2001.^[5][6][7] Govia trading as SouthCentral^[8] took over operations on 26 August 2001.

The franchise was originally to run for twenty years but in 2002 the Strategic Rail Authority changed the way it wanted investment funded, and Govia was awarded a seven-and-a-half-year franchise until December 2009.^[4][9][10]

In May 2004 the franchise was rebranded as Southern in a recall of the pre-nationalisation Southern Railway, using a green roundel logo with Southern in yellow in a green bar.

In April 2007 the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that the Gatwick Express franchise was to be incorporated into the South Central franchise.^[11][12] This was part of a plan to increase capacity on the Brighton Main Line, involving the extension of peak-hour services from Gatwick to Brighton and Eastbourne from December 2008. This doubled the number of London to Brighton express trains during those periods.^[13]

In December 2008, Southern took over the services on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line from Southeastern.^[14]

The South Central franchise end date was brought forward to September 2009 upon the integration of the Gatwick Express service, to allow the new operator to be in place during major changes to the timetable in and around South London in December 2009.^[15] In the run-up to the bidding process for the franchise, reports emerged suggesting that Transport for London, the operator of the London Overground service, wished to take control of all overground services in South London, including the 'Metro' area of the South Central franchise.^[16][17] However, such a transfer never took place and the DfT put out the entire franchise for tender.

In August 2008 the DfT shortlisted Abellio, Govia, National Express, NedRail and Stagecoach for the new South Central franchise.^[18][19][20] In June 2009 the DfT announced that Govia had retained the franchise, to start on 20 September 2009.^[21][22]

At the conclusion of the Southern franchise in July 2015, the South Central franchise was merged into the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise.^[23][24] However the Southern brand was retained.^[25]

In March 2012 the Department for Transport announced that Abellio, FirstGroup, Govia, MTR and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise.^[26][27] The Invitation to Tender was to be issued in October 2012, with the successful bidder announced in spring 2013. However, in the wake of the collapse of the InterCity West Coast refranchising process, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review.^[28]

In December 2012, Southern's London Victoria to London Bridge via Denmark Hill service ceased, being partially replaced by London Overground's new Clapham Junction to Surrey Quays service.

Routes

The network of services operated by Southern includes local suburban ("Metro") services in South London and regional services extending into the southern Home Counties. All routes are south of the river Thames, with the exception of the West London service, which crosses the city via Shepherd's Bush and runs up the West Coast Mainline to Milton Keynes. Along with the Thameslink route, this provides one of the few long-distance National Rail routes to run right across London instead of terminating at one of the London rail termini. Southern routes which do not serve London include the West Coastway and East Coastway Lines along the south coast of Sussex, Kent and Hampshire.

Details of each route, including maps and timetables, are on Southern's website (see External links, below). As of 13 December 2015, its routes off-peak Monday to Saturday, with frequencies in *trains per hour* (tph), include:

Southern exterior signage at Norwood Junction station (now replaced by London Overground signage)

Rolling stock

South Central inherited a fleet of Class 205, Class 207, Class 319, Class 421, Class 423, Class 455 and Class 456 multiple-unit trains from Connex South Central. Southern inherited a Class 73 locomotive and Class 460 Juniper trains from Gatwick Express.

A franchise commitment was to replace all the Mark 1 slam-door stock, resulting in Southern ordering 28 three-car, 139 four-car and 15 four-car dual-voltage Class 377 Electrostars in September 2001 and March 2002 to replace the Class 421, Class 422 and Class 423s.^[30]

In August 2002 Southern ordered nine two-car and six four-car Class 171 Turbostars to replace the Class 205s and Class 207s on the routes that are not fully electrified.^[31] In 2006 a tenth two-car Class 171 was transferred from South West Trains.

In 2007, Southern ordered 12 four-car, dual-voltage Class 377/5 Electrostars to replace the remaining twelve Class 319s for transfer to First Capital Connect. In March 2008 Go Ahead purchased a further 11 Class 377/5s. All 23 ended up being sublet to First Capital Connect to provide extra stock for the Thameslink Programme Key Output Zero changes from March 2009.

To provide stock for the extended Gatwick Express services to Brighton, in 2008 Southern leased 17 Class 442 Wessex Electrics withdrawn by South West Trains in early 2007. After retaining the franchise in 2009, Southern leased the remaining seven Class 442s. The last of the Class 460 Junipers were withdrawn in September 2012.

To release Class 377/3s for use on London suburban services, Southern introduced a fleet of ex-London Overground Class 313s on the Coastway lines from May 2010.^[32][33]

In 2011, Southern announced that, because of delays in procuring new trains for the Thameslink Programme, the 23 Class 377/5s on sub-lease to First Capital Connect would not be returned in time to deliver the operator's planned capacity increases from the December 2013 timetable change. It therefore began a process to procure 130 new vehicles.^[34] It was announced in December 2011 that Bombardier had been contracted to supply 26 five-car Class 377/6s.^[35] In November 2012 it was announced that an option for a further 40 vehicles was being exercised.^[36]

All twenty-four Class 456 sets were transferred to South West Trains in 2014 after the introduction of the Class 377/6 fleet.

Current fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Cars per set	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 73		Electro-diesel locomotive	90	145	1[37]	1	Thunderbird locomotive	1965–1967
Class 171		DMU	100	160	171/7 - 10[38]	171/7 - 2	Oxted Line (Uckfield branch) Marshlink Line	2003–2004
					171/8 - 6[38]	171/8 - 4
Class 313		EMU	75	120	19	3	West Coastway Line: Brighton – Hove/West Worthing/Portsmouth Harbour and Littlehampton – Barnham/Bognor Regis/Portsmouth & Southsea East Coastway Line: Brighton – Lewes/Seaford Also operate services between Brighton and Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Eastbourne and Ore during peak hours	1976–1977
Class 377		EMU	100	160	377/1 - 64	377/1 - 4	Entire Southern network (apart from the Uckfield and Marshlink lines). 377/5 and a number of 377/2 units in use with Thameslink sub-leased from Southern	2002–2014
					377/2 - 6	377/2 - 4
					377/3 - 28	377/3 - 3
					377/4 - 75	377/4 - 4
					377/6 - 26	377/6 - 5
					377/7 - 8 [39]	377/7 - 5
Class 442 (5Wes) Wessex Electric		EMU	100	160	24[40]	5	London Victoria – Gatwick Airport/Brighton (Gatwick Express) London Bridge – Eastbourne Weekends: London Victoria – East Croydon – Brighton (Southern)	1988–1989
Class 455		EMU	75	120	46[37]	4	Suburban services from London Victoria and London Bridge on London Metro	1982–1984

Future fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Cars per set	Seat layout	Routes operated	Built	Years operated	Notes
			mph	km/h
Class 387/2		EMU	110	177	27	4	2+2	Brighton & Gatwick Express route	2015	From 2016	Govia has also announced that, in addition to the new Thameslink trains, it will order new trains for the Brighton and Gatwick Express routes; 108 carriages are expected.
Class 170/4		DMU	100	160	4	3	2+2	London Bridge - Uckfield	1999-2004	From 2016	Obtained from First ScotRail following transfer of franchise[41] To be converted to Class 171[42]

Past fleet

Class	Image	Type	Built	Withdrawn	Notes
Class 205 (3H)		DMU	1957–60	2004	Some preserved.
Class 207 (3D)		DMU	1962	2004	Some preserved.
Class 319		EMU	1987	2008	Transferred to First Capital Connect after being made redundant by newer Class 377 trains.
Class 350 Desiro		EMU	2004-2005	2009	These trains were subleased from London Midland from 2008 to 2009, to provide cover for Class 377 units subleased to First Capital Connect. After newer Class 377 trains were built, these units were returned to London Midland.[43]
Class 421 (4Cig)		EMU	1964–66	2005	Some preserved.
Class 423 (4Vep)		EMU	1967–71	2005	Some preserved.
Class 456		EMU	1990–1991	2013-2014	Transferred to South West Trains after being made redundant by newer Class 377/6 units.
Class 460 (8Gat) Juniper		EMU	2000–2001	2011–2012	Have been merged to work with Class 458 fleet used by South West Trains.

Depots

Southern's fleet is maintained at Brighton Lovers Walk and Selhurst depots. The Gatwick Express fleet is maintained at Stewarts Lane. Since December 2014, the Class 455 fleet is now maintained at Stewarts Lane (having transferred from Selhurst).

Future

Southern, as part of its successful bid for the South Central franchise in 2009, made several commitments to improving services across the network.^[22] These included:

• Increasing the length of suburban services in South London to 10 cars between 2011 and 2013
• Increasing the service level on all routes in South London to 4 trains per hour (tph) until 23:00 each day, and the introduction of late-night services on Fridays and Saturdays
• The introduction of an hourly service on Sundays between Brighton and Southampton Central, and an increase in the number of late-night services between Brighton and Worthing
• The introduction of late-night services on the London to Uckfield route
• Installation of new ticket gates at 22 stations across the network
• Increasing the number of car-parking spaces at stations by 1,000 and the number of cycle spaces by 1,500
• Cleaning and refreshing of all stations and trains on the network
• Major refurbishments to seven stations: Brighton, Haywards Heath, Hove, Lewes, Redhill, Three Bridges and Worthing
• Class 456 units are to be transferred to South West Trains in 2014 after the 26 new 5-car Class 377/6 fleet enters service with Southern in 2013

Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN)

With the last franchise expiring on 26 July 2015, the South Central franchise was merged with the Thameslink Great Northern franchise to create Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern. This is operated by Govia Thameslink Railway, which is also owned by Southern's parent company, Govia. The Southern brand identity has been retained.

Southern has ordered 116 Class 387 "Electrostar" carriages which will be used on the Thameslink route until the new Class 700s are delivered.^[44]

Govia operated the Thameslink franchise from March 1997 to March 2006,^[45] and was awarded the TSGN franchise in May 2014.^[46]

Uckfield–Lewes line

The franchise consultation paper released at the beginning of the 2009 franchising process stated that the ultimate franchise agreement would include a change mechanism to enable the DfT to incorporate additional routes into the South Central franchise, and it invited bidders to submit priced options for schemes put forward by stakeholders. One such scheme could, as indicated in the South Central Franchise Consultation Paper, be the reopening of the Uckfield – Lewes line, closed in 1969.^[47] In recent years, several interested parties have been examining the possibility of reopening the line.^[48][49]

Future of the franchise

On 21 January 2016 Transport for London announced that, in 2021, it will take over the London suburban parts of the franchise, rebranding the routes as London Overground from that point.^[50]

The Key

In 2012, Southern became the first rail company in England to use the ITSO card on its network. The Key is a smartcard similar to Transport for London's Oyster Card. Tickets for the smartcard are available only in Single, Return, Weekly, Monthly and Annual Season tickets.^[51] Southern plans to add a Pay-As-You-Go option in the near future, but tests on this are still in progress.^[52] There are three types of The Key smartcards: Child, Adult and Staff. All child smartcards need a photograph to prove the age of the holder, while adults who wish to use their smartcard only for single and return tickets do not require a picture. The Key is insured so that if lost or stolen it can be de-activated and the tickets transferred to a new card sent out in the post.^[52]

The Key allows customers to buy Plusbus for the Crawley and Brighton areas. This is because Metrobus (which operates in Crawley) and Brighton and Hove Buses are owned by Go-Ahead Group, Southern's parent company. Brighton & Hove Buses also uses The Key on its buses but it is not possible to use a B&H bus key on Southern and vice versa at the moment unless using Plusbus. Southern is looking to change this by the end of 2013.^[52]

The Key operates only at stations managed by Southern and outside London because it is not currently compatible with the Oystercard readers. Southern has been working with Transport for London and the Department for Transport to change this, and the Oystercard readers should be compatible by December 2013.^[52]

Southern operated a pilot for The Key between Brighton and Seaford in 2010 as these stations are served only by Southern trains (with the exception of Brighton). This was a success and so in 2012 it began to gradually expand across the network. Originally the only ticket type available on The Key was season tickets; in August 2013 Southern added Return and Single tickets to The Key.

Currently (December 2015), The Key is available on the entire Southern network with the exception of the West Coastway Line west of Warblington, the East Coastway Line east of Bexhill, the entire Redhill to Tonbridge Line, the West London Line north of Harrow & Wealdstone and the Mole Valley Line between Bookham and Guildford (which has a limited Southern service).^[53]

Criticism

In early 2006, Southern became the focus of attention from cyclists' groups as a result of its policy prohibiting the carriage of ordinary cycles during peak hours on trains destined for London and Brighton.^[54]

Southern and sister company Southeastern were criticised in January 2007 for not wishing to introduce Oyster Pay As You Go on its London routes, stating that it was not financially viable. In 2007 Southern introduced Oyster on its Watford Junction to Clapham Junction route,^[55] and the company later agreed in principle to the introduction of Oyster across its network,^[56] but did not give any firm timescale, managing director Chris Burchell saying

"There are still a number of outstanding issues that need to be discussed with TfL, but we do not believe these will prevent us making PAYG a reality on our network. We look forward to discussions with TfL on how we can make this happen as soon as possible for our passengers."^[57]

In its successful franchise bid in 2009, Southern said it was committed to rolling out Oyster Pay As You Go in the London area, but also that such a move was subject to industry agreement.^[22] Since 2 January 2010, Oyster Pay As You Go has been valid on all its London routes, along with most other train services in the London area.

In January 2015 Southern hit controversy when it was revealed that the 7.29am Brighton to London Victoria train failed to get in on time on any occasion out of all 240 attempts in 2014.^[58] Later in May 2015 it was revealed that Southern had fined passengers for standing in first class on an overcrowded train.^[59]

Timetables

Southern was criticised for major changes to its timetables in December 2007 and December 2008.

In December 2007, Southern changed the arrangement for the splitting of services to and from London Victoria on the Arun Valley Line, opting to split trains at Horsham rather than Barnham. Some passengers criticised this change as it increased the journey time to and from London by up to 10 minutes from certain stations, while in the event of services running behind schedule, trains were sometimes not split at Horsham, and proceeded non-stop to Barnham, leaving Arun Valley commuters at Horsham with the prospect of no onward trains.^[60]

In December 2008 further timetable changes included the introduction of the extended Gatwick Express services. However, reliability and timekeeping on some of the new services were considered poor, leading to several public meetings being held.^[61][62][63] On 22 January 2009, Southern responded to some of these criticisms. During 2009 these services have recorded improved timekeeping and criticisms have since subsided.^[64]

The new timetable also led to unhappiness due to the difference in speed and frequency of service between East Coastway services and those on the Brighton Main Line.^[65][66]

Until February 2009 Southern used to operate hourly services between Watford Junction and Brighton, but now these services no longer operate from Brighton and now terminate at East Croydon and most services are extended through Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central.

December 2010 timetable

Further changes to the timetable were made in December 2010; the first timetable change to include many of the requirements of the new franchise. Additional services were included at evenings and weekends. In the London area a 'metro' frequency of service was introduced on most routes with the extension of the weekday daytime four-trains-per-hour norm to late evenings (up to around midnight), Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, new late-night services were introduced from London on Friday and Saturday nights with last trains leaving central London at around 00:30.

Outside London, a new later-evening service was introduced to Uckfield from London Bridge, new late-night services from Brighton along the west coastway and direct services between Southampton and Brighton on Sundays.

Southern's plans for enhanced services between Victoria and Brighton with a new four-trains-per-hour frequency were rejected at the last minute by the Office of Rail Regulation.

See also

• Rail transport in Great Britain
• Commuter rail in the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southern (train operating company).

• Official website
• Network map
• Southern on National Rail Enquiries

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