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South Eastern franchise

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South Eastern
Southeastern Class 707 City Beam and Class 376 trains at Cannon Street in September 2021
Current operatorSoutheastern
Main Region(s)
Stations called at179
Stations operated174
Dates of operation
Route map

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.

History

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Connex South Eastern 465020 at Waterloo East in January 2003
Southeastern (Govia) 375708 at Ashford International in June 2011

The South Eastern franchise was formed as a shadow franchise in 1994 in the leadup to the privatisation of British Rail, taking over the Network SouthEast services out of Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, London Bridge and London Victoria to Kent.

1996: Connex South Eastern

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Initially operating as South Eastern, on 13 October 1996 Connex South Eastern commenced operating the franchise having beaten bids from a management/FirstBus consortium, GB Railways and Stagecoach.[2][3][4]

In December 2002, after the franchise ran into financial trouble, the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) agreed to bail it out with a £58 million injection, with the end date brought forward from 2011 until 2006.[5] However, continuing poor financial management resulted in the SRA deciding to strip Connex of the franchise in June 2003.[6][7][8][9] Connex South Eastern continued to operate the franchise until 8 November 2003.[10][11]

2003: South Eastern Trains

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On 9 November 2003 South Eastern Trains, a subsidiary company of the SRA, took over the franchise for a planned 18 months. It took on all the leased rolling stock and most of the Connex staff including senior management. In the event, it took over two years to re-let the franchise to a private company.

2006: Southeastern (Govia)

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In December 2003 the SRA announced that Danish State Railways/Stagecoach, FirstGroup, Govia and MTR/Sea Containers had been shortlisted to bid for the replacement Integrated Kent franchise that would also incorporate services on High Speed 1 out of St Pancras.[12] In November 2005 the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that Govia had been awarded the franchise, with the services operated by South Eastern Trains transferred to London & South Eastern Railway Limited, branded as Southeastern, on 1 April 2006.[13][14]Department for Transport announces integrated Kent franchise Department for Transport 30 January 2006</ref>

The franchise was let for an initial eight years, with a two-year option dependent on performance targets being met. In December 2008, as part of the franchise agreement, operation of services on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line passed to Southern. High Speed 1 services began on 14 December 2009.[15] Having met the performance criteria, in March 2011 the DfT granted Govia a two-year franchise extension until March 2014.[16]

Following the DfT's review after the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise process, extensions were granted to the franchises coming due for renewal, with Southeastern's franchise extended until June 2018.[17][18] It was further extended a number of times.[19][20][21][22]

In June 2017 the DfT announced that an Abellio/East Japan Railway Company/Mitsui & Co consortium, incumbent Govia, Stagecoach and Trenitalia had been shortlisted for the next franchise, which was once again named the South Eastern franchise.[23][24] In August 2017, Trenitalia withdrew citing a desire to concentrate its resources on its bid for the West Coast Partnership.[25] In February 2018, it was announced that Alstom would take a 20% shareholding in the Stagecoach company.[26] In April 2019, Stagecoach was disqualified from the bidding because they did not meet pensions rules.[27]

On 7 August 2019, the franchise competition was cancelled and the DfT instead took up a further extension. The franchise was due to cease on 31 March 2020[28][22] until a new contract was agreed on 30 March 2020, running for up to two years.[29]

2021: Southeastern (DfT)

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In September 2021, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that Southeastern's contract would end on 16 October 2021, with operations transferred to the DfT OLR Holdings-owned operator of last resort, Southeastern, which is continuing to operate under the Southeastern name.[30] This followed an investigation conducted by the Department for Transport which found that, since October 2014, Southeastern had failed to return over £25 million of taxpayer funding.[31] Southeastern's contract runs until 17 October 2027.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Service Contract South Eastern" (PDF). Department for Transport. 16 October 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Chiltern and SE bidders shortlisted" Rail Privatisation News issue 29 2 May 1996 page 4
  3. ^ "CGEA takes second franchise" Rail Privatisation News issue 37 22 August 1996 page 1
  4. ^ "South Eastern Trains sold to the French". The Railway Magazine. No. 1146. October 1996. p. 7.
  5. ^ "SRA U-turn gives £58m to Connex". Rail Magazine. No. 451. 25 December 2002. p. 6.
  6. ^ "Train firm loses franchise". BBC News. 27 June 2003. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  7. ^ Basher Bowker pulls the plug on Connex The Daily Telegraph 29 June 2003
  8. ^ "Connex shock at SE dismissal". Rail Magazine. No. 465. 9 July 2003. p. 6.
  9. ^ "Connex sacked from South-east franchise". The Railway Magazine. No. 1229. September 2003. p. 10.
  10. ^ SRA Confirms Transfer from Connex to South Eastern Trains Strategic Rail Authority 8 November 2003
  11. ^ "Rail authority takes on franchise". BBC News. 8 November 2003. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  12. ^ Green Light for High Speed Services for Kent - Four Bidders Selected for new Kent Franchise Strategic Rail Authority 22 December 2003
  13. ^ "Govia wins Integrated Kent franchise". Rail Magazine. No. 528. 7 December 2005. p. 16.
  14. ^ "GoVia wins Integrated Kent franchise". Today's Railways UK. No. 49. January 2006. p. 7.
  15. ^ "High-speed travel for commuters". BBC News. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  16. ^ "Southeastern franchise to run to 2014". Go-Ahead Group. 18 March 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  17. ^ "Southeastern rail franchise renewed until 2018". BBC News. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  18. ^ Southeastern awarded franchise extension to 2018 Global Rail News 11 September 2014
  19. ^ Southeastern franchise extended to December 2018 Go-Ahead Group 6 December 2016
  20. ^ Southeastern Direct Award Contract Extension Go-Ahead Group 21 December 2018
  21. ^ Southeastern franchise extension confirmed Railway Gazette International 13 June 2019
  22. ^ a b "Bid to run Southeastern rail route scrapped". BBC News. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  23. ^ West Coast Partnership and South Eastern rail franchise bidders Department for Transport 22 June 2017
  24. ^ South Eastern franchise bidders announced Railway Gazette International 22 June 2017
  25. ^ Trenitalia pulls out of South Eastern Franchise contest International Railway Journal 10 August 2017
  26. ^ "Rail franchising update, 5 Feb 2018 17:51 | Shares Magazine". www.sharesmagazine.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018.
  27. ^ "Virgin Trains 'could disappear' after franchise bar". BBC News. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  28. ^ Southeastern to introduce 15-minute Delay Repay compensation Southeastern 13 June 2019
  29. ^ "Critical rail services protected in new deals for GWR and Southeastern". gov.uk. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  30. ^ "Southeastern: Government takes over services after 'serious breach'". BBC News. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  31. ^ "Government takes over running of LSER services in response to over £25 million breach of franchise agreement". gov.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
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