South Eastern Trains

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Franchise(s):	South Eastern 9. November 2003 – 31. March 2006
Main Region(s):	Greater London
Other Region(s):	Kent, East Sussex
Fleet size:	approx. 350
Stations:	178
Parent company:	Strategic Rail Authority (publicly owned)
Web site:	www.setrains.co.uk

South Eastern Trains (SET) was a British train operating company, in public ownership, who provided train services in south east London and South East England from November 2003 to March 2006.

SET operated on 773 miles (1237 km) of tracks, with 178 stations. 82% of their train services ran into London (Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street, and Victoria). They were replaced by commercial operator Southeastern.

[edit] History

SET was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) until franchise was re-privatised on 1 April 2006. It assumed the services following the withdrawal of Connex South Eastern’s franchise on 9 November 2003. Part of the company’s public information leaflet at the time stated that SET ‘will operate the franchise until a private company is appointed to manage the new Integrated Kent Franchise (IKF)’. Some trade unions, such as the RMT, opposed the plans to re-privatise (April 2004), and campaigned for SET to continue under public ownership.

Train fares, staff and schedules remained the same. In the ensuing 18 months the company announced staffing changes involving station staffs, but pointed out that 400 more staff were employed: 90 new jobs involved in station security and ‘revenue protection’ were created. Press articles claimed that large-scale cuts in services would be undertaken; in response to strenuous opposition by local councils, these were modified to some extent been, although some fears remained about the services in the Thames Gateway area. Two stations are to close, although services on the Sheerness branch line from the Isle of Sheppey, which currently terminate at Sittingbourne, are to be extended to Dover.

The routes across Kent are a legacy of the conflict between the London, Chatham and Dover Railway and South Eastern Railway, leaving several towns with more than one railway station. The two companies effectively merged in 1899 into the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. This allowed some rationalisation (eg in Thanet, Sevenoaks, Ashford and Rochester) but this was never completed leaving a legacy of competing / unconnected routes (eg Gravesend, Canterbury, Whitstable, and Maidstone). Upon grouping in 1923, the SECR was incorporated into the Southern Railway. Around half the network was electrified at 750v DC third rail by World War Two (London to; Gillingham, Maidstone East, Maidstone West and Sevenoaks). The rest of the network was electrified under British Rail’s 1955 modernisation plan. Freight only lines and the Marshlink line were not electrified (Marshlink is now operated by Southern).

Under privatisation in 1996 the franchise was awarded to Connex as Connex South Eastern but the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) stripped them of franchise in June 2003 citing ‘poor financial management’, setting up the SRA-owned South Eastern Trains. During this period the very large fleet of Mk1 Slam door stock was replaced by modern Electrostar sets. This required significant power upgrades. At the same time with the construction of the Channel Tunnel, and the gap between the complete opening of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, meant significant power upgrades were required over two main lines to allow Eurostars to access Waterloo and the reopening of the section Gravesend Branch Line.

As of 1 April 2006, the SET franchise has been transferred Govia, who operate it under the name Southeastern.

[edit] Train 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
  • Ashford to Ramsgate (via Folkestone and Dover) line (Kent Coast Line)
• Ashford via East Croydon and Redhill
• 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

[edit] Suburban lines

The suburban services (called ‘Metro’ in the SET timetables) run to:

• Sevenoaks: two services - one via Grove Park, and one via Bromley South
• Hayes line
• Mid-Kent Line
• Orpington via Lewisham and via Bromley South
• Swanley
• Dartford via: North Kent Line; the Bexleyheath Line and the Dartford Loop Line.
• Bromley North Line

[edit] Rural lines

• Medway Valley Line, some services extend to Tonbridge, and the occasional service to Gatwick
• Sheerness Line

[edit] Rolling stock

[edit] Current fleet

[edit] Past fleet

Class 365, no. 365502 at London Victoria on 18th March 2003. This unit is pictured the original front end cab design, and is painted in Connex South Eastern "Networker" livery. This unit has since transferred to WAGN^, and has received cab modifications.

• Class 365 Networker Express - transferred to WAGN in 2004 [2]
• Class 411 4Cep - withdrawn by mid-2005
• Class 421 4Cig - withdrawn by late-2004
• Class 423 4Vep - withdrawn by late-2005

[edit] Integrated Kent Franchise

South Eastern Trains has been succeeded by the Integrated Kent Franchise, which will encompass all of their current services as well as domestic high-speed trains running between Kent and London on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The franchise was put out to tender on 18 January 2005.

Bids were submitted to the Strategic Rail Authority by April 2005, from Govia (the operators of Southern), DSB/Stagecoach, GNER/MTR, and First.

On 30 November 2005, the Department for Transport announced that the franchise had been awarded to Govia. [3] Operations commenced 1 April 2006 and will last for six years, with an automatic extension of another two years if performance targets are met. This means that the franchise is likely to run until 31 March 2014.

The new franchise will add high-speed services using these trains on order from Hitachi.

Govia operate the franchise under the name Southeastern, in keeping with their other franchise, Southern. The company's formal name is London and South Eastern Railway. [4]

As part of the new franchise, Southeastern will also operate the Olympic Javelin, a high-speed train between St Pancras station and Ebbsfleet International station, via Stratford International station, which will be situated close to the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

South Eastern Trains have ordered 28 Shinkansen-derived high-speed trains from Hitachi, which will be used to operate the domestic Channel Tunnel Rail Link services. [5] High-speed services are expected to begin in 2008, but according to the South Eastern Trains passenger magazine Get SET, the first trains will be delivered in 2007 for testing. This is Hitachi’s first train sale in Britain.

[edit] See also

• List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom
• Connex
• Southeastern (train operating company)

[edit] External links

• Official South Eastern Trains site
• Kent County Council summary of IKF proposals March 2005
• Kent County Council IKF update July 2005
• Transport Briefing - Latest new on Integrated Kent Franchise and CTRL developments