SE Trains Limited,

trading as Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

Southeastern, is a train operator, owned by

DfT OLR Holdings DfT OLR Holdings (DOHL) is a holding company established by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom to act as operator of last resort for rail franchises that are nationalised. History DfT OLR Holdings was established in 2018 by the ...

for the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

, that took over operating the South Eastern franchise in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

from privately owned London & South Eastern Railway (which also traded as Southeastern) on 17 October 2021.

History

In September 2021, the

announced it would be terminating the South Eastern franchise operated by Govia-owned Southeastern after revenue declaration discrepancies involving £25million of public money were discovered. SE Trains, as an

operator of last resort An operator of last resort is a business in the United Kingdom that operates a railway franchise, on behalf of the government, when a train operating company is no longer able to do so. , there are five such operators in England, Wales and Scotl ...

, took over the franchise on 17 October 2021, for a three-year period until October 2024. Southeastern was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022 United Kingdom railway strike, which was the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who participated in

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increa ...

due to a dispute over pay and working conditions. In November 2022, Southeastern began the process of procuring new trains, to be made up of between 350 and 640 new carriages. These would enter service in the mid 2020s.

Overview

SE Trains serves the main London stations of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

Waterloo East Waterloo East railway station, also known as London Waterloo East, is a railway station in central London on the line from through London Bridge towards Kent, in the south-east of England. It is to the east of London Waterloo railway station ...

, Cannon Street, London Bridge, St Pancras, Victoria and Blackfriars. The network has route mileage of , with 180 stations.

Routes

Southeastern initially began trading operating the same routes and services as its predecessor. However, in December 2022, a new timetable was introduced aiming to reduce congestion, improve reliability and better match demand following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. As of December 2022, the weekday off-peak service pattern, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), is:

Rolling stock

SE Trains is operating the same electric multiple units as its predecessor. The remainder of the 30 Class 707s will enter service as they are released by South Western Railway.Autumn start set for Southeastern Class 707s ''

The Railway Magazine ''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in ...

'' issue 1445 August 2021 page 95

Current fleet

References

External links

* * {{Transport in London Department for Transport Government-owned companies of England Operators of last resort Railway companies established in 2021 Railway operators in London Train operating companies in the United Kingdom 2021 establishments in England