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 exchan ...

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 Nationalization, nationalised. History DfT OLR Holdings was establishe ...

for the Department for Transport, that took over operating the

South Eastern franchise 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 The South Eastern franchise was formed as a shadow ...

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 Department for Transport announced it would be terminating the

operated by

Govia Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. History Establi ...

-owned

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

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 The 2022 United Kingdom railway strikes are an ongoing industrial dispute in the United Kingdom that has seen the largest instance of industrial action in the country since 1989. It commenced on 21 June after members of the National Union of Rai ...

, which was the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who participated in industrial action 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,

Cannon Street Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the south of the City. It is the site of the ancient London ...

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

, St Pancras,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to: England * Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol * Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent * Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...

. 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 identif ...

. 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 unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

s 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