Brighton railway station - Sussex - England - 140804

Southern is the brand name used by the

Govia Thameslink Railway Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a British train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise, TSGN rail franchise. Within the franchise, GTR runs trains under the sub-brands: Thameslink, Great North ...

(GTR)

train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways ...

on the Southern routes of the

Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) is a management contract for the provision of passenger services on the Thameslink and Great Northern routes to , , , , , , London Moorgate, Sutton, Wimbledon and Brighton, as well as the whole ...

in England. It is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead and

Keolis Keolis is a French transportation company that operates public transport systems all over the world. It manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus, and funicular services. B ...

, and has operated the South Central franchise since August 2001 and the

Gatwick Express Gatwick Express is an express rail passenger service between , , and in South East England. It is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway train operating company on the Gatwick Express route of the Thameslink, Southern and Great N ...

service since June 2008. When the passenger rail franchise was subsumed into GTR, Southern was split from Gatwick Express and the two became separate brands, alongside the

Thameslink Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from , , , , , and via central London to , , , Rainham, , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than ...

and Great Northern brands. Southern operates the majority of commuter services from its Central London terminals at

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

and to South London,

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, as well as regional services in parts of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. It also provides services between

Watford Junction Watford Junction is a railway station serving the town of Watford in Hertfordshire, England. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), from and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. It is also the northern terminus of the Lion ...

and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

via the West London line. For three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, Southern came last on passenger satisfaction in surveys conducted by the consumer group ''

Which? ''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights, and offering indepen ...

'', scoring low for value for money, reliability, and punctuality in 2018. In 2022, Southern was ranked second-worst on overall passenger satisfaction in a survey conducted by

Transport Focus Transport Focus is the statutory watchdog for transport passengers and road users in Great Britain, with offices in London and Manchester. It was named the Rail Passengers Council until January 2006 when renamed Passenger Focus. It was renamed ag ...

History

As part of the wider

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of the state owned railway operator

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

in the 1990s, Connex South Central was awarded the Network SouthCentral franchise by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising. Operations commenced on 26 May 1996. In March 2000, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA) announced its intention to relet the franchise from May 2003; both Connex and Govia were shortlisted. In October 2000, the SSRA announced that Govia had been awarded the franchise and would operate it from May 2003. Govia negotiated a deal with Connex to buy out the remainder of its franchise, this was completed in August 2001. Govia trading as SouthCentral 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 handled financing agreements and therefore Govia was re-awarded with a seven-and-a-half-year franchise until December 2009. In May 2003, 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. During April 2007, the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

(DfT) announced that the

franchise was to be incorporated into the main South Central franchise. This reorganisation was part of a wider plan to increase capacity on the

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line is a railway line in southern England linking London to Brighton. It starts at two termini in the capital, and , and the branches from each meet at , from where the route continues southwards via to the coast. The line ...

, involving the extension of peak-hour services from Gatwick to

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

and

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

from December 2008. This change doubled the number of London to Brighton express trains during those periods. In December 2008, Southern took over the services on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line from Southeastern. 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. In the run-up to the bidding process for the franchise, reports emerged suggesting that

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

, the operator of the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

service, wished to take control of all overground services in South London, including the 'Metro' area of the South Central franchise. However, such a transfer never took place and the DfT put out the entire franchise for tender. In August 2008, the DfT shortlisted Govia,

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

, NedRail and

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

for the new South Central franchise. In June 2009, the DfT announced that Govia had retained the franchise, to start on 20 September 2009. In March 2012, the Department for Transport announced that

Abellio Abellio (also Abelio and Abelionni) was a god worshiped in the Garonne Valley in Gallia Aquitania (now southwest France), known primarily by a number of inscriptions which were discovered in Comminges, in the Pyrenees. He may have been a god ...

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Govia,

MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

and

had been shortlisted for the new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. 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 InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Car ...

refranchising process, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review. In December 2012, Southern's to via service ceased, being partially replaced by

's new to service. At the conclusion of the Southern franchise in July 2015, the South Central franchise was merged into the

franchise, which is run as a

management contract A management contract is an arrangement under which operational control of an enterprise is vested by contract in a separate enterprise that performs the necessary managerial functions in return for a fee. Management contracts involve not just sell ...

rather than a traditional franchise. However, the Southern brand was retained.

2007 and 2008 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 Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

rather than Barnham, as well as run the portion to Portsmouth or Southampton non-stop to 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. During 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. On 22 January 2009, Southern responded to some of these criticisms. During 2009, these services have recorded improved timekeeping and criticisms have since subsided. 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.

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 line and direct services between Southampton and Brighton on Sundays.

Punctuality and overcrowding

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. Later in May 2015 it was revealed that Southern had fined passengers for standing in first class on an overcrowded train. Only 20% of Southern trains arrived on time in the year from April 2015 to March 2016, and there was an ongoing industrial dispute over driver-only operated trains. In late 2016, the

Transport Select Committee The Transport Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport The D ...

told ministers to "get a grip" on railway franchises, with their report asking if the train operator was in breach of their contractual obligations due to the large number of cancelled trains, and went on to say, "in normal circumstances, this would be grounds for termination of the contract".

2016 amended timetable

In 2016, the company introduced an "amended timetable

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

would be a temporary measure until staffing returned to normal" to be announced on 5 July. The

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is George Welch and its current General Secretary is Eddie Dempsey. The RMT ...

(RMT)

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

said that 350 services would be cancelled every day (the company ran 2,242 weekday services in the previous timetable). The company said it had insufficient personnel, and too many were taking

sick leave Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because ...

; the union denied that high levels of sickness were the cause of cancellations, while agreeing that there were an insufficient number of guards and drivers. The government

said that the situation was unacceptable. While the company was obliged to notify the department in advance, this did not amount to giving the company permission for the changes. The RMT union general secretary Mick Cash said the government had permitted GTR to introduce the emergency timetable, but that it was "nothing to do with staff sickness and everything to do with gross mismanagement of this franchise and the failure to employ enough guards and drivers. ... a cynical and cowardly ploy". The ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'' mentioned Southern in an article in June 2016 "Southern rail suggests commuter goes on 100 mile detour to Clapham instead of her normal six minute journey". In June 2016, amongst criticism of the performance of its services, Go-Ahead warned of lower than anticipated profits on its

franchises, leading to an 18% drop in the Go-Ahead share price. From 31 October 2016, Southern restored the full weekday timetable.

Control of doors and strikes

In 2016, Southern altered its method of door operation, with control of the doors moving from the conductor to the driver. Southern said this would allow the conductor to concentrate on the passengers, but the RMT and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) unions said that it was an attempt to make conductors unnecessary and would be unsafe. The rail safety regulator, the Rail Standards and Safety Board has said that "We have 30 years of data which we have analysed. We have found that the driver performing the task does not increase the risk to passengers at all." During 2016, the RMT and ASLEF unions went on strike over the changes, causing severe disruption to Southern services. The strikes continued into 2017. The BBC suggested that the RMT union are particularly worried about the new method of operation because if drivers (rather than conductors) control the doors then trains could run without conductors and thus any strike by conductors would not have the power to cancel trains. In December 2016, it was announced that the government would pay £50million to Southern to cover the costs of the disruption caused by the strikes, due to a deal between the government and Southern. This deal means that the government pays £38million for lost revenue and £15million in compensation to passengers. This deal also means that Govia Thameslink Railway will save around £1.1million in pay for striking workers. Commentators argued that the government gave a management contract rather than a normal franchise to GTR in order to push through DOO. The management contract meant that GTR did not have the incentive to resolve strikes as a normal franchisee would have, as the government lost money from strikes rather than GTR. On 2 February 2017, the TUC announced that talks between Southern and ASLEF had reached an agreement meaning that the dispute with ASLEF had been resolved. However, the RMT union said it was 'betrayed' by Southern and that strikes by the RMT would continue. On 29 June 2017, ASLEF implemented an overtime ban with the aim of highlighting a claimed failure by Southern to recruit adequate staff.

Services

The standard off-peak service as of June 2024 is:

Rolling stock

, Southern services are almost entirely operated by 214 Class 377 electric multiple units, with the exception of services on the unelectrified Marshlink line and the

Uckfield Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District, Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald. Etymology "Uck ...

branch of the Oxted line, which use Class 171 diesel multiple units. 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

. A franchise commitment was to replace all the Mark 1 slam-door stock, resulting in Southern ordering 28 three-car DC, 139 four-car DC 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. 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. A tenth two-car Class 171 was transferred from

South West Trains Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. SWT operated the majori ...

, entering traffic in July 2007. 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 The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the so ...

Key Output Zero changes from March 2009. However, due to delays in their production, Class 377/2s were also sublet. To cover for this, Class 350/1s were subleased from

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...

. To provide stock for the extended

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-

Class 313s on the Coastway lines from May 2010. The Class 313s remained in service until May 2023, when they were withdrawn and replaced by Class 377s. During 2011, Southern announced that, because of delays in procuring new trains for the

, 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. It was announced in December 2011 that Bombardier had been contracted to supply 26 five-car Class 377/6s. In November 2012, it was announced that an option for a further 40 vehicles was being exercised. All twenty-four Class 456s were transferred to

in 2014 after the introduction of the Class 377/6 fleet. In April 2016, Southern commenced a lease for nine three-carriage Class 170s last used by

First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup. It operated the ScotRail franchise between October 2004 and March 2015. On 17 October 2004, First ScotRail took over operations from the incumbent franchisee, ScotRai ...

from Eversholt Rail Group. Four (170421–424) moved to Wolverton Works in 2015 and were reconfigured as two two-carriage and two four-carriage Class 171s. The other five (170416–420) remained in Scotland on sub-lease to

Abellio ScotRail Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, was the national train operating company of Scotland. A subsidiary of the Netherlands-based transport conglomerate Abellio (transport company), Abellio, it operated the ScotRail (br ...

and were scheduled to move to Southern in 2018. In May 2022, Southern withdrew its Class 455s and received 2 Class 377s from Southeastern. On 7 September 2022, three Class 171s, having been reformed to three-car formations and renumbered to 170422–424, transferred to

East Midlands Railway East Midlands Railway (EMR; legally Transport UK East Midlands Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Transport UK Group, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. Originally owned by Abellio (transport compan ...

. Between December 2024 and December 2025, Southern is set to transfer 13 Class 377/1s (377121–133) to Southeastern to replace ageing Class 465 units. This will be made possible by the movement of 30 ex- Greater Anglia Class 379 sets to

Great Northern route The Great Northern route, formerly known as Great Northern Electrics, is the route consisting of services on the southern end of the East Coast Main Line, which is the main railway link between the cities of London and Edinburgh, and its ass ...

services from London Kings Cross, which will in turn allow Class 387/1 dual-voltage units currently in service with Great Northern to be released to work on Southern routes.

Current fleet

Past fleet

Former units operated by Southern include:

Depots

Southern's fleet is maintained at Brighton Lovers Walk and

Selhurst Selhurst is an area in the London Borough of Croydon, England, south-east of Charing Cross. Historically in Surrey, the area is bounded to the west and south by Thornton Heath and Croydon and to the east and south by South Norwood and Woo ...

depots. The Gatwick Express fleet is maintained at

Stewarts Lane Stewarts Lane is a large railway-servicing facility in Battersea in London, England, founded by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) in 1862, to serve London Victoria railway station. It is sited in the midst of a maze of railway lin ...

. Light maintenance is also carried out at

Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and ...

for the electric fleet, and St Leonards for the class 171 fleet when on Marshlink services.

Future

Southern, as part of its successful bid for the South Central franchise in 2009, made several commitments to improving services across the network. 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

and Southampton Central, and an increase in the number of late-night services between Brighton and

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

* The introduction of late-night services on the London to

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: , , , , , and

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. During the 2010s, several interested parties have been examining the possibility of reopening the line.

Future of the franchise

In January 2016,

announced a proposal to take over the London suburban parts of the franchise in 2021 through a partnership with the Department for Transport to form a new suburban metro service. However, the plan was rejected by Transport Secretary

Chris Grayling Christopher Stephen Grayling, Baron Grayling, (born 1 April 1962), is a British politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Justice from 2012 to 2015, Leader of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and Secretary of State for T ...

in December 2016. In January 2017, it was reported that the Department for Transport was considering temporarily renationalising the franchise if the service did not improve. On 17 June 2021, the DfT extended the current contract from 19 September 2021 to 31 March 2022. The contract for the delivery of Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern services was extended by the DfT on 25 March 2022. The current contract will now expire on 1 April 2028.

Fares

Southern was 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 Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

on its Watford Junction to Clapham Junction route, and the company later agreed in principle to the introduction of Oyster across its network, 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."

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. Since 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 addition, Oyster is valid on Southern services beyond the Greater London boundary as far as Epsom, Epsom Downs, Tattenham Corner, Upper Warlingham, Caterham and Gatwick Airport. Two years later, some customers were still discontent about inconsistent Pay As You Go fares across the network, compared to operating companies like c2c where it was fully integrated. 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 the Oyster Card, allowing tickets across the network to be purchased electronically. Southern sell a DaySave ticket, which allows unlimited off-peak travel on any train in the company's network for one day. The ticket can only be purchased in advance online, or at a selected number of stations.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Govia Airport rail links in London Go-Ahead Group companies Keolis Railway companies established in 2001 Railway operators in London Rail transport in East Sussex Rail transport in Hampshire Rail transport in Kent Rail transport in Surrey Rail transport in West Sussex Train operating companies in the United Kingdom 2001 establishments in England