South Eastern Trains
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South Eastern Trains (SET) is a British Train operating company set up to provide train services in the south east of England including Kent, parts of East Sussex and the South East London commuter routes. The London termini of the services are Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street and Victoria. SET operates on 773 miles (1237km) of tracks, with 178 stations. 82% of passenger traffic to London.
SET is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). 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) [see below] ..."
Train fares, staff and schedules remained the same. In the ensuing 18 months the company has announced staffing changes involving station staffs, but point out that 400 more staff are now employed: 90 new jobs are involved in station security and “revenue protection”. Press articles claimed that large-scale cuts in services would be undertaken: in response to strenuous opposition by local councils these have to some extent been modified, although there are some fears about the services in the Thames Gateway area. Two stations are to close, although services on the branch line from the Isle of Sheppey are to be extended to run from there to Dover instead of terminating at Sittingbourne, as now.
Some trade unions (for example the RMT (http://www.rmt.org.uk/C2B/document_tree/ViewADocument.asp?ID=190&CatID=45)) opposed the proposal (April 2004), and campaigned for SET to continue under public ownership.
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Train services
Main lines
South Eastern Trains run four main lines, two to the Kent coast:
- through Ashford
- through Chatham and the north Kent coast
- through Maidstone to Ashford and Canterbury
- the Hastings Line
There is also the Medway Valley Line, linking with the North Downs Line to Reading
Suburban services
The suburban services (called ‘’’Metro’’’ in the SET timetables) run to:
- Sevenoaks: two services - one via Bromley North; one via Bromley South
- Hayes line
- Orpington via Lewisham
- Swanley
- Dartford via: North Kent Line (from which certain trains run to Gillingham); the Bexleyheath Line and the Dartford Loop Line.
Rolling Stock
SET uses a fleet composed exclusively of electrical multiple units.
- Class 365 "Networker Express" - transferred to WAGN in 2004
- Class 375 "Electrostar"
- Class 376 "Suburban Electrostar"
- Class 411 4-Cep - to be withdrawn by mid-2005
- Class 421 4-Cig - withdrawn in late-2004
- Class 423 4-Vep - to be withdrawn by mid-2005
- Class 465 "Networker"
- Class 466 "Networker"
- Class 508
Integrated Kent Franchise
The intention is that the Integrated Kent Franchise encompasses the current region of SET in addition to domestic high-speed trains connecting Kent with London on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The franchise was put out to tender to four pre-qualified candidates on 18 January 2005. The invited parties were:
- South Eastern Railways Ltd (a consortium of DSB and Stagecoach Group);
- Great South Eastern Railway Limited (Sea Containers, the owners of GNER, and MTR Corporation);
- London & South Eastern Railway Ltd (Go-Ahead Group and Keolis);
- First Group's First Kent Integrated Railways Ltd.
Bids were to be submitted by April 2005; evaluated by the SRA until August; with a possible start date of December 2005 . The franchise will be for six years, and includes an automatic extension of another two years, if a performance related clause is satisfied. This means that the franchise is likely to run until December 2013.
External links
- Official South Eastern Trains site (http://www.setrains.co.uk/)
- Station information from South East trains (http://www.setrains.co.uk/stations/index.php)
- Kent County Council summary of IKF proposals March 2005 (http://www.kent.gov.uk/your-council/committee-papers/highways-advisory-board/march-05/item-3-int-kent-franchise.html)
See also
List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdomnl:South Eastern Trains ca:South Eastern Trains