SE Trains Limited, trading as Southeastern, is a train operator, owned by DfT OLR Holdings 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 d ...

, that took over operating the South Eastern franchise in South East England 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, 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 Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

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 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 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. 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'' 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