Southeastern and Network Rail Kent route have united under a single leadership team to drive investment and efficiency and deliver for passengers and freight in an important step towards Great British Railways (GBR). Further regional arrangements will come into place as other services transfer into public ownership.
Operating as the South Eastern Railway team and overseen by Managing Director Steve White, the streamlined structure will allow for a more responsive railway with a common purpose and clear accountability for railway performance across the network.
Already under public ownership, Southeastern has been able to work increasingly closely with Network Rail, which manages railway infrastructure, for over a year. This collaborative approach has resulted in greater efficiency with better, faster decisions for customers and taxpayers, leading to an improved railway. This resulted in consistently low levels of cancellations, an increased customer satisfaction (86%), while the subsidy required to operate Southeastern is reduced by GBP 50 million (EUR 58.6 million) year on year.
Under the new ways of working, South Eastern Railway have further plans over the next few years which include GBP 40 million (EUR 46.9 million) investment in station improvements, modernisation of the rolling stock on the Metro service to deliver more accessible and passenger-focused journeys, fitting passenger trains with thermal imaging cameras and AI CCTV to monitor tracks and recruiting the next generation of talent.
Joint planning has led to more efficient and innovative solutions for reducing delays. This includes enabling engineers to access the track during the day to carry out repairs more efficiently, while maintaining a service for customers. Collaboration has also seen the railway trial drones up and down the network to identify and reduce incidents of trespass. More joined-up working also means matching trains to when passengers want to take them, delivering at least GBP 3 million (GBP 3.5 million) a year in additional revenue for the rail industry.
This action follows on from a watershed moment last month when South Western Railway (SWR) services became the first to transfer back into public control since the passing of the Public Ownership Bill.
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