south eastern trains

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 details

SET, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA, assumed the services following the loss of Connex South Eastern's franchise on November 9, 2003. Part of the company's public information leaflet states that SET: "... will operate the franchise until a private company is appointed to manage the new Integrated Kent Franchise (IKF) below planned for early 2005." Train fares and schedules remain the same and trains and stations are manned by the same staff. Indeed, the company also claimed in its handout that services would be improved and staff levels increased over the following months. However, subsequent proposals by the SRA involve reducing services on some South Eastern lines, and have been strenuously opposed by local councils in the affected areas. Some trade unions have also opposed the proposal, and have campaigned for SET to continue under public ownership.

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Class 411 4Cep - to be withdrawn by mid-2005
Class 421 4Cig - withdrawn in late-2004
Class 423 4Vep - to be withdrawn by mid-2005
Class 465 "Networker"
Class 466 "Networker"
Class 508

IKF details

The Integrated Kent Franchise shall encompass 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 are 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), and London & South Eastern Railway Ltd (Go-Ahead Group and Keolis), and a lone bid from First Group's First Kent Integrated Railways Ltd. The Strategic Rail Authority intends to announce the selected bidder by the early autumn of 2005.

External links

Official South Eastern Trains site
Station information from South East trains
Next staging in IKF Franchising Progress, from the Strategic Rail Authority website (with more information about what the franchise will entail)