Southern
Southern is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Officially named Southern Railway Ltd., it is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, and has operated the South Central rail franchise since October 2000 and the Gatwick Express service since 22 June 2008.
The company operates train services to South London, Surrey and Sussex from London Victoria and London Bridge, alongside regional services on the East and West Coastway lines from Brighton. Southern also operate a service from East Croydon to Milton Keynes Central via west London.
History
Govia, who also operates the neighbouring Southeastern franchise and London Midland services in the West Midlands, were first awarded the South Central rail franchise in 2000 after the then incumbent operator, Connex South Central, were stripped of the franchise for poor management and performance.
Upon assuming control, the company operated the service under the branding SouthCentral until 30 May 2004, when, in a deliberate recall of the pre-nationalisation Southern Railway, the service was rebranded as Southern, with a green roundel logo with ‘Southern’ written in yellow in a green bar.
On 22 June 2008, Southern assumed responsibility for the non-stop Gatwick Express between Victoria and Gatwick Airport from National Express Group, and from December 2008 extended the service to Brighton during peak times. The company then, in December 2008, took over the running of services between Redhill and Tonbridge from Southeastern.
Despite originally being awarded a 20 year franchise for the service, the South Central franchise end date was brought forward to December 2009, a date which was further cut to September 2009 upon the integration of the Gatwick Express service, in order 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 South Central/Gatwick Express combined franchise, reports emerged suggesting that Transport for London, the operator of the London Overground 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 entire franchise was put forward for tender by the Department for Transport.
The bidding process for the new franchise began in May 2008, when expressions of interest were sought, with the process formally beginning on 20 August 2008 when the DfT announced that Govia were one of the four shortlisted bidders for the franchise and would face competition from NedRailways Limited, the National Express Group, and the Stagecoach Group.
The Department for Transport announced on 9 June 2009 that Govia had retained the franchise, and would operate the service until 2015, with the possibility of extending the franchise until 2017.
Criticism
In early 2006, Southern became the focus of attention from cyclists' groups as a result of their policy prohibiting the carriage of ordinary cycles during peak hours on trains destined for London and Brighton.
Southern and sister company Southeastern were criticised in January 2007 for not wishing to introduce Oyster Pay As You Go on their London routes, stating that it was not financially viable. In 2007 Southern introduced Oyster on its Watford Junction to Clapham Junction route, and the company later agreed in principle to the introduction of Oyster across their network, but did not give any firm timescale for any roll out, with Southern's 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 their successful franchise bid in 2009, Southern said they were committed to rolling out Oyster Pay As You Go in the London area, but also that such a move was subject to industry agreement.
Much of the criticism that Southern have faced surrounded major changes that were made to their 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 rather than Barnham. Some passengers criticised this change as it increased the journey time to and from London by up to 10 minutes from certain stations, whilst in the event of services running behind schedule, trains were sometimes not split at Horsham, and proceeded non-stop to Barnham, leaving commuters from the Arun Valley left at Horsham with the prospect of no onward trains.
In December 2008 further timetable changes were made, which 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 relating the problem. 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.