South Eastern Passenger Rail Franchise
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| Current operator | Southeastern | ||
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| Main Region(s) |
London Kent |
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| Franchise dates |
Connex South Eastern: 13 Oct 1996 - 8 Nov 2003 South Eastern Trains: 9 Nov 2003 - 31 Mar 2006 Southeastern: 1 Apr 2006 - 8 Dec 2018 |
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| Stations called at | 179 | ||
| Stations operated | 174 | ||
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The South Eastern franchise also known as the Integrated Kent franchise, is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services between London and Kent in South East England.
The South Eastern franchise was formed as a shadow franchise in 1994 in the leadup to the privatisation of British Rail taking over the Network SouthEast services out of Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, London Bridge and London Victoria to Kent.
Initially operating as Network South Eastern, on 13 October 1996 Connex South Eastern commenced operating the franchise having beaten bids from a Management/FirstBus consortium, GB Railways and Stagecoach.
In December 2002, after the franchise ran into financial trouble, the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) agreed to bail it out with a £58 million injection, with the end date brought forward from 2011 until 2006. However continuing poor financial management resulted in the Strategic Rail Authority deciding to strip Connex of the franchise in June 2003. Connex South Eastern continued to operate the franchise until 8 November 2003.
On 9 November 2003 South Eastern Trains, a subsidiary company of the SRA, took over the franchise for a planned 18 months. It took on all the leased rolling stock and most of Connex staff including senior management. In the event it took over two years to relet the franchise to a private company.
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