Southern Region of British Rail

Southern Region of British Railways

British Railways Southern Region "totem" station sign for Hither Green
Overview
Franchise(s):	Not subject to franchising (1 January 1948 – 31 December 1992)
Main Region(s):	London, South of England
Parent company:	British Rail

The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex and Surrey. The region was largely based upon the former Southern Railway area.

The Southern Railway was still comparatively profit-making despite World War II, thanks to its extensive third rail DC electrification and the intensive service patterns this allowed for. However, large-scale investment was required in the infrastructure of all of the "Big 4" companies, including the Southern.

The Transport Act 1947 provided for the nationalisation of all heavy rail systems in the UK to allow for this investment and, in theory, to improve the rights of railway workers. The railway companies were amalgamated into British Railways, part of the British Transport Commission, and six geographic and administrative regions were created out of the previous four companies. The Southern Railway, being relatively self-contained and operated largely by electric traction, was incorporated almost intact as the new Southern Region.

The Southern Region also inherited some independent light railways, also nationalised at the same time, namely the East Kent Light Railway, the Kent and East Sussex Railway and the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway.

The Southern Region served southern London, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, eastern Dorset, southern Wiltshire and eastern Berkshire, most of which were either already electrified or at least proposed to be so. There was also an unelectrified service to parts of Devon and north eastern Cornwall, deep in what was Western Region territory, known colloquially as "The Withered Arm".