Southeastern and Network Rail Kent have united to create South Eastern Railway, joining under a single leadership team to increase investment and deliver greater efficiency for passengers, with the goal of reducing operational costs by £50 million each year.
South Eastern Railway will be overseen by Southeastern managing director Steve White under a streamlined structure, set to create a more responsive railways with greater accountability for railway performance across the network.
Under public ownership, Southeastern, working closely with Network Rail, has consistently lowered the levels of cancellations and improved customer satisfaction to 86%. With the improvements, the new structure forecasts a £50 million reduction in taxpayer subsidy each year.
Joint planning has already led to more efficient solutions for reducing delays, including enabling engineers to access the track more frequently to carry out repairs, while maintaining service for customers. It also helps match trains to high-volume times for passengers, delivering over £3 million annually for the rail sector.
Moving forward, South Eastern Railway is also planning to invest over £40 million in station improvements, modernise the rolling stock on the Metro service, fit AI CCTV cameras to monitor tracks, and recruit the next generation of rail talent.
The new collaborative approach provides the blueprint for how Great British Railways (GBR), under the government, will be upping the standards of railways across the country. The standards, tailored to each operator, will deliver high-performing, better-coordinated, more efficient and more responsive services.
South Eastern Railway managing director Steve White said: “We know that for our customers, what matters most is a railway they can depend on, is reliable and responsive when things go wrong.
“By joining together track and train under a single leadership team, with accountability for the whole railway instead of different parts, we can remove friction and make better, faster decisions to deliver a better service.”
