Connex South Eastern

Connex South Eastern[1] was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Connex that operated the South Eastern franchise from October 1996 until November 2003.

Connex South Eastern
Class 465 Networker at London Waterloo East in 2003
Overview
Franchise(s)South Eastern
13 October 1996 – 8 November 2003
Main region(s)Greater London, Kent
Other region(s)East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey
Fleet sizeapproximately 350
Stations called at178
Parent companyConnex
Reporting markCX
PredecessorNetwork SouthEast
SuccessorSouth Eastern Trains
Other
Websiteconnex.co.uk at the Wayback Machine (archived 2001-04-05)

History

On 13 October 1996 Connex commenced operating the South Eastern franchise having beaten bids from a Management/FirstBus consortium, GB Railways and Stagecoach.[2][3][4]

In December 2002, after the franchise ran into financial trouble, the Strategic Rail Authority agreed to bail it out with a £58 million injection, with the end date brought forward from 2011 until 2006.[5] However continuing poor financial management resulted in the Strategic Rail Authority deciding to strip Connex of the franchise in June 2003.[6][7][8][9] Connex South Eastern continued to operate the franchise until 8 November 2003 with the services transferring to the Strategic Rail Authority's South Eastern Trains subsidiary the following day.[10][11]

Services

Connex South Eastern ran passenger services from London Blackfriars, London Bridge, London Cannon Street, London Charing Cross and London Victoria to Hayes, Bromley North, Ramsgate, Dover Priory, Folkestone Harbour and Ore and various destinations within including Orpington, Sevenoaks, Dartford, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford and Canterbury West.

It also ran services between Sittingbourne and Sheerness; Paddock Wood, Maidstone West and Strood; and Maidstone West, Redhill and Three Bridges.

Rolling stock

Connex South Eastern inherited a large fleet of slam-door and power-door electric multiple units from Network SouthEast. The slam-door EMUs were Class 411s, Class 421s and Class 423s, built between 1956 and 1974, while the power-door EMUs were Class 365s, Class 465s and Class 466s, built between 1991 and 1995 as part of NSE's Networker family.

In 1998 Connex South Eastern leased twelve Class 508s from Angel Trains that were surplus to Merseyrail Electrics, to replace some of the elderly Class 411s.[12][13][14][15][16]

Connex South Eastern ordered 10 three-carriage and 102 four-carriage Class 375s, and 36 five-carriage Class 376s in a couple of batches with the first entering service in April 2001.[17][18][19]

Between 4 February and 20 March 2002, owing to a shortage of rolling stock, a preserved Class 201 Hastings unit was on loan to Connex South Eastern to operate two return journeys on Monday to Fridays between Charing Cross and Hastings.[20]

ClassImageTypeNumberCarriagesBuiltNotes
365 Networker ExpressEMU1641994–1995
375 ElectrostarEMU1123 or 41999–2005
411EMU11241956–1963
421EMU2541964–1972
423EMU7341967–1974
465 NetworkerEMU14741991–1994
466 NetworkerEMU4321993–1994
508EMU1231979–1980Transferred from Merseyrail

Depots

Connex South Eastern's fleet was maintained at Ashford, Ramsgate, Slade Green and Gillingham depots.

References
  1. Companies House extract company no 3006571 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Connex South Eastern Limited
  2. "Chiltern and SE bidders shortlisted" Rail Privatisation News issue 29 2 May 1996 page 4
  3. "CGEA takes second franchise" Rail Privatisation News issue 37 22 August 1996 page 1
  4. "South Eastern Trains sold to the French" The Railway Magazine issue 1146 October 1996 page 7
  5. "SRA U-turn gives £58m to Connex" Rail Magazine issue 451 25 December 2002 page 6
  6. "Train firm loses franchise". BBC News. 27 June 2003. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  7. "Basher Bowker pulls the plug on Connex". The Telegraph. 29 June 2003. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  8. "Connex shock at SE dismissal" Rail Magazine issue 465 9 July 2003 page 6
  9. "Connex sacked from South-east franchise" The Railway Magazine issue 1229 September 2003 page 10
  10. SRA Confirms Transfer from Connex to South Eastern Trains Strategic Rail Authority 8 November 2003
  11. Rail authority takes on franchise Archived 19 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine BBC News 8 November 2003
  12. Class 508 Archived 27 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine Kent Rail
  13. Class 508 - The Final Months Archived 27 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine Southern Electric Group
  14. "Class 508s return south after eight years away" Rail Magazine issue 311 13 August 1997 page 11
  15. "Connex 508s go to work on Isle of Sheppey line" Rail Magazine issue 338 26 August 1998 page 15
  16. "Class 508/2s launched on Connex South East" The Railway Magazine issue 1170 October 1998 page 65
  17. Class 375 Electrostar Kent Rail
  18. "Connex Rail places £90 million order for 30 new EMUs from Adtranz" Rail Magazine issue 308 2 July 1997 page 7
  19. "Connex Electrostars make passenger debut" Rail Magazine issue 407 18 April 2001 page 17
  20. "1001 on Hastings – Charing Cross services". Hastings Diesels Limited. 15 May 2002. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
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