History of The Franchise
Since the privatisation of British Rail, the franchise to run trains in this area has been held by three different companies. The first company to win the South-Eastern Franchise, on 14 October 1996, was Connex, which operated it under the name Connex South Eastern. Connex gained a reputation for unreliable services, but it was for "poor financial management" that its franchise was cut short by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) on 9 November 2003. Train services were then taken over by South Eastern Trains, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SRA/Department for Transport created for the purpose, until bidding for a new franchise was due. This would see the existing South-Eastern franchise combined with the new high-speed services to be operated on High Speed 1 (formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link) to form a new Integrated Kent Franchise (IKF).
The opening of the second phase of High Speed 1 in November 2007 made available train paths on the traditional network previously used by Eurostar, allowing Southeastern to increase certain services in December 2007. In December 2008, as part of the franchise agreement, responsibility for the Redhill to Tonbridge Line was handed over to Southern. Southeastern high-speed services began full service on 14 December 2009.
In March 2009 the bay platforms at London Blackfriars closed for reconstruction as part of the Thameslink Programme. Southeastern services previously terminating at Blackfriars, mostly from Sevenoaks via the Catford loop, were extended to Kentish Town, St Albans, Luton or Bedford. As a result of this change, Southeastern now operates these services jointly with First Capital Connect using 20 dual-voltage Class 319 sets (which remain in FCC livery) as well as newly built Class 377 Electrostars. When the station fully reopened with new bay platforms in May 2012 these services continued to run, but in the evening and at weekend (when the station had been closed) instead of terminating at Victoria services now terminate at Blackfriars.
Following the Department For Transport's review after the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise process, extensions were granted to the franchises due for renewal in the near future. Southeastern franchise's was extended from 31 March 2014 to June 2018.
Read more about this topic: Southeastern (train Operating Company)
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