Southern Region of British Railways - Privatisation

Privatisation

The Southern Region was abolished in 1991 because British Rail had decided to move from regional management to business sectors. The Region was divided between two of the new passenger businesses: Network SouthEast and InterCity. When the British Rail passenger services were franchised in 1996 and 1997 the lines of the former region were divided between South West Trains, Thameslink, Island Line (on the Isle of Wight), Gatwick Express, and the South Central and South Eastern franchises, both initially awarded to Connex. The Connex franchise was a massive failure as countless train services were cancelled, run in short formations and were poorly managed. The Government took back control of the Connex Southeastern franchise but not as British Rail, then it was eventually given to Govia to run. The Connex Southern franchise was inherited by Govia, which operates Southern and Southeastern. As part of a general reorganisation of franchises, Island Line was merged with the much larger South West Trains franchise in 2005, Thameslink became part of First Capital Connect in 2006, and Gatwick Express was merged with Southern in 2007. The North Downs Line was run by Thames Trains and now by First Great Western primarily connecting Reading to Gatwick Airport.