Network Rail Kent and Southeastern have united to operate under a single leadership team, South Eastern Railway.
The move to the unified model has been made in order to both increase investment and improve efficiency for passengers across the south east, as well as serve as a key step towards the formation of Great British Railways (GBR).
The team, which now operates under managing director Steve White, first began initial collaborations over a year ago, with the two teams’ efforts thus far seeing lower cancellations, customer satisfaction rising to 86% and a 50 million GBP reduction in the yearly subsidy required to operate Southeastern Railway.
Joint planning has also allowed for a number of work projects to go ahead with minimal disruption and delays, including the appointment of engineers to access track during the day to carry out repairs whilst maintaining a consistent service for customers.
The collaboration, which is expected to generate an additional 3 million GBP revenue per year through passenger convenience, has also enabled the use of railway drones along the Southeastern network to both identify and reduce incidents of trespass.
Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy, said:Track and train are two sides of the same coin but for too long they have operated independently of each other – leaving customers and taxpayers to bear the consequences of this illogical approach.
Uniting track and train leadership in the South East is the first step in our journey to create a railway we can all be proud of; delivering the Government’s Plan for Change with better connectivity, leading to more growth, jobs and homes and ultimately to the creation of Great British Railways.
South Eastern Railway have unveiled a number of additional plans for both passengers and taxpayers over the next few years, including the investment of 40 million GBP in station improvements, the modernisation of stock on the Metro service, the fitting of thermal imaging cameras and AI CCTV on passenger trains to monitor tracks and the recruitment of a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
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.
This new way of working puts customer needs front and centre, and will deliver a more joined up, responsive and sustainable railway.
