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More frequent and more secure rail services for London and the South East

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT News Release (071) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 9 June 2009

Passengers in London and the South East can look forward to more frequent rail services, improved stations, more staff and better security, Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said today as he awarded the South Central rail franchise to Southern Railways Ltd., a subsidiary of Govia Ltd - the current franchise operator.

The new franchise, which starts on 20 September this year, requires the new operator to introduce longer suburban trains at peak times and more trains on key lines during evenings and weekends. Passengers will also be able to travel more safely on the network thanks to a significant increase in the number of stations staffed at night and the introduction of CCTV on all trains.

Andrew Adonis said:

"This new franchise provides more regular trains, more services at busy times and more station and train security for passengers across London and the South East. It will greatly improve the quality of service and give passengers better value for money.

"We have worked closely with rail user groups such as Passenger Focus to ensure that this new franchise works for passengers. We have had four candidates entering bids for the franchise, showing that there is still a strong level of interest from private firms in running rail services."

Key train service enhancements will include:

* Longer suburban services made up of ten car trains, with delivery starting in 2011 and being completed by 2013.
* Four trains per hour on most routes in South London until around 2300 Monday to Saturday and new late night services in South London on Friday and Saturday nights with most routes running trains until 0030
* Additional services in South London on Sundays with four trains per hour on most routes.
* A new hourly Brighton to Southampton service on Sundays and additional late night services from Brighton to Worthing.
* Later services on the London to Uckfield route.
* A new service to Southampton Airport and an additional Gatwick Express service from Brighton at peak times.

Under the new franchise agreement, all stations and trains on the South Central network will be fitted with CCTV by June 2011 and all stations across the franchise will be required to maintain or increase the presence of customer-facing staff, leading to a safer and improved passenger-friendly experience.

In addition, new ticket gates will be installed at 22 stations (on top of the 14 South London stations being gated prior to the franchise commencement) and almost all South London stations will be staffed from the first to last service of the day.

The franchise will also deliver at least 1,000 extra car parking spaces and 1,500 additional secure bicycle spaces. Every station across the network will be cleaned and refreshed, while there will also be enhancements to 34 stations in the region, including major refurbishments at Brighton, Haywards Heath, Hove, Lewes, Redhill, Three Bridges and Worthing.

In addition, the Government has required the operator to set targets for passenger satisfaction and provide additional investment if these targets are not achieved.

Notes for editors
1. Govia is the Go-Ahead Group's rail division, a joint venture between Go-Ahead (65%) and Keolis SA (35%). Govia is the UK's busiest rail operator responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises, Southern, Southeastern and London Midland.

2. Four companies had bids considered - Southern Railways Limited (Go Via), Southern Trains Limited (Stagecoach), NXSC Trains Limited (National Express) and Nedrailways South Central Limited (NedRailways).

3. The new franchise will start on the 20 September 2009 and run until July 2015. If the franchise fails to achieve its performance benchmarks the Department has the option to terminate a year early in July 2014. Alternatively the contract may be extended by up to 2 years to run until July 2017.

4. The premium profile for the South Central franchise is:

Mar-10   Mar-11  Mar-12   Mar-13   Mar-14   Mar-15    Jul-15
      * 1,254  35,518  80,297   122,123  155,891  201,211   *80,801 

* = part year Nominal £000's

5. The new South Central franchise will provide a premium of £534m NPV over the core 5 years 10 month franchise length.

6. The additional subsidy in NPV over the core 5 years 10 month franchise length required for the Additional Showcase Stations option purchased is £1.6m.

7. The Department will continue to limit annual rises of regulated fares in line with national policy, which is currently RPI+1%. The Department has already reduced regulated fares flexibility on individual fares from RPI +1%+5% to RPI +1%+2% for this franchise. Furthermore, individual regulated fares for the 2010 fare rise are capped at RPI+1%. As with all franchises, unregulated fares will be the responsibility of the operator, however the winning bid assumes unregulated fares increases of about RPI+1% per annum.

8. The franchise sets a Public Performance Measure (PPM) target of 93.1% by to be achieved by March 2014 with improvements in delay minute and capacity targets over the franchise.

9. By December 2013 the operator will deliver 158 additional vehicle arrivals into London in the morning peak (a 14% increase), 172 additional vehicle departures from London in the evening peak (a 16% increase) and 8 additional vehicle arrivals/departures into/from Brighton in the morning/evening peaks (24% increase).

10. Some of these capacity enhancements are facilitated by Network Rail's platform lengthening schemes with enhancements delivered in December 2011 and December 2013.

11. The increased level of capacity will contribute significantly to reducing the expected disruption from planned works to upgrade London Bridge station, expected to start in October 2012.

12. The changes introduced to Gatwick Express last December will be maintained and enhanced in the new franchise. Service levels on Gatwick Express will be maintained with the service continuing to be branded as Gatwick Express and have adequate luggage provision and multilingual announcements. Catering provision will remain as today.

13. Alongside the Department for Transport's Access for All and National Stations Improvement Programmes, the franchise will deliver enhancements at 34 stations. Seven stations (Brighton, Haywards Heath, Hove, Lewes, Redhill, Three Bridges and Worthing) will undergo a major refurbishment as part of the Showcase Station Project, with further station enhancements to be carried at another 27 stations.

14. All stations across the franchise will have a programme of station deep cleans. TfL have helped fund this programme for South London stations.

15. TfL's London Overground operator will also take over the running of 10 stations at which the new East London Line services will call from 2010. These are; New Cross Gate, Brockley, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Crystal Palace, Penge West, Anerley, Norwood Junction and West Croydon. A further two stations (Wandsworth Road and Clapham High Street) will transfer to TfL's London Overground operator as part of phase 2 of the East London Line project in 2012.

16. TfL has helped fund an increase in staffing at stations across South London to ensure stations are staffed from first to last service on each operational day (except four stations - Clapham High Street, Wandsworth Road, Birkbeck and Belmont and on Boxing Day). The Department for Transport has funded increases in staffing through requirements to staff new gating schemes.

17. All stations will maintain or see an increase in customer facing staff presence.

18. Actual service enhancements will include (some subject to Network Rail granting access):
* A new hourly Brighton to Southampton service on Sundays and additional late night services from Brighton to Worthing.
* Four trains per hour on most routes in South London until around 2300 Monday to Saturday and new late night services in South London on Friday and Saturday nights with most routes running trains until 0030
* Additional services in South London on Sundays with four trains per hour on most routes.
* Later services on the Uckfield route and a requirement to operate some services on Boxing Day.
* A new service to Southampton Airport and an additional Gatwick Express service from Brighton in the peak.

19. Other enhancements will include:
* Oyster Pay As You Go rolled out in the London area - subject to industry agreements.
* Contractually binding National Passenger Service NPS targets with additional obligations for investment for non-delivery.
* A £3.6m spend on the major enhancement of seven key stations and a station deep clean and minor fault rectifications at all stations by March 2011.
* 1,122 additional car parking spaces and 100 additional car park payment machines and 1,500 additional secure cycle parking spaces.
* Station Travel Plans developed at 30 stations with £1.25m spend on outcomes.
* A New PlusBus scheme for Horsham.
* 14 South London stations gated prior to the franchise commencement with these staffed for longer to increase security and reduce ticketless travel at gatelines in South London. New gatelines installed at an additional 22 stations.
* Help Points provided at 40 additional stations outside London.
* All stations to have CCTV coverage by March 2011 (22 stations to have CCTV coverage installed). All passenger trains to have on train CCTV coverage by June 2011.
* £13.4m to be spent on the interior refreshment of the train fleet. £1m to be spent on improving passenger information systems on board trains.
* 35 Stations to have new multi modal information screens. Nine stations to have new A-Z information screens.
* 10 stations to have train departure information screens in car parks.
* All customer facing staff to have electronic access to real-time train information. Almost all South London stations staffed from first to last service. No reduction in customer facing station staff hours. A free phone Assisted Persons Reservation Service provided.
* The creation of Passenger Panel of 1,000 users. The introduction of delay repay scheme. The introduction of a direct debit season ticket facility (subject to gaining industry agreement).
* ITSO based smartcards introduced by January 2012
* £1.55m to be spent improving existing Ticket Vending Machines (TVM's) 120 new TVM's to be introduced.
* A 25% reduction in electricity usage at stations and depots and a 50% increase in paper waste recycling.

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Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk