Southeastern Stakeholder Forum, 15th November 2024
We were delighted to accept an invitation to attend the Southeastern Alliance Stakeholder Forum on Friday 15th November, to hear updates and announcements from Southeastern and Network Rail.
Our North Stars
Steve White, Managing Director, Southeastern
The change of Government has brought a new view of the importance of rail to drive economic growth, decarbonisation and to support social mobility. Rail will be brought into public ownership, Great British Railways will unite track and train. Louise Haigh, Secretary of State is determined to “Move fast and fix things”. She has two priorities for the rail industry:-
Improve performance: Railways should run on time, it is the most obvious measure of customer satisfaction.
Reduce tax-payer subsidy: More fare paying customers are needed to generate funds for future investment.
The Southeastern Alliance will also remain focused on:-
Social Purpose: Continued work with the Purpose Coallition to deliver meaningful change in the communties served by the railway.
Sustainability: An economically and environmentally sustainable future, helping to tackle climate change. Helping nature through initiatives like Southeastern in Bloom and the launch of the Customer and Community Improvement Fund.
An Inclusive and Accessible Railway: Delivery of major Access for All improvements to stations. Smaller changes that create better journeys and enhance stations.
New ways of working: Enhancing the “Tiny Moments” when staff engage with rail users. Recruiting additional train drivers and customer facing staff.
The Southeastern Alliance
David Davidson, Kent Route Director, Network Rail and Scott Brightwell, Southeastern
Southeastern and Network Rail continue to look for ways to enhance joint leadership. A system wide approach that will lead to faster decision making and improved efficiencies, brought about by joint business planning and data sharing.
The new Mobile Operations Managers depot at Robertsbridge is a great example, driven by a need to improve incident response times in the area, enabled by a collaborative culture.
Advancements in technology allow greater use of CCTV and drones to enhance safety and security, particularly in collaboration with British Transport Police to locate and track tresspassers.
Services need to perform. Trains running on time is the most significant driver of customer satisfaction. 85.3% of Southeastern trains arrive within 3 minutes of scheduled times. Cancellations are at 2.3%. Whilst broadly above the national average these need to improve.
New on train technology utilises Artificial Intelligence and thermal imaging to detect faults before they become critical. Daylight inspection trials have increased track worker safety.
Fleet upgrades are proposed. Ongoing refurbishment of existing stock. Procurement of more reliable trains that will break down less often than the ageing Networkers and offer a more comfortable user experience.
Winning Back Customers and Reducing Subsidy
Alicia Andrews, Southeastern
The railway needs to be sustainable, economically, environmentally and socially.
Fare rises have not kept track with the Retail Price Index. They have not risen as fast as wages. Many railway contracts are linked to RPI. Fare income has not kept pace with costs.
Journey growth continues but passenger numbers remain 26% lower than pre-Covid, largely due to changed working patterns. The number of people commuting is similar to pre-Covid but they are travelling fewer days each week.
Ticketing habits are changing with significant growth in digital ticketing, which is quick, convenient and easy for many. Southeastern are determined to retain traditional ticketing options and off-line methods of purchase.
Customer satisfaction tracks at over 84%, whilst this is a very good result it needs to exceed 88%. Service performance is the key driver of customer satisfaction, delays and cancellations need to be reduced.
A subsidy reduction plan is being developed in conjuction with the Department for Transport, Great British Railways and neighbouring Train Operating Companies. Work is underway to improve integrated travel and modal shift to support local growth.
Over £5m will have been invested in station improvements by the end of the current financial year. This has included deep cleaning of 116 stations, repainting public areas, repairing and replacing customer facilities and specialist glass cleaning. Southeastern’s first ever Changing Places toilet was opened in Margate in October.
Procurement has begun for new Ticket Vending Machines. There will be engagement with disabled people to increase accessibility. It will be easier to find the best value fares from a wider range of available ticketing options. ANPR will be rolled out at 40 locations, with systems to support payment for parking by telephone call and cash at Ticket Vending Machines.
A Focus On Accessibility - Building A Better Railway For All
Sonia Maulson, Southeastern and Andrew Wood, Network Rail
The presentation covered a number of current Access for All schemes which deliver a step change for local communities. Herne Bay and Shortlands stations are due to complete in summer 2025.
On Kent CRP’s own lines, the current Control Period will see Access for All improvements at Maidstone West, subject to the outcome of feasibility studies. Kidbrooke, Battle, High Brooms and Marden are also set to benefit.
Securing external financial support for future improvements is critical. Network Rail works with local authorities in the early stages, providing Intervention Assessments to grow commitment for schemes, build confidence and secure investment, e.g. s.106 funding. Metro stations are the current priority for large scale improvement schemes.
Southeastern’s internal budget is around £200k per annum, which can fund tactile paving, additional handrails, stair treads and automatic doors.
86% of customers who have booked assistance report that all assistance was received. 98% of customers who booked assistance were satisfied with the helpfulness and attitudes of station teams. These figures are better than the industry average but the first is clearly not good enough. Improving staff availability and providing additional training on deploying ramps and understanding how to best engage with customers who have a wide range of additional needs.
All members of Southeastern’s Activity Travel Advisory Panel have lived experience of disability, making it a strong platform to drive change. Improvements have been made to highlight the available accessibility assistance options on the website. Travel assistance has been integrated into the Southeastern app, allowing assistance to be booked when buting a ticket. The app now includes an option to request a British Sign Language interpreter.
Value of Community Rail
Jenni Jones, Community Rail Network
Community Rail Network is the umbrella organisation that looks after Community Rail Partnerships, Station Adopters and manages a variety of small funds which support their work on behalf of the Department for Transport.
There are 75 Community Rail Partnerships across the UK and 1300 volunteer adopted stations. They all work to deliver the Community Rail Development Strategy to support local communities. Community Rail Network also hosts Scenic Rail Britain, promoting sustainable leisure travel by rail.
In total 8,250 volunteers give 380,000 hours of time annually, enabling Community Rail to deliver a social return of £17.89 per £1 invested.
Community Rail Partnerships deliver community led projects that present stations as community hubs and vital safe spaces. They demonstrate the demand for more frequent rail services, provide small changes at and around stations to enhance intermodal connections, and support larger projects that deliver dementia friendly travel opportunities, rail safety training to school groups, travel training and much more.
Customer and Community Improvement Fund
Damian Testa, Southeastern
Last year Southeastern reached out to the communities across its network, to bid for a share of their new Customer and Community Improvement Fund.
The fund was massively oversubscribed with project submissions totaling a value of £3m against £125k of available funding. Southeastern is seeking DfT approval to fund around three times that value of projects next year from ideas already submitted.
Details of the 13 projects Southeastern are supporting this financial year can be found here.
Southeastern and Network Rail are also looking forward to celebrating Railway 200 throughout 2025, with a dedicated microsite to help keep you up to date.
Social Mobility
Steve Foster, Southeastern
Southeastern is working to break down barriers to work by bringing communities, employment and opportunities and the supply chain together.
This work has focused on partner schools in lower socio-economic areas, highlighting rail careers and providing work experience.
New relationships continue to be developed through the Princes’ Trust, and the Purpose Coalition.
The introduction of skills and behaviours based recruitment has been tied with a strategy of advertising content and placement to reflect this ambition. Feedback received and the backgrounds of recent applicants show the targeting has been successful.
Close
Steve White
Steve closed by reminding us of the upcoming Railway 200 celebrations. Southeatern is London’s oldest railway. The London to Greenwhich line launched in 1836, the first dedicated passenger railway in the world. There are station birthdays and many people past and present to celebrate.
There have been many changes over the years since, the future sees a return to public ownership of the railway. A proud history, a bright future.
Southeastern have a clear strategy to guide them as they move forward.
