This petition was submitted during the 2015–2017 Conservative government
Petition Remove the rail franchise from South Eastern
South Eastern consistently let down their paying customers, cancelling trains strategically so they don't have to pay refunds, whilst making £12.8m in profit. Their customer service is beyond useless and the people of the South East have suffered for long enough.
This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months
Government responded
This response was given on 1 February 2016
The industry is working hard to improve services and we are reforming passenger compensation. We are determined to provide the service passengers expect across the country.
Read the response in full
We know that some passengers are very frustrated about the performance and the service they receive. We expect Southeastern to continue to work with Network Rail in order to minimise disruption and ensure services improve in 2016. The Department for Transport is closely monitoring the performance of the rail network across London and the South East and operators must inform customers properly when things go wrong.
As the Chancellor stated in his Autumn Statement, we are committed to reducing the time threshold for which passengers can claim from 30 minutes to 15 minutes, and the Department is gearing up to reform the compensation arrangements as set out in that commitment.
As part of our robust franchising programme, the current operator of Southeastern is delivering millions of pounds of investment to improve journeys, which includes:
• New high speed and classic services delivering more than 95,000 extra seats, including 1,000 extra seats on Southeastern’s High Speed services every day
• Refreshing 112 trains and updating toilets on a further 190 trains as well as improving accessibility by investing over £10 million in the train fleet over the franchise
• An obligation to improve stations by investing £4.8 million by 31 October 2016 and from January 2015 opening Cannon Street 21 hours a day with additional staff to assist passengers
• Extra staff will be available at stations as Southeastern have committed to ensuring that its gatelines are staffed for 90% in London and 70% of opening hours.
• The new £26m Rochester Station completion was opened on 13 December 2015 and forms part of the East Kent Re-signalling programme, an investment of £145m.
• Strood Station - a £2.6 million project to demolish the current 1960’s style station and replace it with a modern building – Work is due to start in Spring 2016 and to be completed by 2017.
• A programme to deep clean all Southeastern stations and a programme of station improvement works across the franchise.
Alongside this, our record investment in the railways, and the transformative work which the industry is doing on this part of the network, is essential in building a world-class railway, providing more services and better journeys. We understand that passengers are concerned about performance and the service they receive, however we know that Southeastern are working together with Network Rail in order to minimise disruption and to recover services faster where infrastructure failures occur. We would like this work to continue in order that service improvements continue. Southeastern have been working on their fleet of trains to improve capacity in the Metro area, and the Department for Transport is working with Southeastern to look at whether additional capacity can be introduced in the near term and improve the service for passengers.
This Government has long recognised the importance of improving the performance of train operators, and through Network Rail we committed to seeing £38 billion invested in the rail network, and the hugely ambitious infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and HS2, as well the transformation of London Bridge.
We closely monitor the performance of both the operators and Network Rail, and incentivise their performance through the Franchise Agreements and Track Access Agreements. Whilst we understand the frustration felt by all constituents affected by any delay, we would like to assure you that the Department for Transport is determined to see further improvements and provide the service that passengers expect.
Department for Transport
Related activity
MPs debate Southeastern rail services
On Thursday 28 January, MPs debated Southeastern rail services. This debate was scheduled following an application from Robert Neill MP.
You can watch the debate here: http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/bc5d98fd-ccbf-4569-91fe-3bfa058d8065?in=16:50:36
You can read the transcript here: https://hansard.digiminster.com/commons/2016-01-28/debates/16012841000003/SoutheasternRailServices
You can follow the House of Commons on Twitter: @HouseofCommons
House of Commons debates Southeastern rail services
On Wednesday 2 March, MPs debated Southeastern rail services. This debate was scheduled following an application from Clive Efford MP.
You can watch the debate here: http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/056662be-eb44-4e0d-816e-cdc8d5218c42?in=09:30:00
You can read the transcript here: https://hansard.digiminster.com/commons/2016-03-02/debates/16030288000001/SoutheasternTrainServices
You can follow the House of Commons on Twitter: @HouseofCommons
There are other ways you can get involved in the work of the UK Parliament.
Find out how to contact your MP or a Lord, contribute to a Parliamentary Committee, and search for free Parliament events taking place in your local area here: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/
Find out how you can visit Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/
You can find out more about the work of the Petitions Committee on its website here: www.parliament.uk/petitions-committee
You can follow the Petitions Committee on Twitter: @hocpetitions
Transport Committee inquiry into the rail passenger experience
You may be interested to know that the House of Commons Transport Committee is currently looking into the rail passenger experience.
The Committee wants to identify recommendations to improve the main aspects of a rail journey from the perspective of the passenger: from planning a journey, arriving at a station, making the journey, and any necessary post-journey information.
The Committee is asking for written submissions on, and recommendations to improve, the following issues:
-Information provided to passengers before, during and after rail journeys, including information provided at stations, in trains and via National Rail Enquiries, operators' websites and online apps (excluding in relation to the process for claiming compensation for a delay/cancellation)
-Ticketing, including overcoming obstacles to the more widespread delivery of "smart-ticketing" and part-time season tickets
-In-train facilities, including on-journey Wi-Fi and power
-Performance measures in relation to passenger experience, including passenger survey methodologies
-Mechanisms to hold operators to account for poor performance and spread the best practice across the industry
The Committee will not be looking at the process for claiming compensation for a delay or cancellation as part of this inquiry. It will do so separately later on.
While the Committee welcomes submissions addressing the terms of reference from individual rail passengers, please note that the Committee is not able to take up individual cases. If you wish to complain about a poor experience when travelling by train you should contact the relevant train company. If you are dissatisfied with the train company's response, you should contact either Transport Focus or London Travel Watch, as appropriate.
The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 25 May 2016.
You can find out more about the Committee's inquiry, including how to send a submission on its website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/transport-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/improving-the-rail-passenger-experience/
The Transport Committee is a cross-party group of MPs responsible for scrutinising the policy, administration and expenditure of the Government Department for Transport and its associated public bodies. You can find out more about the work of the Committee on its website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/transport-committee/role/
You can follow the Transport Committee on Twitter: @CommonsTrans
You can watch a short video about how Select Committees work here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2RDuDs44c&feature=youtu.be
You can find out more about how to send a submission to a Select Committee here: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/committees/
There are other ways you can get involved in the work of the UK Parliament.
Find out how to contact your MP or a Lord, contribute to Parliamentary Committees, and search for free Parliament events taking place in your local area here: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/
Find out how you can visit Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/