Connex South Eastern - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Connex South Eastern was a train operating company in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It was owned by the Connex Group and operated between 14 October 1996 and 9 November 2003. The company operated passenger services in South London and Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. The network was previously part of the Southern Region of British Railways

Southern Region of British Railways

The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...

and later Network SouthEast

Network SouthEast

Network SouthEast was one of three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the network reached as far west as Exeter...

.

The dense South Eastern network of train services runs into Victoria

Victoria station (London)

Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. It is named after nearby Victoria Street and not Queen Victoria. It is the second busiest railway terminus in London after Waterloo, and includes an air terminal for passengers...

, and to Charing Cross

Charing Cross railway station

Charing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...

and Cannon Street

Cannon Street station

Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London, England. It is built on the site of the medieval Steelyard, the trading base in England of the Hanseatic League...

via London Bridge.

The franchise was originally due to run until 2011, but in June 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority

Strategic Rail Authority

In existence from 2001 to 2006, the Strategic Rail Authority was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry....

decided to cut the South Eastern franchise short at the end of 2003, citing poor financial management and "a serious loss of confidence... in the ability of the company to run the business in its widest sense". Connex South Eastern lost its franchise at midnight on 8 November 2003 when train services were taken over by South Eastern Trains

South Eastern Trains

South Eastern Trains was a British train operating company, in public ownership, that provided train services in south east London and South East England from 9 November 2003 to 31 March 2006....

, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority

Strategic Rail Authority

See also