Go-Ahead Group formally announced today acceptance of the two year continuation of the Southeastern Integrated Kent Franchise offered by the Department for Transport. The franchise will run until March 2014.
Charles Horton, managing director said:
“We’re pleased that the current Southeastern franchise will now continue until March 2014. Throughout, our focus will remain on improving services for our customers in Kent, south east London and East Sussex.
“From the summer this year we will move to the ‘delay repay’ compensation scheme, meaning that any passenger delayed by 30 minutes or more can claim compensation. This is an arrangement that will be welcomed by passengers and rail user groups.
“We’re also pleased to announce that from 23rd May Southeastern will be introducing a new high speed service for Maidstone, something passengers and local stakeholders in Kent’s County Town have been calling for.
“I’m hopeful that over the past five years passengers have noticed improvements: We’re now operating more services than ever before, including new high speed trains, we have invested heavily in staff training and development, and have made improvements to many of our stations and trains. But we know there’s plenty more to do, particularly to continue improving the punctuality of services and also provide better information to customers during times of disruption.
“Finally, in 2012 Southeastern is set to play an important role supporting the Olympic transport plan and we’re working with industry partners to deliver this successfully”.
