Free copy OnFor your Southeastern journeyBoard Autumn/Winter 2020 Are you wearing yours? Keeping our passengers safe during the pandemic Plus Extra cleaning measures Our commitment to you How we’re performing On Board. Autumn/Winter 2020 Hello, Welcome to the Autumn-Winter 2020 issue of On Board which arrives at the end of what has been a very challenging year to put it mildly. By the time you read this issue we may or may not be out of the latest phase of Covid-19 restrictions but regardless Contents Southeastern has continued to run a comprehensive train service throughout Kent, East Sussex and South East London, and we’re committed to doing as much as possible for our passengers to enable them to travel with confidence. We’ve invested approximately £400,000 in extra cleaning measures across our network and together with our industry-leading SeatFinder tool and swab testing across our 165 stations. So, you can be rest assured that your trains and stations are as clean as possible. With more positive news arriving, we hope that 2021 will see the end of restrictions and that we can move towards the normality we 4 Our promises Read about our commitments to all crave and be able to travel you, the improvements we are making whenever and wherever we want. on our trains, at our stations and in We’re committed to transparency our communities about how our train service is performing in terms of punctuality 6 Keeping passengers safe and ticket office opening times, It’s so important to wear facemasks and we listen to what you tell us in when travelling with us that even the National Rail Passenger Survey, some of our trains are wearing them and you can see how we’ve done in the last period on the back page 8 Out and about of this issue. Our up-to-date network map Please stay safe and thank you for travelling with us. 10 News We’re the first train company in the UK Paul Prentice, Editor to share train load data directly with passengers so they can understand Disclaimer carriage capacity before boarding The opinions expressed in this guide are not necessarily those services and social distance more 11 Performance of Southeastern. Editorial about Southeastern products and services may not include all of the applicable terms and effectively Statistics, punctuality and opening hours conditions. Visit southeasternrailway.co.uk call 0345 322 7021 or write to Southeastern Customer Relations, P O Box 10422, Unit 16, Coalfield Way, Ashby-de-la-Zouch LE65 9EL. Registered Some of the photos in this issue were taken before social distancing measures in England (CN 4860660) Southeastern is part of Govia, a were put in place and before the wearing of masks was required joint-venture between Go-Ahead Group plc and Keolis UK ltd. Produced by beetroot. beetroot.co.uk 2 On Board Keeping passengers safe Negative results is positive news oronavirus swab testing on high C touch areas at 25 of our busiest stations have come back showing no traces of Covid-19, confirming the ongoing effectiveness of our additional cleaning measures. We’re committed to keep our passengers and colleagues as safe as possible during the current pandemic which is why by February 2021, 40 stations will have been tested for traces of Covid-19 and eventually all 165 stations across our network. The activity is part of Southeastern’s enhanced cleaning regime to protect its staff and provide reassurance to passengers that they can travel with confidence if they need to. Approximately £400,000 has been invested by Southeastern in extra cleaning measures. At each location, a specialist contractor takes swab tests from high touch areas which are then analysed in a laboratory. About 80% of the swabs are taken from public areas such as ticket hall entrance doors and arm rests on benches, with the remaining 20% taken from internal staff areas such as kitchens and door handles. David Wornham, Passenger Services Director for Southeastern, said: “It is absolutely imperative that we “ It is absolutely are doing all we can to provide a safe imperative that we environment on our trains and at our stations for those still needing to travel. are doing all we can “It is great to see more negative to provide a safe test results from our stations and is testament to the work of our cleaning environment on our team who are regularly going trains and at our above and beyond to ensure our stations for those still passengers feel comfortable and confident travelling.” needing to travel” Autumn/Winter 2020 3 News Committed to improving our service for you OUR PEOPLE More British Transport Police officers: ovia – a subsidiary of We’ll work with the British Transport Police the Go Ahead Group to employ six additional full-time police (65%) and Keolis officers across the Southeastern network to (35%) – is in the middle help keep our passengers safe. of its Direct Award GContract to continue operating the New staff at our Dover depot: We’ll Southeastern franchise. Awarded be employing five new members of by the Department for Transport workshop staff plus five at Tonbridge (DfT), it runs until 16 October 2021, depot with eight additional shunting with an option to extend at the DfT’s and maintenance staff also recruited discretion until 31 March 2022. at both depots. Although Southeastern will continue its immediate focus providing vital More engineering apprentices: We’ll services during the Covid-19 pandemic, be employing four new engineering we are already looking further ahead apprentices across all five of our main to when customers are able to begin engineering depots at Ashford, Grove travelling as normal and we can start Park, Ramsgate, Slade Green and reconnecting with our communities St Leonards. and further improving capacity, performance and customer satisfaction. Welfare officers at key locations: We’ve As a result, over the course of the employed six welfare officers at three contract Southeastern has promised to stations to help protect the railway from deliver a range of improvements. vulnerable people, including Lewisham, New Cross, Hither Green, St John’s, Slade Green and Penge East. Paramedics where they’re needed the OUR COMMUNITIES most: We’re deploying a paramedic team Community Rail Partnership conference: of two based at London Bridge station We will run a conference for the Community every weekday, providing medical help Rail Partnerships we work with. when people need it the most. Elizabeth line: We’re working closely with the Government and Transport for Living wage for cleaners: We’re ensuring London on the introduction of Elizabeth line that all of our train cleaners working (Crossrail) train services from Abbey Wood within London are paid no less than the by no later than 2022. London Living Wage. 4 On Board OUR STATIONS A rebuilt station ticket hall at Maidstone East: opening in 2021. A new station building for Swanley: opening in 2021. Access for all: a new footbridge and lifts at Canterbury East, opening in summer 2021. Repainting our stations and installing new signage: We’ll put in place a programme to spend £500,000 on repainting our stations and installing new signage at some of them. Gated stations: We’ll ensure that no less than 200 staff are employed to work on ticket gatelines at our stations. Deep cleaning programme: We’ll be rolling out a deep cleaning programme for all of our stations. OUR TRAINS More trains for the Metro area: In January we received the first of our new fleet of Class 707 trains from South Western Railway (SWR). These trains are modern, spacious and air-conditioned, and they will provide a significant improvement in the passenger experience. The delivery of four trains initially will allow us to begin the initial work required ahead of the introduction of the full fleet of 30 x 5-car Class 707 units, once they become available from SWR. These first trains will be split across our Ashford, Grove Park and Slade The fleet will also be fitted with energy Green depots. They will be carrying out metering and regenerative braking for vital preparatory work including driver overhead power. AND THERE’S MORE… instruction, maintenance training, and Our Mainline (Class 375) fleet will have More smart ticketing: helping more some infrastructure checks. USB charging points, LED lighting and of our passengers switch to The Key, upgraded CCTV. Our Class 377 fleet will our contactless smartcard, which Modifications to our existing train fleet: also be receiving LED lighting. allows you to buy and download your Our High Speed (Class 395 ‘Javelin’) fleet Our Metro (‘Networker’) fleet will have tickets at home, fast-track through the will have an interior refresh beginning technical modifications to improve station and avoid queues. in May 2021 including: reliability. A new lost property app: allowing our new seat covers and seat foam passengers to be more easily reunited USB charging points A deep clean of our train fleet: This with their property. refreshed table tops started in December 2020 and finishes grab rails repainted. in October 2021. Autumn/Winter 2020 5 Keeping passengers safe Are you wearing yours? We’ve put masks on two of our highspeed trains to remind passengers of the importance of wearing a face covering during the coronavirus pandemic asks are required on all will also see vinyl floor stickers or other Southeastern services markings to help you stand in the right for the protection of place plus other measures like taping all passengers and off seats to avoid people sitting too close railway staff.