Free copy OnFor your Southeastern journeyBoardAutumn/Winter 2018 World in Motion Welcome to our new on-board entertainment Plus service Preparing for winter Station improvements How did your service perform? More exploring Less boring Share good times with Southeastern GroupSave tickets Visit Canterbury and save 1/3 of the cost of an Off-Peak adult ticket when travelling in a group of 3 to 9 people. Book train tickets and see full T&Cs at southeasternrailway.co.uk/waystosave 31081_Southeastern_Value_Design_)nBoard_FP_Canterbury.indd 1 19/10/2018 10:51 On Board. October 2018 – March 2019 Hello, Welcome to the autumn- winter issue of On Board which arrives after a very busy few months here at Southeastern. In this issue we cover our new on-board entertainment system Motion – now available on a Southeastern train near you. We also take a closer look at the £30 million revamp of our train fleet, reveal our favourite hidden gems in Ashford and Margate, and get to grips with the story behind “leaves on the line”. Contents We know that it’s been a tricky year for rail passengers, and this was reflected in the Spring 2018 National Rail Passenger Survey results. We saw our score drop to 75 per cent from a record-breaking 81 per cent the previous year. We’re working hard to get our scores back to where they were and know that punctuality and reliability are what matter most to you. A total of 35 per cent of the survey’s respondents had been delayed – many during the severe winter weather in February and March, which caused significant damage to our trains. We’re working very closely with Network Rail to improve punctuality, and our Joint Performance Team are working flat-out to ensure we deliver a more reliable experience for our passengers. Your satisfaction with the on-board experience also fell, from 75 per cent to 68 per cent. This topic includes train cleanliness and toilet availability, and we’ve made great progress in this area since the survey was carried out – see the train cleaning article on page 6 for more info. Scores reflecting the work of our customer- facing colleagues held up well, despite all the challenges posed by the extreme weather. Results around ‘helpfulness and attitude of 4 World in Motion 15 A dog’s life staff’ and ‘how well train company deals Let us entertain you with our new Giving our canine passengers a with delays’ stayed stable, and ‘availability information and entertainment helping hand of staff on the train’ was three per cent up service Motion on last year. We also saw significant rises in 16 Community spirit passenger satisfaction at Victoria and London 6 How refreshing A record-breaking transformation at Bridge stations, thanks to teamwork initiatives The revamp of 112 Southeastern Herne Hill like One Team Victoria and our new Customer trains is now benefiting thousands 18 Performance Service Ambassadors. of passengers Satisfaction with our stations remained Statistics, punctuality and opening hours largely positive, and on a par with the overall 7 Proud at Pride sector scores for London and the South East Our specially-liveried rainbow train at 78 per cent. Scores for ticket buying appeared across our network this facilities were up four per cent on the same summer as part of our commitment to Dreamland period last year, shelter facilities were up one the diverse communities we serve Margate per cent, and connections with other forms of transport were up three per cent. 8 Out and about Finally, there were positive scores for Margate and Ashford are just a the availability of Wi-Fi both in stations and quick train ride away thanks to on trains. our Highspeed service Paul Prentice, Editor 10 Leave it out Why leaves on the line is no joke Disclaimer 12 Winter trips The opinions expressed in this guide are not necessarily those There’s plenty of winter wonders of Southeastern. Editorial about Southeastern products and across the Southeastern network services may not include all of the applicable terms and conditions. Visit southeasternrailway.co.uk call 0345 322 7021 14 Station facelifts or write to Southeastern Customer Relations, P O Box 10422, Unit 16, Coalfield Way, Ashby-de-la-Zouch LE65 9EL. Registered Giving Maidstone East a makeover in England (CN 4860660) Southeastern is part of Govia, a joint-venture between Go-Ahead Group plc and Keolis UK ltd. Produced by beetroot. beetroot.co.uk 0207 749 0180 Autumn/ Winter 2018 33 Southeastern Motion A warm welcome to Southeastern Motion – another way in which we’re investing in our service to provide better journeys for our passengers Let us entertain you 4 On Board “We always want to do more for our passengers, and it was always our intention to take our free WiFi offer one step further” Highlights of the content offered by Motion, which will be refreshed regularly, include: n the last issue of On Board viewable regardless of whether you’re magazine we told you about the in a tunnel or deep cutting – meaning Amazon Prime £78 million investment to that you don’t miss a moment of TV The Grand Tour improve the service we provide programmes from Amazon Prime and Man in the High Castle by fitting each and every train UKTV. Mozart in the Jungle Iin Southeastern’s fleet with free WiFi. Diane Burke, Commercial Director for Now we’ve taken that one step further Southeastern, said: “We always want to UKTV and created a new information and do more for our passengers, and it was 1945 entertainment service so that news, always our intention to take our free WiFi Alan Davies As Yet Untitled e-books and TV programmes are just the offer one step further when we began Dara O’Briain’s Go 8 Bit tap of a tablet or smartphone away. rolling it out earlier in the year. Motion Southeastern Motion will allow will offer TV programmes and eBooks e-Books passengers to read local, national and from Amazon Prime and Kobo – the first Call Me By Your Name by financial news, check social media, such partnerships of their kind anywhere Andre Aciman respond to emails, watch Amazon Prime on a UK transport network. Widows by Lynda La Plante box sets, read e-books through Kobo, “We know that people use their time as well as get up-to-date, live travel spent travelling on our trains in different Magazines information on Southeastern’s network. ways, whether that’s helping them BBC Countryfile This is on top of Southeastern’s existing prepare for work with the latest news BBC History travel and timetable information. from the City or introduce a new box set Cosmopolitan Motion is available on Metro, Mainline into their evening viewing. and Highspeed trains across south east “Whether you’re catching up with News feeds London and Kent. the news first thing in the morning or Financial Times And in case you were wondering winding down with a box set on your Kent Media Group about those dreaded WiFi blackspots commute home, we hope that Motion will – don’t worry. The content should be offer something for you.” Podcasts Anger Management with Nick Clegg To access Motion, log on to Southeastern WiFi on your device or enter Soundtracking with http://southeastern-media.on.icomera.com/ into your browser. Edith Bowman Hip Hop Saved My Life For more information, visit www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/se_motion Autumn/Winter 2018 5 Train improvement Sparkling success A £30 million investment to revamp 112 Southeastern trains is benefiting thousands of passengers outheastern has completed its of daily passengers deserve the highest £30 million joint venture with levels of comfort and that’s why our Eversholt Rail and Bombardier trains have been renovated. We are to upgrade a third of its very proud of our teams who have trains, as the Class 375 fleet worked incredibly hard over the past Scelebrated 15 years serving passengers. three years to ensure trains have been Engineering teams worked around refurbished to the highest standards.” the clock to update and enhance the Southeastern train carriages are rolling stock to improve our passengers’ cleaned every night, but the refresh journey experience. Each train required programme has set a new benchmark three weeks of work by 35 dedicated for comfort and cleanliness. So as to As part of the revamp: employees at Bombardier’s site in Derby. meet this, by the end of the year, all of • 83,000 seat covers were dry Work included a thorough back-to- Southeastern’s trains will have received cleaned, basics clean and refurbishment of seats, a full deep-clean by new service • 20,500 litres of paint were floors, toilets and fittings – such as grab providers Servest. applied, rails and tables. Meanwhile on the The revamping of trains and • 11km of carpet and 1.6km of outside, bodywork bumps and bruises stations is just one example of lino were replaced were smoothed out and the white paint Southeastern’s franchise commitments • 448 new windscreens were replaced by a deep, Southeastern blue. of more than £78 million to improve the fitted. David Statham, Managing Director experience of passengers travelling of Southeastern, said: “Our thousands across their network. 6 On Board Delighting our customers Pride of the fleet Britain’s fastest domestic passenger train was given a rainbow makeover this summer as part of our commitment to the diverse communities we serve outheastern proudly The idea for the #trainbow livery, unveiled a specially-livered applied to one of Southeastern’s iconic rainbow train at St Pancras Class 395 ‘Javelin’ trains used on the International station on Highspeed service which travels at up to 6 July, ahead of London Pride.