Southern (GTR) - Southern Depots - E

Southern (GTR) - E

Southern Depots

Southern's fleet is maintained at Brighton Lovers Walk and Selhurst depots. The Gatwick Express fleet is maintained at Stewarts Lane.

Light maintenance is also carried out at Littlehampton for the electric fleet, and St Leonards for the class 171 fleet when on Marshlink services.

Southern (GTR) Future

Southern, as part of its successful bid for the South Central franchise in 2009, made several commitments to improving services across the network.

These included:

Increasing the length of suburban services in South London to 10 cars between 2011 and 2013.
Increasing the service level on all routes in South London to 4 trains per hour (tph) until 23:00 each day, and the introduction of late-night services on Fridays and Saturdays.
The introduction of an hourly service on Sundays between Brighton and Southampton Central, and an increase in the number of late-night services between Brighton and Worthing.
The introduction of late-night services on the London to Uckfield route.
Installation of new ticket gates at 22 stations across the network
Increasing the number of car-parking spaces at stations by 1,000 and the number of cycle spaces by 1,500.
Cleaning and refreshing of all stations and trains on the network.
Major refurbishments to seven stations: Brighton, Haywards Heath, Hove, Lewes, Redhill, Three Bridges and Worthing.

Uckfield–Lewes Line

The franchise consultation paper released at the beginning of the 2009 franchising process stated that the ultimate franchise agreement would include a change mechanism to enable the DfT to incorporate additional routes into the South Central franchise, and it invited bidders to submit priced options for schemes put forward by stakeholders.

One such scheme could, as indicated in the South Central Franchise Consultation Paper, be the reopening of the Uckfield – Lewes line, closed in 1969. In recent years, several interested parties have been examining the possibility of reopening the line.

Southern (GTR) Future of the Franchise

In January 2016, Transport for London announced a proposal to take over the London suburban parts of the franchise in 2021 through a partnership with the Department for Transport to form a new suburban metro service. However, the plan was rejected by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling in December 2016.

In January 2017, it was reported that the Department for Transport was considering temporarily renationalising the franchise if the service did not improve.

On 17 June 2021 the DfT extended the current contract from 19 September 2021 to 31 March 2022.

The contract for the delivery of Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern services was extended by the DfT on 25 March 2022. The current contract will now expire on 1 April 2028.

Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway) Overview

Southern (GTR) Franchise(s):

Network SouthCentral

26 August 2001 – 24 May 2003

South Central

25 May 2003 – 19 September 2009

Gatwick Express

22 June 2008 – 19 September 2009

South Central (incl Gatwick Express)

20 September 2009 – 25 July 2015

Part of Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern

26 July 2015 – 1 April 2028

Southern (GTR) Main Region(s): Greater London, South East England

Southern (GTR) Other Region(s): East of England

Southern (GTR) Fleet Size:

17 Class 171 Turbostar sets

214 Class 377 Electrostar sets

4 Class 387 Electrostar sets

Southern (GTR) Stations Called At: 213

Southern (GTR) Stations Operated: 156

Southern (GTR) Parent Company: Govia Thameslink Railway

Southern (GTR) Reporting Mark: SN

Southern (GTR) Technical Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Southern (GTR) Electrification: 750 V DC third rail

25 kV 50 Hz AC OHLE

Southern (GTR) Length: 666.3 km (414.0 mi)

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