Rail

Around one million people travel on our trains every day

Our rail operation, Govia, is 65% owned by Go-Ahead and 35% by Keolis. Keolis is a French-based operator of passenger transport services which is part owned by the French national railway SNCF.

Our rail operation is the busiest in the UK, responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises: Southern (which includes the Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland.Our current three franchises are primarily centred around London and are commuter intensive.

In December 2009, as part of our Southeastern franchise, we began operating the UK's first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing journey times. The high speed trains will play a key role in the 2012 Olympic’s by providing ‘Javelin’ services to the Olympic Park.

Click here to view an interactive map showing the significant time savings the high speed trains make to journey times.

Our three train companies have adopted the EFQM Excellence Model, a strategic quality management framework developed by EFQM (the European Foundation for Quality Management). The model is used by our TOCs as basis for self-assessment, to help them identify opportunities for continuous ongoing improvement and to measure delivery against strategic goals. It also helps to bring consistency to management style, access good practices and drive innovation. Organisations which follow the EFQM model are awarded, through independent assessment, 'Recognised for Excellence' (R4E) star ratings (3, 4 or 5) based on their successful efforts to implement excellence and good practice. Southern has recently been reaccredited an 'R4E' star rating. Southeastern and London Midland are currently undertaking the recognition process.

To find out more about EFQM and the British Quality Foundation (BQF) click here.

Our Rail Franchises
Operating Company
Revenue (£m)+	613.5	715.8	325.3
Managing Director	Chris Burchell	Charles Horton	Patrick Verwer
Geographical area	London Surrey East /West Sussex Hampshire Kent	London Kent East Sussex	London Milton Keynes Northampton Birmingham /West Midlands Liverpool
Franchise renewal date	July 2015	March 2014	September 2015
Approx passenger numbers+	165 million	161 million	55 million
Avg number of employees+	4,039	3,709	2,342
Fleet size**	311 trains	367 trains	163 trains