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Southern / Gatwick Express

About Southern / Gatwick Express

Southern provides train services in South London and connects central London to the South Coast, East and West Sussex, Surrey and parts of Kent and Hampshire. On one of the busiest rail networks in the UK, 162 million passenger journeys were made last year on Southern services. It also runs the Gatwick Express service.

Govia retained the Southern franchise in September 2009 which runs for five years 10 months. Although this is due to end in July 2015, there is an option to extend by two years should the Department for Transport choose to take up this option. View press release.

Southern manages 157 stations across its network with its busiest stations being London Victoria, London Bridge, Brighton, East Croydon and Gatwick Airport. London Victoria, London Bridge and Gatwick Airport stations are managed by Network Rail.

Ninety five per cent of Southern's passengers pass through stations that have secure station status (a Department for Transport accredited scheme). This achievement has been made possible with the help of the Safer Travel Team, which comprises of British Transport Police officers and Rail Neighbourhood Officers (Southern own staff) who deal with issues on the railway ranging from issuing penalty fares and anti-social behaviour penalty notices to making arrests.

Southern takes its environmental responsibilities seriously. It is working to create a sustainable rail network with passengers needs at the centre of its business. It is committed to making rail travel more accessible, more affordable and environmentally efficient. This year, Southern was awarded ISO 14001 for its Environmental Management System. Southern's entire fleet of Class 377 Electrostar trains regenerate electricity back into the third rail* system each time the brakes are applied.

Southern has invested in staff training and coaching to provide passengers with high levels of customer service, and overall passenger satisfaction scores in the biannual National Passenger Survey have been encouraging. Currently 82 per cent of passengers surveyed say they are satisfied.

In recent years Southern has won numerous awards for achievements in many areas within the franchise. 2011 has been a successful year so far with multiple wins at the National Rail awards, Railway Innovation awards and a category win for its Sustainable Transport policy at the Rail business awards.

Southern is the first Train Operating Company in the country to introduce a Priority Seating Card which enables its holders to request that an occupied priority-seat is given up without having to provide an explanation. It has also recently introduced a raft of initiatives at its stations designed to help those with visual impairments, learning difficulties and those whose first language is not English.

This year, Southern has introduced more trains onto the network to increase capacity where it is needed most and in December, capacity will be increased further with longer trains operating on key routes into London.

Southern has adopted two charities, St Catherine's Hospice in Crawley and the Brighton based children's charity, Rocking horse, Community Rail Partnerships and Community Station Partnerships also feature widely as part of Southern's relationships with local communities.

* The third rail or conductor rail is the system by which some trains draw their power. The system is mainly found in the South of England.