Southern is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) train operating company on the Southern routes of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise in England. It is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead and Keolis, and has operated the South Central franchise since August 2001 and the Gatwick Express service since June 2008. When the passenger rail franchise was subsumed into GTR, Southern was split from Gatwick Express and the two became separate brands, alongside the Thameslink and Great Northern brands.
Southern operates the majority of commuter services from its Central London terminals at London Bridge and London Victoria to South London, East and West Sussex, as well as regional services in parts of Hampshire, Kent and Surrey. It also provides services between Watford Junction and Croydon via the West London Line.
Major destinations served include , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . The company also operates services from Eastbourne to Ashford, Brighton to Ore, Brighton to Seaford, Brighton to Southampton and Clapham Junction to Watford Junction.
For three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, Southern came last on passenger satisfaction in surveys conducted by the consumer group Which?, scoring low for value for money, reliability, and punctuality in 2018. In 2022, Southern was ranked second-worst on overall passenger satisfaction in a survey conducted by Transport Focus.
History
As part of the wider privatisation of the state owned railway operator British Rail in the 1990s, Connex South Central was awarded the Network SouthCentral franchise by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising. Operations commenced on 26 May 1996.
In March 2000, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA) announced its intention to relet the franchise from May 2003; both Connex and Govia were shortlisted. In October 2000, the SSRA announced that Govia had been awarded the franchise and would operate it from May 2003. Govia negotiated a deal with Connex to buy out the remainder of its franchise, this was completed in August 2001. Govia trading as SouthCentral took over operations on 26 August 2001. The franchise was originally to run for twenty years but, in 2002, the Strategic Rail Authority changed the way it handled financing agreements and therefore Govia was re-awarded with a seven-and-a-half-year franchise until December 2009.
In May 2003, the franchise was rebranded as Southern in a recall of the pre-nationalisation Southern Railway, using a green roundel logo with Southern in yellow in a green bar.
During April 2007, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that the Gatwick Express franchise was to be incorporated into the main South Central franchise. This reorganisation was part of a wider plan to increase capacity on the Brighton Main Line, involving the extension of peak-hour services from Gatwick to Brighton and Eastbourne from December 2008. This change doubled the number of London to Brighton express trains during those periods.
In December 2008, Southern took over the services on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line from Southeastern.
The South Central franchise end date was brought forward to September 2009 upon the integration of the Gatwick Express service, to allow the new operator to be in place during major changes to the timetable in and around South London in December 2009. In the run-up to the bidding process for the franchise, reports emerged suggesting that Transport for London, the operator of the London Overground service, wished to take control of all overground services in South London, including the 'Metro' area of the South Central franchise. However, such a transfer never took place and the DfT put out the entire franchise for tender.
In August 2008, the DfT shortlisted Govia, National Express, NedRail and Stagecoach for the new South Central franchise. In June 2009, the DfT announced that Govia had retained the franchise, to start on 20 September 2009.
In March 2012, the Department for Transport announced that Abellio, FirstGroup, Govia, MTR and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. The Invitation to Tender was to be issued in October 2012, with the successful bidder announced in spring 2013. However, in the wake of the collapse of the InterCity West Coast refranchising process, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review.
In December 2012, Southern's to via service ceased, being partially replaced by London Overground's new to service.