Private company

Connex South Eastern

Train operating company in South East England

Connex South Eastern was a British train operating company owned by Connex that operated the South Eastern franchise from October 1996 until November 2003.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1996Founded1

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465020 at Waterloo East
Photo: The original uploader was Our Phellap at English Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

Connex South Eastern was a British train operating company owned by Connex that operated the South Eastern franchise from October 1996 until November 2003.2

Corporate structure

Connex South Eastern is part of a group headed by Transdev Group. 64 entities, 12 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

On 13 October 1996 Connex commenced operating the South Eastern franchise having beaten bids from a Management/FirstBus consortium, GB Railways and Stagecoach.

In December 2002, after the franchise ran into financial trouble, the Strategic Rail Authority agreed to bail it out with a £58 million injection, with the franchise end date changed from 2011 to 2006. However continuing poor financial management resulted in the Strategic Rail Authority deciding to strip Connex of the franchise in June 2003. Connex South Eastern continued to operate the franchise until 8 November 2003 with the services transferring to the Strategic Rail Authority's South Eastern Trains subsidiary the following day.

From Wikipedia’s article on Connex South Eastern, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Connex South Eastern ran passenger services from London Blackfriars, London Bridge, London Cannon Street, London Charing Cross and London Victoria to Hayes,

Bromley North, Ramsgate, Dover Priory, Folkestone Harbour and Ore and various destinations within including Orpington, Sevenoaks, Dartford, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford and Canterbury West.

It also ran services between Sittingbourne and Sheerness; Paddock Wood, Maidstone West and Strood; and Maidstone West, Redhill and Three Bridges.

Services on the Addiscombe Line, which were operated by Connex South Eastern following privatisation, ceased in 1997. The line was subsequently converted for Tramlink operation.

From Wikipedia’s article on Connex South Eastern, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. Nov 8, 2003Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1996Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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