Southern joins Govia Thameslink Franchise

Southern and Gatwick Express retained their identity when they became part of the Govia Thameslink Franchise (GTR) on 26 July.

The new GTR franchise will see the introduction of three new train fleets, 10,000 additional peak-time seats into London, a £50m investment in station improvements and a transformation in train travel when the Thameslink Programme completes in 2018.

There are many more improvements planned over the life of the franchise, but it’s business as usual for they way in which Southern and Gatwick Express passengers travel as there’s no change to ticket validity. More detail about what’s in store is available at southernrailway.com/theplan.

The appointment of three Passenger Services Directors for Southern Mainline and Coast, Southern Metro and Gatwick Express services is good news for customers travelling on these routes. The new Passenger Services Directors are:

David Scorey – Passenger Services Director, Southern Mainline and Coast

David was Southern’s Deputy Managing Director before Southern joined GTR and has been part of Southern’s Executive team since 2004. He has worked in the rail sector for 27 years.

He says: “One of my key priorities is to improve the reliability of our services. With the new timetable in place our passengers should already have noticed a change for the better, and we will work hard to continue this progress.

“I want to build strong relationships with our passengers, listening to them and making sure our services match their needs.

“And we’ll give them accurate, up-to-date journey information from start to finish.”

Alex Foulds – Passenger Services Director, Southern Metro

Alex joins GTR having previously been Commercial Director for Southern. He has worked in the rail sector for 25 years. Prior to joining Southern, he was Board Director at Tube Lines and a Director at rail infrastructure business, Jarvis.

He says: “The Southern Metro carries a large proportion of GTR’s customers, generally over relatively short journeys, so I want to ensure that passengers have a reliable turn-up-and-go service supported by excellent information.

“Many passengers already use ticketing smartcards and I aim to build on this, as it’s not just more convenient, but also helps us understand passengers’ travel needs.
“I’ll also make sure that they have clean and well-maintained stations and trains, with good facilities and shops.”

Angie Doll – Passenger Services Director, Gatwick Express

Angie previously led the team for the introduction of the UK's first high speed domestic service on Southeastern and has been working as Head of Service Quality for GTR since October 2014.

She says: “My overall priority is to improve passengers’ experience of travelling on Gatwick Express from start to finish, so we’re working much more closely with Gatwick Airport to make sure our services are integrated.
“We’ll be upgrading the website and app to make ticket buying easier. There will be a fast and reliable service on new trains, with on-board staff to give our passengers help and information.

“We’re also planning a new station for 2020 with improved layout and passenger information.”

The new larger GTR franchise in numbers:

• 22% of all UK passengers
• 6,500 employees
• £1.3bn annual revenue
• £237m passenger journeys
• £50m investment to enhance all 239 stations
• 50% increase in capacity
• 1,398 new train carriages
• 10,000 additional morning peak seats into London
• Free Wi-Fi at 104 stations
• 20,000 days of customer service training for frontline employees
• £1m per year for local communities to spend on improvements at stations

The GTR investment programme for stations includes funding for more CCTV, toilet refurbishments, new retail facilities, help points and car park improvements – as well as plans for increased motorcycle storage and improved transport integration.

Connections is GTR’s twice yearly customer report. Readers will be able to keep track of whether GTR has met its targets and commitments, and read about GTR’s plans for the future. Connections also reports on what improvements customers said they'd like to see, and how we've improved the service.

Connections can be downloaded at southernrailway.com/southern/news/connections