London & South Eastern Railway

The Government has seized control of London & South Eastern Railway (Southeastern).

This will not affect services on the routes which include the Southeastern Main Line from London Cannon Street and London Charing Cross to Dover via Sevenoaks; the Chatham Main Line between London Victoria and Dover/Ramsgate via the Medway towns; and High Speed 1 from London St Pancras.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER), a well-run nationalised train line, has taken over the day-to-day management.

Southeastern is operated by Govia, a joint venture between leading transport operators Go-Ahead (65%) and Keolis (35%).

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced last week that an investigation had identified evidence that since October 2014 Southeastern had not declared more than £25m of historic taxpayer funding which should have been returned. The Government has taken the step after accusing transport group Go-Ahead of a serious breach of the franchise agreement's "good faith" obligations.

In a brief stock exchange statement Go-Ahead said its annual results had been postponed and its Finance Director, Elodie Brian, had resigned with immediate effect. Its financial results, including the expected provisions related to the franchise but not any financial penalty, remain in line with its expectations, it said.

Clare Hollingsworth, Go-Ahead's Chairwoman, said: "We recognise that mistakes have been made and we sincerely apologise to the DfT. We are working constructively with the DfT towards a settlement of this matter."

www.southeasternrailway.co.uk

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