Passenger numbers up eight per cent on Southeastern
Recently release passenger numbers show growth continued strongly across many UK rail companies in the most recent quarter.
ORR data for Q3 2024/24 shows many railway companies with double digit growth compared to the same period the previous year.
Southeastern were up eight per cent as was the Elizabeth line. GTR which operate Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern were up six per cent.
Top dog
Top of the pile was Trans Pennine Express at 15 per cent. SWR was up ten per cent as passengers there await long delayed new trains which have seen a shambolic introduction.
Bottom of the pile was London Overground. This could be as London Overground raced out of the blocks post-pandemic and had surpassed 2019 numbers by 2023; years before other train companies as TfL operated to fully restore frequencies rather than enact cuts as government enforced in many areas including Southeastern.
Thus despite the drop they aren’t far off pre-pandemic numbers, but it’s still an odd thing to see four per cent declines. Engineering works?
Growth potential
As ever there’s certainly scope for Southeastern to reap further growth as many of their stations sit in the midst of mass housing growth – at least on Metro routes.
Kidbrooke is a fine example. A visit this week highlighted numerous developments on the rise. No staff at all to be seen at the station. The new station building locked up again.
This is one of London’s biggest growth areas yet sometimes staffed like a rural halt in the 1980s!
Improvements remain glacial under penny pinching from the Department for Transport.
It’s also notable how many, many people leave an Elizabeth line train at Abbey Wood then face a long wait for a SE Metro or Thameslink train for onward journeys to Kent. This is an obvious open goal to grow custom but one that’s still not being fully utilised, as service levels remain lower than 2019 and far below what was once mooted once the Liz line opened.
It’s often very busy as people wait to transfer in Abbey Wood. The above image was on a Monday in the Easter holidays so quieter than normal.
It was also notable again how most off-peak Southeastern Metro trains are now short four or five car services when not too long ago they would be eight carriages. Thus it’s a bit of a scramble to get on.
An example earlier this week of a short trains and busy carriages ensured the disabled loo was inaccessible due to people standing outside including a number of buggies.
Rectify issues such as those out by not running short trains and/or returning frequencies to pre 2022 levels (when cuts were enacted) and further growth appears there for the taking.
As if it wasn’t obvious already, a friend who used to work for SouthEastern tells me they always run a skeleton staff at stations, they’re always stretched. I’m not convinced staff are really needed anyway, what’s more staff going to achieve?
Sell tickets when the machines are out of service, create a sense of security for passengers, assist vulnerable passengers, help keep the station safe and tidy. You know, like give the impression that SouthEastern actually gives a 5hit about its customers in any way whatsoever.
They really need to restore Charing Cross trains, having only the Elizabeth line to rely to reach the west end means the trains are rammed and when there’s delays there’s no alternatives, SE won’t admit they were wrong so the Woolwich line will be stuck with a crappy Cannon Street service which is worthless
Agreed. The Charing X service was scrapped because the old choke-point by Borough Market restricted trains during rush hour, and SE risked fines because a high percentage of trains were running late. To avoid the fines, SE simply cut out the Charing X part, reasoning no fines if no trains. With the new bridge, that rationale is long gone and I too would welcome a chance to go uptown again. With the current state of things, you’d imagine government would encourage ways for people to easily access the stores and restaurants of the West End.
Which has rendered it redundant because all they’ve done is lose money anyway because Charing Cross trains were there main popular service, utterly bizarre what SE have done
Railways in Woolwich are all about the Elizabeth Line.
Southeastern is the past.
Nobody catches Southeastern anymore.
Only because SE axed Charing Cross trains which even post Lizzie line’s opening was still used in both peak and off peak. When SE axed CX trains and left only the useless and worthless Cannon Street & Thameslink trains that’s when people abandoned the line
But still we’ve got only a 30 minute Saturday service on the Orpington to Victoria line via Bromley South, Beckenham Junction and Herne Hill.
This line is massively busy and needs to return to pre-covid 15 minute turn up and go service.
James – Except if heading to Kent, Greenwich, Lewisham, London Bridge, Waterloo or even shops in Charlton or Deptford where I went the other day to have a drink near the station. All busy areas and all quicker by south eastern and that’s just in the Woolwich line.
All the other Metro lines are more hassle to reach the lizzie