Connex South Eastern

Connex South Eastern was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Connex that operated the South Eastern franchise from October 1996 until November 2003.
History.
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 end date brought forward from 2011 until 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.
Services.
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.
Rolling stock.
Connex South Eastern inherited a large fleet of slam door EMUs from Network SouthEast.
In 1998 Connex South Eastern leased twelve Class 508s from Angel Trains that were surplus to Merseyrail Electrics to replace some Class 411s.
Connex South Eastern ordered 10 three-carriage and 102 four-carriage Class 375s, and 36 five-carriage Class 376s in a couple of batches with the first entering service in April 2001.
Depots.
Connex South Eastern's fleet was maintained at Ashford, Ramsgate, Slade Green and Gillingham depots.