i From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Clare Perry MP Depar net Great Minster Hose for Transport 38 Horsefery Road SWIP 40R Tet: 0300 330 3000 James Brokenshire MP House of Commons 9 DEC 2085 Web site: www.gov.uk/dft London Our Ref: Mc/148081 SW1A 0AA Your Ref: JB/15/SE ~7 DEC 2015 ) SOMLD Thank you for your letter of 21 October, about the performance of Southeastern trains. As we have made very clear throughout recent months, this Department expects the interests of passengers to be at the heart of this franchise and that Southeastern must make every effort to provide the service passengers deserve. | am personally committed to improving performance on Southeastern lines and chair a regular taskforce meeting to help resolve the various issues affecting the service. Southeastern’s continued aim is to improve their performance across their network and passengers will benefit from timetable changes in December 2015. In recent months, Southeastern have also continued with their hard work to deliver network improvements and have developed a robust timetable to accommodate the ambitious London Bridge rebuild. However, | can completely see that some passengers are still being inconvenienced by the Thameslink Programme. With regard to the franchise as a whole, there are financial penalties related to customer satisfaction and service performance. Under a provision in the Franchise Agreement, Southeastern will incur financial penalties of up to £4m in total if they do not achieve their National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) benchmarks for stations, train services and customer service. We will review performance against these benchmarks in March 2016 and should any penalties be incurred, they must be re-invested into raising passenger satisfaction with plans agreed by the department. Separately, DfT and TfL are working on ideas to work more closely together to improve services in London. We will shortly be publishing a prospectussetting out where we are, including the possibility of forming a partnership between us to help improve the customer offer and transferring some further suburban services to TIL if there is general support for this including from stakeholders outside London. | will also take this opportunity to give you advance notice that | intend to chair a performance seminar on the Southeastern franchise in the New Year in the House of Commons. This will be a deep dive into the issues that are affecting the franchise and | intend to invite a number of stakeholders to this event, including MPs across the Southeastern area, Network Rail, Passenger Focus and the Office of Rail and Road. | will be sending out more information and formal invitations in due course. The Southeastern franchise is facing a number of real challenges and we appreciate that passengers are not always getting the level of services that they deserve, but | can assure you that the Government is working hard with the franchise to provide the train service that your constituents expect and deserve. See, CLAIRE PERRY