EPSOM DOWNS BRANCH: Privatisation II: Connex (1996-2001)

CONNEX SOUTH CENTRAL
(1996 - 2001)

When the Network South Central franchise was awarded to Connex Rail Limited on May 26th 1996, the Epsom Downs branch entered a new era, namely that of complete privatisation. According to the franchise agreement, what now became Connex South Central (CSC) was to last for a period of 7 years. The end of this phase of the branch's history would, however, come sooner. After failing to secure the franchise for a second term, Connex reached an agreement with its successful competitor South Central Trains (GoVia) to terminate its operations in 2001, two years ahead of schedule.

(click on image for the entire story on the BBC's archive website)

Connex South Central became the first train operator to face the loss of its franchise after pronounced criticism of its management and performance. According to the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA) it was the overall financial management of the franchise which resulted in its decision of 24 October 2000 - Connex South Central had not delivered a service worth the £300 million of taxpayers' subsidies the company had received between 1996 and 2001. By the time Connex lost its franchise, the company only had the dubious distinction of having been labelled the "best hated train company in Britain" by the BBC.

This was no surprise to its passengers, who were left stranded far too often (Connex was fined £1.2m in 1999 for running trains with too few carriages), nor in fact to its employees who had seen protracted industrial relations problems and a string of legal cases regarding breaches of employment law which Connex lost.

The feelings of many rail customers were summed up by a Member for the South East of the European Parliament, who publicly stated: 'Good riddance! Connex South Central have provided a lousy, deteriorating service to rail travellers in this area. Their punctuality record has made the sloth look like an Olympic sprinter, and their under-investment has made a ride on their trains like an unscheduled visit to a railway museum.'

For the Epsom Downs branch, the 5 year Connex era was a disastrous time. While CSC management was tackling the refurbishment of Sutton station (a project which kept being delayed at various stages and made sure that Connex got a series of severe beatings from the public, Sutton Council, and the local MP), the rest of the line seemed to fall into oblivion.

The result was a degree of neglect the line had not seen before, most of all at Belmont and Banstead. Whilst Connex could not be blamed for a problem of society, i.e. the growing amount of vandalism at remote stations, CSC certainly let things slide far too long.

When Connex finally remembered the branch in August 2000, it was a case of far too little too late. While CSC did improve matters by getting out some paint and cutting back shrubbery which had grown up like a jungle for years, this would be a superficial and temporary improvement only as the underlying problems were not tackled at all.

In August 2000, Connex gets out the paintbrush (left), and in 2001, shortly before being handed over to the new franchise holder, Banstead is branded a Connex station (right). (click for larger images)

The state of Banstead station during most of the Connex period illustrates the general atmosphere which virtually bordered on dereliction.

The picture left shows the covered stairway leading down to the platform in July 1999: It is some three years into the Connex South Central era, and things are at their worst. Just how much the place has been allowed to deteriorate in just a few years becomes evident when looking at the same view in 1990 during the Network SouthEast period (below).

It is hard to believe that Connex failed to see that creating a positive environment for its potential customers was a bare necessity for profitable operations. The way the branch was handled really only leaves the conclusion that Connex was simply hoping for approval to let it go at some stage - run down beyond recovery.

For the Epsom Downs branch, the demise of Connex was a reprieve, and not just the relief it was to so many passengers on the South Central franchise, as it is hard to imagine how the line could have survived the policy of neglect that was forced upon it by Connex much longer. However, once the franchise was lost, CSC did manage to improve the general atmosphere after all, ready for the handover to South Central Trains. This seemed somewhat absurd (such as not bothering to brand Banstead a Connex station until after the loss of the franchise), but it is to be assumed that Connex was not trying to win back favours from the customers they had mistreated so badly before bowing out. It is far more likely that CSC was investing in a little facelift only to raise the estimated value of the assets it was going to sell to GoVia as part of the agreement to hand over the franchise before it ended.

Station signs and platform announcements really are the only things with a Connex South Central flavour on platform 4 at Sutton in August 1999. Everything else is still very much a thing of the past, both red lampposts (even though the paintjob is clearly fading) and the Cl 455 EMU in NSE colours.

The Connex South Central (CSC) corporate identity of yellow, blue and white had been very slow to reach the Epsom Downs branch - in fact, anybody uninformed about the changes on the rail system could have travelled from any point of the branch to Sutton and come away with no reason at all to doubt that NSE was still well and alive (with the possible exception of Belmont, where one station name board after the other seemed to disappear without any replacement...), as everything was still in familiar red blue and white. Sutton lost its NSE guise as late as early autumn 1997.

The "transformation" of all other stations took much longer and came about bit by bit. Banstead, for example, wasn't branded a Connex station until early 2001.