London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern, was a British train operating company owned by Govia that operated passenger rail services in South East England. It was the key operator of commuter and regional services in South East London and Kent, and also served parts of East Sussex. Southeastern trains operated on three main routes: the South Eastern 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. Southeastern began operations on 1 April 2006 as the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent franchise (IKF), replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South Eastern franchise. Southeastern received a number of extensions, with the franchise scheduled to end on 1 April 2020, until a new contract was agreed on 30 March 2020, running for up to two years. The Southeastern franchise was terminated early on 16 October 2021 and transferred to the Department for Transport-owned operator SE Trains, which is also trading as Southeastern, after an investigation into £25 million of unaccounted for taxpayer money.
