[A long post - so skip to the last paragraph to get to the gist...]

Southern's franchise expires in September 2009, and there has been a
degree of speculation with regards to what might happen after that -
and this is justified speculation, for it is known that TfL and Mayor
Ken have been lobbying the DfT and indeed the Prime Minister for
control of the inner suburban (or 'South London Metro') routes, so
they can run them as part of the London Overground network.

Mr Thant's excellent London Connections blog has been following this
issue, and the relevant posts can be read on this page:
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/search?q=southern+takeover

In addition, he links to two relevant newspaper stories, one from
November last year in The Times...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2903879.ece

....and a more recent story from March in the Guardian...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...on08.transport


There would appear to be some debate over exactly what form TfL's
involvement would take, ranging from a full takeover of the South
London Metro routes to some other kind of settlement whereby TfL would
somehow be involved or have significant influence over the new
franchisee.

I and many others would warmly welcome TfL's involvement, in whatever
form it comes, in running the rail network south of the Thames. Since
TfL took over the former Silverlink Metro routes as London Overground
back in November things have improved substantially already - stations
are now staffed when they are open, many have had new ticket gates
installed, stations are being cleaned-up and renovated, trains are far
cleaner, tickets checks now actually happen and fare box revenue has
gone up significantly. There's much more to come as well, including
higher frequency services and new trains. In short, the rail service
is now run by an organisation that actually cares about it, under
arrangements that mean they can care about it.

Granted, Southern might not be in anything quite as decrepit as the
state that Silverlink Metro was, but it still sports a plethora of
grotty unwelcoming stations, doesn't commit to staffing its stations
for the whole time they're open, does very little in terms of checking
tickets for those not heading to a central London terminus etc etc. In
other words it could be, and indeed should be, so much better. Indeed
many recent Southern station improvements have been funded or part-
funded by TfL's rail improvement programme, as has some on-train CCTV,
so it's not as though Southern would have delivered these goods
without TfL's assistance. If TfL were actually in charge, they could
do so much more by running it along the lines of the London Overground
network north of the river.


The Guardian story suggests that the Mayor has in essence won over
central government. My question is thus a simple one - if Boris
Johnson is elected next week instead of Ken Livingstone, would
government ministers be at all keen to go ahead with a plan that
allows TfL to takeover - or at least have a substantial role to play
in the running of - the South London Metro routes, which would
effectively hand him an early victory, one which was basically the
result of Ken Livingstone's long-term game plan, or would they just
pull the plug on it all?