Natural environment

At Southeastern, we are passionate about the natural environment across our estate. We are committed to ensuring that we have a minimal impact on the environment and contribute to regional efforts to improve resource use and biodiversity.

We have developed initiatives to drive change that help us to realise our goals of conserving water, zero waste and preparing for a changing climate.

Protect and Conserve Water

We have installed over 150 Automatic Meter Readers (AMRs) across our estate. AMRs are small data logging devices which send water meter readings every 15 minutes to a centralised hub, providing near real-time data. These provide us with consumption insights, leak alerts, and helps deliver environmental benefits by reducing water wastage.

Since their installation, the loggers have assisted with leak detection and repair. For example, a significant under-track leak was detected at Sturry Station near Canterbury in Kent. Once repaired this reduced a constant flow of 700 litres per hour to a level consistent with a station of Sturry's size. Smaller leaks have been detected at Herne Hill Station in south London and Higham near Rochester in Kent, where consumption was reduced by at least 100 litres per hour at each location.

The rich data source provided by the AMRs has also led to new insights, particularly around the use of water during the night in station toilet facilities. This issue will be tackled during 2025/26 via the trial and deployment of enhanced water control devices that will lead to significant water consumption savings.

Zero waste

At Southeastern, we consistently divert 99% of our waste from landfill, and recycle over 20%. We are continuing workstreams to increase segregation of our waste across our stations and depots to increase our recycling rate and contribute to a circular economy.

In 2025, we published our first Circular Economy Plan, which will support our vison to reduce the impact of the resources we need to operate our railway.

Prepared for a Changing Climate

Climate change is bringing new challenges to our railway. Working with Network Rail, we want to strengthen our response to more frequent weather extremes such as heatwaves and high rainfall.

In 2023, we hosted the rail industry's first Climate Resilience conference, bringing together train companies, network rail, and other stakeholders to discuss how we can embed climate change adaptation and resilience in our business.

Our first voluntary Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP) submission to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) outlines how we identify and address the broad risks climate change and weather pose to our operations. Unlike Climate Financial Disclosure (CFD), which focuses on financial materiality, ARP covers all operational risks that might impact us. We're collaborating with Network Rail to develop our joint Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation (WRACCA) plan, co-designing actions and controls with partners to address identified risks.

Download our Climate Adaptation Reporting Power report PDF

Download our Climate Financial Disclosures 1st of April 2024 to 31st of March 2025 PDF

A Railway for Nature

At Southeastern, we love the green spaces across our network which nurture a wide range of plants, insects, and animals. Our ambition is to support even more biodiversity to thrive. We want to enhance biodiversity by collaborating with our colleagues and communities.

Read our Railway for Nature Strategy and watch the animation below to find out more.

Since 2024, we have run our annual ‘Southeastern in Bloom’ competition, facilitating the creation of green spaces at our stations, depots and offices across the network. Read the summary of our 2024 competition to find out more.