by Trevor Sturgess

tsturgess@thekmgroup.co.uk

Southeastern, the Kent rail operation, steamed to sales of half a billion pounds in the past year.

The business, which is part of the Go-Ahead bus and rail group, earned £509m in the year to June.

It also racked up 158m passenger journeys, with 70 per cent made by commuters.

Customers have already been told that they face a 7.8 per cent fare increase from January.

The new high-speed trains through the county contributed £33m to sales revenue, but the net cost was around £50m.

Southeastern's passenger revenue was up 7.5 per on the previous year, with passenger numbers up 1.4 per cent.

But operating profit was £13m lower than the previous year.

Go-Ahead, which also runs Southern and London Midland rail franchises, reported total pre-tax profits of £88.7m, compared to a £23.6m loss in 2009.

It blamed lower operating profit in its rail operations (down from £61.5m to £37.3m) on lower Government subsidy.

Chairman Sir Patrick Brown, said: "We are pleased with the progress we have made this year in challenging economic conditions.

"All of our bus and rail operations have increased passenger revenue, highlighting the quality and value for money of our services. We are in good financial shape and continue to believe in the fundamental strengths of public transport."

Looking ahead, he added: "We continue to be cautious on the near term prospects for the UK economy and the outlook for the next financial year remains difficult to predict, including any impact from the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review expected to be announced in October 2010."